K12 Tech Talk

In this episode, we explore humorous/serious use of AI joke writing (PowerSchool jokes), we have a discussion on cell phone bans being implemented across various school districts this new year, touching on one policy that involves fines.

The main focus, however, is a captivating story where a teacher was terminated for allegedly sharing her password, leading to students tampering with electronic records and facing charges. We tackle tough questions about accountability: Should a teacher lose their job for password sharing? Are students facing reasonable repercussions? Who bears the blame in cases of security breaches like this? We discuss the essential measures for cybersecurity in schools, emphasizing the necessity of multi-layered security approaches.

https://www.al.com/news/2025/01/alabama-could-soon-fine-students-who-repeatedly-violate-classroom-cell-phone-restrictions.html

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-11-13/lausd-strict-school-cellphone-ban-to-begin

https://www.koin.com/news/portland/pps-bans-cell-phones-adopts-off-and-away-all-day-policy/

https://www.wistv.com/2025/01/07/cell-phone-ban-begins-south-carolina-schools/

https://www.comparitech.com/news/ransomware-roundup-2024-end-of-year-report/#The_top_5_biggest_ransom_demands_in_2024

https://www.yahoo.com/news/liverpool-high-school-staff-member-215453485.html

00:00-Introduction

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Fortinet

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Music by Colt Ball

Disclaimer: The views and work done by Josh, Chris, and Mark are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions or positions of sponsors or any respective employers or organizations associated with the guys. K12 Tech Talk itself does not endorse or validate the ideas, views, or statements expressed by Josh, Chris, and Mark's individual views and opinions are not representative of K12 Tech Talk. Furthermore, any references or mention of products, services, organizations, or individuals on K12 Tech Talk should not be considered as endorsements related to any employer or organization associated with the guys.

This special episode of the K12 Tech Talk Podcast dissects the recent cybersecurity incident involving PowerSchool, a major provider of Student Information Systems (SIS) in the United States. Hosts Josh, Chris, and Mark discuss the details of the breach that saw PowerSchool send notifications to its customers about the possibility of sensitive data exposure.

We discuss the details of the breach that have been released by PowerSchool and discussed by customers on K12TechPro and Reddit (/k12sysadmin) within the first 24 hours.

00:00-Introduction

01:04-What happened?

04:10-Who is PowerSchool?

7:30-Data Exfiltration

11:48-How the attack happened

18:54-The attackers were paid to destroy the data

22:41-What should districts do right now?

For more information, check out K12TechPro where you can find a special section on the PowerSchool breach with resources you need, including sample letters to families, instructions to download your system logs, and relevant news articles.

https://community.k12techpro.com

Questions, comments? Reach out to us! [email protected]

On this episode of the K12 Tech Talk podcast, we talk about AI misuse in schools, we recap 2024's hot topics, and we spend time discussing our predictions for 2025. Oh, and we talk about Chimp Crazy and Mark's recent interactions with Tonia Haddix on TikTok. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year - We're ready for break!

https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/2024-12/guidance-mobile-communications-best-practices.pdf

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/12/10/character-ai-lawsuit-teen-kill-parents-texas/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/deepfake-pornography-victim-congress/

https://www.kjzz.org/education/2024-12-18/new-arizona-charter-school-will-use-ai-in-place-of-human-teachers

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Music by Colt Ball

Disclaimer: The views and work done by Josh, Chris, and Mark are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions or positions of sponsors or any respective employers or organizations associated with the guys. K12 Tech Talk itself does not endorse or validate the ideas, views, or statements expressed by Josh, Chris, and Mark's individual views and opinions are not representative of K12 Tech Talk. Furthermore, any references or mention of products, services, organizations, or individuals on K12 Tech Talk should not be considered as endorsements related to any employer or organization associated with the guys.

