By Roxie Murphy, Staff Writer
Technology Director Nicole Grannemann on Sept. 18 updated the Gasconade County R-2 Board of Education on the district’s technology, including a “fake” phishing email to help educate staff on what to do if one comes through.
“We are partnered with Infosec (Morenet) to launch a phishing scheme education program for district staff last school year,” Grannemann began. “Staff will continue to periodically receive ‘fake’ phishing emails to see how they handle them.”
Grannemann said they will also periodically receive training to help educate everyone on the dangers of phishing and how to handle those emails when they are received.”
“We are currently at a 2.9 percent phishing rate,” she said. “I will be rolling out a new campaign soon.”
To help combat malware and phishing schemes, the district is implementing a two-factor authentication system for all staff.
“If it is not set up, we are restricting access until the setup process is complete,” Grannemann said. “This created an additional layer of security for all staff accounts.”
The district also uses enforced Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) on their elevated accounts and servers that work with sensitive personal information.
“This will block malicious and questionable computer activity until we can complete our approval process.”
The district recently made a change from Tyler SIS to Infinite Campus for its student track software.
“There have been several issues to work through and with being very different from Tyler SIS we have had some setbacks. We are overcoming the challenges we have faced and believe that as we use IC more frequently, we will be happy with our switch.”
Security upgrades have been added to the sixth grade hallway outer entrance near the middle school ALC class. It now includes a separate answering system and a FOB reader at the special education door at the high school.
“Students are taking home their Chromebooks every day at both Owensville Middle School (OMS) and Owensville High School (OHS),” Grannemann said. “We are still promoting and accepting the Protection Plan. This is a great investment for parents as the fee is less than any repair cost would be.”
Grannemann said there have already been five Chromebooks sent for repair since the beginning of the school year, including four broken screens and a charge cord chewed up by a dog.
“Two of the five students had the protection plan. The cost to repair a screen varies but averages $50.”
All first, fifth, and ninth-graders received new Chromebooks this year.
“We are now using HP Chromebooks,” Grannemann said.
She also shared a few technology concerns.
“We are still having issues with Lenovo 100 Second Generation Chromebooks,” she began.
“They have issues where the motherboard short circuits and causes various keys not to function. It can also cause power issues that make the device unusable or cause the WiFi to not work.”
These issues were not known when the district purchased the product. There are currently 250 of the devices remaining in rotation.
“We have been able to keep devices in students’ hands with a surplus of devices we had on hand,” Grannemann said. “If the devices continue to drop at this rate, we may be forced to purchase additional devices. All other Lenovo models have been rock solid, but we have moved to HP-branded Chromebooks based on reviews and research.”
Grannemann’s final concern was the district’s firewall continuing to fail.
“The Sonicwall (Firewall) continues to drop connection,” she began. “We continuously have to monitor and restart the piece of equipment for the internet to return.”
The firewall, along with the district’s imaging/inventory software of desktops/laptops will need to be upgraded soon.
“With moving to our computers, Zenworks is not keeping up with new technologies.”
Lastly, the district’s aging security system, an item listed as top priority in the April 2023 no-tax-increase bond issue request to voters, needs to be replaced.
“Security cameras and keyfob entry doors are beginning to lose functionality and are in need of repairs and/or replacements,” Grannemann noted. “I have recently replaced five cameras that have died. They are averaging around $200 to replace.”
Additional equipment evaluations will continue throughout the school year.
