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Board approves multi‑year technology plan after cybersecurity, AI and rightsizing presentation
Summary
District technology leaders described a spike in phishing, rollout of Cisco Duo two‑factor authentication for staff, consolidation and cloud migration work and plans to pilot Google Gemini classroom guardrails; the board approved a multi‑year technology plan.
Kevin Brezina, district technology lead, and a technology team member identified in the transcript as Pete presented the district’s recent technology work and a multi‑year technology plan for 2024–30 that the board voted to approve.
Brezina said the district has seen a substantial rise in phishing attempts and has taken steps to protect systems. "Alex Schools receives about 20,000 phishing messages a day," he said, adding that the vast majority are intercepted by filters but that some get through. To reduce risk, the district rolled out a phase‑one two‑factor authentication program using Cisco Duo for staff, which Brezina said has thwarted several security events since winter.
The presentation described cost‑saving and efficiency measures: consolidation of printers (more than 20 printers decommissioned), rightsizing of Microsoft licenses, deploying iPads in kindergarten classrooms alongside gently used Chromebooks, and migrating legacy services to cloud‑based platforms to reduce hardware and maintenance costs. The district also contracted True North Consulting for an external assessment and intends to use E‑Rate federal support to help refresh classroom technology.
Brezina and Pete reviewed findings from the external assessment that recommended expanding two‑factor authentication districtwide, planning Wi‑Fi 7 upgrades, reviewing telecom rooms and visitor‑management practices, and developing a four‑year renewal strategy to avoid large simultaneous refreshes. Brezina said the district formed an AI committee to pilot teacher tools built on Google Gemini and stressed that guardrails supplied by vendors will be part of responsible classroom deployments.
After board discussion about cybersecurity, cloud migration risks and parent adoption of monitoring tools (Custodio), a motion to approve the technology plan was moved, seconded and approved by voice vote.
The plan directs continued expansion of two‑factor authentication, refinements to classroom device deployment, Wi‑Fi upgrades and use of cloud services for phone and work‑order systems. Board members and staff agreed to follow up on implementation details and funding strategies.
