Cybersecurity

Four states have now passed "Alyssa's Law," which requires districts to equip schools with panic buttons and other silent alert systems.

Some of the most popular apps and platforms, including Meta, the parent company of Facebook, don't sell personal student data such as a child's name. Instead, they turn a profit by releasing other user data, including what a student clicks on and for how long.

ChatGPT has heightened concerns about cheating in K12 and now, the question of whether the AI tool has harmed its own customers appears to be at the center of a new federal investigation.

Here's one of the top messages for K12 tech leadership in 2023-24 that bears repeating: You really do have a role to play in every aspect of your district's operations. For example, the cafeteria refrigerators—and the infrastructure that surrounds them—may need your attention.

"We in leadership need to think differently about what our users—educators, support staff, parents—need out of data," said Ryan Gravette, director of information and technology at the Idaho Digital Learning Acadamy in Idaho.

"Remember, threat actors do not take a summer break," says James Turgal, Optiv's vice president of cyber risk, strategy and board relations. "Security is a one-time event but a continuous and evolutionary practice."