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East Hartford IT director outlines ticketing overhaul, cybersecurity priorities and staffing needs
Summary
IT director Mr. Brown told the board his team stabilized help‑desk processes, is strengthening cybersecurity (MFA, network monitoring, disaster recovery), and manages roughly 7,500 users with a 16‑person team; the board asked about staffing ratios and the financial impact of AI, and staff agreed to provide further detail.
Mr. Brown, the district’s IT director, summarized operational work since June focused on stabilizing core services, reestablishing the help‑desk ticketing system, instituting device life‑cycle planning and strengthening data governance. "We reestablished that process," he said, describing changes intended to prioritize and close tickets more quickly.
He said the IT group supports roughly 7,500 users districtwide (about 6,200 students and 1,300 staff) with a 16‑person team, and reported the department handled approximately 6,236 help tickets since July with an average full‑closure time of about 5.1 days. Mr. Brown said the operational roadmap includes PowerSchool/data transformation work, capital planning for device refresh cycles and enterprise DevOps support for data dashboards.
On cybersecurity, Mr. Brown listed priorities: expanding multi‑factor authentication, enhancing network monitoring and content filtering, revising disaster‑recovery and business‑continuity plans, strengthening data governance and expanding cybersecurity training and application governance. He declined to discuss sensitive specifics in an open meeting but invited board members to provide feedback and to follow up offline.
Board members questioned staffing sufficiency; Mr. Brown said the department is not yet at industry staffing benchmarks and that additional positions could be needed. He gave a technician‑to‑device ratio estimate and said the district will continue to prioritize E‑rate funding opportunities and disciplined financial stewardship for future investments.
Board members asked about the financial impact of the district’s AI work on the IT budget; Mr. Brown said he would provide figures later and the superintendent noted a grant that covered much of the initial AI implementation.
