Cybersecurity: Keeping Everyone Safe in Today’s Learning Environments

Presented by Dr. Luvelle Brown, Superintendent, Ithaca City School District, NY; Dr. Susan Enfield, Superintendent, Highline Public Schools, WA; Dr. Chris Gaines, Superintendent, Mehlville School District, MO; and Amy McLaughlin, Project Director, CoSN Cybersecurity Initiative

Program Host and Moderator: Ann McMullan, Project Director, CoSN Empowered Superintendents Initiative

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This edWebinar series is co-hosted by CoSN, AASA, and edWeb.net

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With school systems across the nation and the world now operating in face-to-face, hybrid and remote learning scenarios, assuring that all involved can function safely when leveraging the internet—for both participatory learning and school operations—has never been more critical. In this era of COVID-19, school systems have become one of the main targets for cyber criminals. Now, more than ever, school district leaders must know how to take appropriate actions to be sufficiently aggressive in getting ahead of cybersecurity threats and problems.

In this edWebinar, three leading superintendents, joined by CoSN’s Cybersecurity Initiative Project Director, share their perspectives and experiences in dealing with the complexities of managing and assuring cyber security in today’s K-12 learning environments. They will examine the liability concerns that arise when schools experience network security incidents and the impact those events can have on a district’s professional reputation as well as the effects cyber-attacks have on teaching and learning. Strategies for effectively preventing, managing and communicating cybersecurity threats will be shared.

This edWebinar is of particular value to superintendents, K-12 school and district leaders, and aspiring school leaders.

About the Presenters

Dr. Luvelle Brown was the 2017 New York State Superintendent of the Year. He has served as Superintendent of the Ithaca City School District in Ithaca, New York since January 2011. Prior to arriving in Ithaca, Dr. Brown served as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, school CIO, and district-level leader in Virginia. Early in his tenure, Dr. Brown facilitated a community-wide, strategic-planning process that resulted in a new vision and mission. Conversations in homes, community centers, places of worship, and other local settings informed the vision of “6000+ Thinkers” and mission to “Engage. Educate. Empower.” The newly informed vision and mission has led to district-wide initiatives based on systems thinking, including integrating thinking skills into every classroom, shifting the organizational design towards a systemic approach, redesigning learning spaces, and numerous technology initiatives, such as systems-based visual mapping, game-based learning, innovative uses of social media, and 1:1 mobile device implementation.

Knowing every student by name, strength and need is the promise of Highline Public Schools in Washington. Under the leadership of Dr. Susan Enfield, the district is delivering on this promise by implementing a bold strategic plan committed to ensuring that students graduate bilingual, biliterate with the problem-solving and critical-thinking skills that will prepare them for the futures they choose. Prior to coming to Highline in 2012 Dr. Enfield served as Interim Superintendent for Seattle Public Schools.

Dr. Chris Gaines is Superintendent of Mehlville School District in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Dr. Gaines previously served as Superintendent of Missouri’s Crawford County R-I and Wright City R-II school districts. Under Dr. Gaines’s leadership Mehlville is expanding opportunities for students. In 2017, the district opened MOSAIC, a personalized learning elementary school, and created the MyPath program, which allows high school students to create their own class. The AASA Digital Consortium visited these programs in the spring of 2018 to gain insight into emerging models of best practice using digital media to support engaging learning experiences. In 2019, Mehlville opened academies at each middle school to expand personalized learning experiences at the middle-school level. Dr. Gaines holds degrees from Southeast Missouri State University and earned his doctorate at St. Louis University. He is a member of numerous professional associations and served as the 2018-2019 President of AASA, The School Superintendents Association.

An experienced information technology and information security professional, Amy McLaughlin has over 20 years’ experience building, implementing, and securing information systems, including 10 years’ experience in K-12 and higher education. As a Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) she has been responsible for protecting data covered by a broad range of federal and state regulations including HIPAA, FERPA, and IRS 1075. She holds a Master of Science in information technology management and a Master of Arts in marriage and family therapy. Amy currently serves as the project lead for the CoSN Cybersecurity initiative and the Director of Information Services Student Health Services at Oregon State University.

About the Host

Ann McMullan is Project Director for CoSN’s Empowered Superintendents Initiative. Ann served as Executive Director, Educational Technology in the Klein Independent School District, near Houston, Texas until September 2013, when she and her family moved to Los Angeles, California. For 16 years Ann led the district team that provided professional development on technology and 21st century instructional strategies to 4,000 professional educators serving 50,000 students. Ann served as co-chair of Texas Education Technology Advisory Committee which developed the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020. Today, Ann is based in Los Angeles working as a public speaker, writer, and education consultant focused on leadership and planning to meet the needs of today’s students. Ann serves on the Project Tomorrow advisory council and is a leadership consultant with Executive Service Corps of Southern California, serving non-profit associations. Ann co-authored Life Lessons in Leadership, a guide for leaders ages eight to 88.

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AASA is the premier association for school system leaders and serves as the national voice for public education and district leadership on Capitol Hill.

CoSN (the Consortium for School Networking) is the premier professional association for school system technology leaders. CoSN provides thought leadership resources, community, best practices and advocacy tools to help leaders succeed in the digital transformation. CoSN represents over 13 million students in school districts nationwide and continues to grow as a powerful and influential voice in K-12 education.

ClassLink empowers your students and teachers with instant access to their learning resources. ClassLink® OneClick® includes a library of over 5,000 single sign-on apps and instant links to file folders at school and on Google, Office 365, and Dropbox cloud drives. ClassLink Roster Server easily and securely delivers class rosters to any publisher using open technology standards. ClassLink Analytics gives decision makers the usage data they need. Accessible from any computer, tablet or smartphone, ClassLink is ideal for 1to1 and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) initiatives.