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District technology director outlines upgrades, E‑Rate strategy and classroom monitoring rollout
Summary
Northbridge technology director Tiara Bridal told the school committee the district completed Windows 11 upgrades, repaired roughly 100 Chromebooks, deployed a new MCAS testing app and plans to use E‑Rate funds to move NES access points to a cloud platform; she also described expansion plans for GoGuardian Teacher.
Tiara Bridal, Northbridge Public Schools’ director of technology, told the School Committee on Dec. 9 the district finished upgrades to Windows 11, repaired about 100 Chromebooks and updated district iPads and apps in preparation for instruction. “We finalized. The entire district is now Windows 11,” Bridal said, and added that most help-desk tickets are resolved within 24 to 48 hours by a four-person team.
The tech director highlighted work under the federal E‑Rate program, saying Northbridge currently receives about 60% reimbursement for eligible internet and network infrastructure costs and plans to use Category 1 funds to renew district internet services for three years. Bridal also said the district will migrate NES access points onto the same cloud-managed platform used at the middle and high schools to simplify management and troubleshooting.
The presentation covered readiness for MCAS testing after the state’s vendor change: Bridal said the district deployed the new progressive web app for the exam and tested it on Chromebooks so that students “will not look or feel different when they’re taking the test.” She described the deployment as primarily back-end changes to support secure testing.
Committee members asked about classroom monitoring software. Bridal described GoGuardian Teacher, which the district has implemented at the high school and plans to extend to the middle school next year. “GoGuardian Teacher … allows teachers to see the kids’ screens, they can lock it, they can make sure they’re only going to… the websites that they’re trying to use for that class,” she said. Committee members reported mixed reactions from students and parents but noted teachers find the tool useful for reducing distractions.
Why it matters: the presentation outlined how district technology investments and federal reimbursements are being used to maintain devices, protect testing integrity and give teachers more classroom control. The migration to cloud-managed networking at NES is intended to reduce maintenance time and improve reliability going into the next school year.
Implementation and next steps: Bridal pointed the committee to the district’s technology action plan, a three-year roadmap posted on the district website, and said a new technician (Jordan Keith) will start Dec. 15 to help sustain service levels. Superintendent Amy McKinstry affirmed the team’s responsiveness and thanked the tech staff for their work.
The committee did not take formal action on technology items at the meeting; Bridal invited follow-up questions and indicated further updates will be provided as projects progress.
