Email not displaying properly? Click here to view as Webpage!

Directors Update

PROMINENT TOPICS FOR OCTOBER:

• October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month: This is a crucial time to review and reinforce your district's security posture. Remember to emphasize the importance of strong passwords and multi-factor authentication with all staff. Consider running internal phishing simulations to test staff awareness, and provide targeted training where needed. The CNYRIC team is available to assist with security audits and resource planning.



• E-Rate Planning for 2027: It is time to start evaluating your Category 2 budgets and internal connection needs for the upcoming E-Rate funding year. The CNYRIC hosted a regional webinar on Category 2 E-Rate, and a recording of that webinar is available for anyone who needs it. Please reach out to Erate@cnyric.org if you have any questions.

PROVIDE LEADERSHIP, ASSISTANCE, AND RESOURCES TO ENHANCE DISTRICTS’ DATA ECOSYSTEMS IN SUPPORT OF LOCAL, REGIONAL, AND STATE PRIORITIES

Updates from the Educational Data Services Department: As New York State's graduation requirements and accountability metrics place an increased emphasis on student post-secondary readiness, the CNYRIC is actively partnering with regional school districts to streamline tracking through Mindex’s SchoolTool College, Career, and Civic Readiness (CCCR) module pilot. Designed as a centralized hub within the SchoolTool ecosystem, the CCCR module allows districts to track complex student pathways, accumulate work-based learning hours, and record key state readiness credentials in real time. Please let your SchoolTool Consultant know if your district is interested in this pilot.

The SchoolTool Support Team assisted districts in preparing for the opening of the 2026-27 school year. This included providing training to new staff, offering support to teachers in setting up new gradebooks, and working with clerical staff and administrators to ensure all settings in SchoolTool were accurate to submit student attendance, discipline, and grading records on the first day of school.

An update from Testing: To ensure student devices are fully prepared for upcoming computer-based testing (CBT) assessments, schools must download and install the new Questar Secure Browsers available on the “Help” tab under the “Downloads” page. Prior to testing, schools should verify that all student devices are running these updated operational browsers to ensure a seamless testing environment. Complete setup procedures and technical instructions can be found in the Nextera Setup & Installation Guide (SIG) on CBT Support.

PROVIDE LEADERSHIP, ASSISTANCE, AND RESOURCES TO ENHANCE DISTRICTS’ SECURITY POSTURE IN SUPPORT OF LOCAL, REGIONAL, AND STATE PRIORITIES

Streamlining Ed Law 2-d Compliance with the A4L National Registry: As the school year gets into full swing, managing third-party software agreements is crucial for Education Law 2-d compliance. We want to remind superintendents and business officials to leverage the Access 4 Learning (A4L) Student Data Privacy Consortium (SDPC) National Registry. Most of our component districts already have access to this centralized platform. The A4L Registry allows you to easily search for existing, compliant National Data Privacy Agreements (NDPAs), track which approved applications are used in your district, and significantly reduce the administrative burden of vetting new vendors. Using this tool provides leadership with clear oversight of your data footprint. If your district needs assistance accessing your account or navigating the registry to audit your current software roster, the CNYRIC data privacy team is ready to help.

Incident Response Planning: Does your district have an up-to-date Cyber Incident Response Plan? If an event occurs, knowing who to contact and what steps to take is critical. We encourage all districts to review and test their plans this month.

PROVIDE LEADERSHIP, ASSISTANCE, AND RESOURCES TO ENHANCE DISTRICTS’ TECHNOLOGY ECOSYSTEMS IN SUPPORT OF LOCAL, REGIONAL, AND STATE PRIORITIES

On Thursday, Nov. 5, from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., the CNYRIC will host a Google for Education training. This session is designed to empower Google Workspace administrators to manage Chrome environments effectively, leverage generative AI tools such as Gemini, and utilize Chromebook Plus features. We highly recommend that district staff responsible for Google environment management attend. Please register here if you or your staff are planning to attend.