Auburn tech officials buy email filter, discuss student-data protections and AI use

Peter Robinson, the district’s technology director, told the Auburn School Committee March 11 that the technology budget includes investments to harden infrastructure and protect student data, and that district staff are planning cautious, supported adoption of AI tools in classrooms.

Robinson said the district is 1:1 on iPads K–12, has about 500 MacBook Airs for teachers and is staging MLTI-provided devices at grade 9 for cascading. He explained that CCTV camera replacement, door-controller upgrades and phone-controller replacements were moved into the technology budget for efficiency and safety; those upgrades are intended to prevent failures and improve centralized management.

Nut graf: On cybersecurity, Robinson said the district trialed an email filter paid for from proceeds of old-technology sales; in the trial the filter examined nearly 3 million emails and flagged about 41,000 phishing attempts across nine threat areas. On privacy, he said the district participates in an education-technology collaborative that negotiates student-data-privacy agreements with vendors to prevent misuse or sale of student data, a requirement under state policy.

On AI, Robinson said the district is not banning the technology and that staff use AI for back-end tasks (troubleshooting and code writing). He said professional development has been provided (state MLTI ambassadors, Apple sessions) and that any AI vendor used in classrooms would need an approved student-data-privacy agreement before deployment.

Robinson said the district plans continued attention to AI policy and community engagement while relying on privacy-agreement processes to mitigate data risk. The Committee did not take formal action on the technology proposals during the workshop.

Source: Peter Robinson, Auburn School Committee special meeting, March 11, 2026.