District CIO

Adventure filmmaker Elia Saikaly was approaching the top of Mount Everest Friday when he took some time out of the climb to speak to a high school classroom in Canada about his journey.

Queen Bee School District 16
Glendale Heights, Ill.

Benton Harbor Area Schools
Benton Harbor, Mich. 

Bryan Independent School District
Bryan, Texas

Nonprofit after-school robotics organization, FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) announced the appointment of Sheri McCoy and Bob Tuttle as board of directors co-chairs and Don Bossi to serve as president, effective May 22.

The Federal Communications Commission has announced that it has hired Michael Steffan as the director of digital learning. In his new role, Steffen will lead initiatives to expand access to broadband internet in schools.

Both Houston ISD and South Carolina's Richland 1 School District raised their students' writing scores by training teachers in professional development for the instruction of writing.

Big data is making headlines in education, where schools and technology vendors are using it to customize the learning experience. In response to this trend, this SIIA white paper offers a comprehensive road map designed to guide data policies. It includes recommendations for empowering data-driven innovation in education, while addressing privacy concerns.

With so many cloud options, district CIOs should push vendors for details about their security and privacy services. “With the cloud, you have to ask big questions,” says Taiye Lambo, founder of CloudeAssurance. He suggests that CIOs assess three major security areas: confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

Next year, Sherwood, Ore. students will spend three fewer days in class, pay more for high school sports, and no longer have specialists teaching technology in elementary school labs. It's all the result of $1.72 million in spending cuts approved by a district budget committee.