Even before the pandemic, he believes Georgia was already in a pretty good spot in terms of leveraging innovative technologies in the classroom, says Keith Osburn, deputy superintendent for technology services and chief information officer for the Georgia Department of Education. So by March 2020, teachers and administrators already had a variety of tools in their wheelhouse.

Hampshire Regional School Superintendent Diana Bonneville is facing a loss of support from teachers and other personnel in the district.

“There are certain requirements that and certifications that are required to be able to kind of get into those roles and it's very difficult to find instructors," Chris Christoff, a Chester County School District spokesman, said. "We've provided incentives, sign-on bonuses. We had teacher raises.”

In the wake of high-profile ransomware attacks against some of the largest school districts in the country, administrators are uncovering student and staff data on the dark web months later regardless of whether ransom was paid or not.