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District outlines technology upgrades, network resilience and expanded cybersecurity measures
Summary
The district described device refreshes, a student Chromebook kiosk pilot, network redundancy and a planned roll‑out of district‑wide multifactor authentication, saying these upgrades aim to improve uptime, security and instructional reliability.
Assistant Superintendent and CIO Joseph McGrath and technology staff told the board the district has resumed a device refresh cycle, improved help‑desk systems and is investing in network resilience and cybersecurity to reduce instructional disruption.
McGrath said the technology team—11 technicians supporting 16 buildings and more than 10,300 students—has implemented a new help‑desk system and a Chromebook kiosk pilot at NFA West that allows students to swap damaged devices quickly. "Students walk up to the kiosk, enter a help desk ticket, swap devices and are back to class; total time out of class is minutes," Brian Ferrell said.
The district is upgrading switching infrastructure, adding redundant fiber paths and improving closet cooling and disaster recovery plans to reduce outages. Staff highlighted investments in backup batteries and site redundancy so that a single fiber cut does not produce a district‑wide outage.
On cybersecurity, the district said it is aligning practices with the NIST framework and New York State education law 2D part 121. Measures described include a phased deployment of Cisco XDR for better visibility and a district‑wide multifactor authentication rollout using Cisco Duo in the 2627 school year. McGrath stressed that phishing remains a primary risk and that staff and student awareness training will expand.
Board members praised the team’s proactive approach and asked for ongoing reports on implementation and uptime metrics.