This week we take a listener email and dive into managing district assets and how to wrangle the budget. Should schools supply headphones to all students? Should the tech dept have a headphones budget? Should parents pay for broken headphones? Josh, Chris, and Mark discuss the tech dept's responsibility with headphones (and other consumables) at length. The guys also talk about software purchases. Should we have a candy man mentality? Plus, the latest on E-Rate funding, school cyber risks, and student cell phone policies. Also, Chris talks about pizza math. Josh talks about his arm pits.

https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/billions-of-school-tech-dollars-at-risk-as-supreme-court-takes-up-e-rate-case/2024/11

https://statescoop.com/rhode-island-schools-malicious-domain-protection-service/

https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-education-calls-states-districts-and-schools-adopt-policies-student-use-of-cell-phones-and-personal-devices

https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/4-things-to-know-about-the-literacy-lawsuit-targeting-lucy-calkins-and-fountas-pinnell/2024/12#:~:text=The%20lawsuit%20claims%20the%20curricula,guess%E2%80%9D%20words%20based%20on%20context%2C

https://www.k12dive.com/news/moodys-rates-education-sector-high-cyber-risk-2024/733342/

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VIZOR

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Verkada

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Music by Colt Ball

Disclaimer: The views and work done by Josh, Chris, and Mark are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions or positions of sponsors or any respective employers or organizations associated with the guys. K12 Tech Talk itself does not endorse or validate the ideas, views, or statements expressed by Josh, Chris, and Mark's individual views and opinions are not representative of K12 Tech Talk. Furthermore, any references or mention of products, services, organizations, or individuals on K12 Tech Talk should not be considered as endorsements related to any employer or organization associated with the guys.

Join Josh, Chris, and Mark for a lively discussion on the future of ChromeOS and Android in the K-12 landscape. We kick things off with Josh's latest tech frustrations (proxy problems, anyone?) before diving into some recent headlines, including a fascinating AI case in Massachusetts and a timely warning from the FBI about SMS messaging.

But the main event? We tackle the swirling rumors surrounding ChromeOS and Android! Will Google really sell off its Chrome browser? What would that mean for Chromebooks in schools? And is there any truth to the whispers of a ChromeOS-Android merger? Tune in as we dissect the possibilities, explore the potential impact on K-12 education, and offer our expert insights on what the future holds for these dominant operating systems.

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Verkada

Fortinet - Email [email protected]

HPE/Aruba - Email [email protected]

NTP

Email us at [email protected]

Call us at 314-329-0363

Join the K12TechPro Community

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Music by Colt Ball

Disclaimer: The views and work done by Josh, Chris, and Mark are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions or positions of sponsors or any respective employers or organizations associated with the guys. K12 Tech Talk itself does not endorse or validate the ideas, views, or statements expressed by Josh, Chris, and Mark's individual views and opinions are not representative of K12 Tech Talk. Furthermore, any references or mention of products, services, organizations, or individuals on K12 Tech Talk should not be considered as endorsements related to any employer or organization associated with the guys.

In this episode Chris does a deep dive on the new Google Workspace license structure. Mark has an extended News section with stories about an IXL lawsuit, Goolge's anti-trust fallout, Docusign impersonation attacks, and more.

-Linda McMahon's background as Trump's pick for education secretary

-Significant surge in DocuSign impersonation attacks: hackers mimicking government

-IXL class-action suit advances amid student data harvesting claims

-U.S. Antitrust Regulators Want Google to Sell Chrome Browser

-Prepare your institution for the new Education Fundamentals licensing model & license types - Google Workspace Admin Help

-https://www.ed.gov/media/document/avoiding-discriminatory-use-of-ai

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Scale Computing

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Verkada

Extreme - Email [email protected]

Fortinet - Email [email protected]

NTP

Email us at [email protected]

Call us at 314-329-0363

Join the K12TechPro Community

Buy some swag

X @k12techtalkpod

Visit our LinkedIn

Music by Colt Ball

Disclaimer: The views and work done by Josh, Chris, and Mark are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions or positions of sponsors or any respective employers or organizations associated with the guys. K12 Tech Talk itself does not endorse or validate the ideas, views, or statements expressed by Josh, Chris, and Mark's individual views and opinions are not representative of K12 Tech Talk. Furthermore, any references or mention of products, services, organizations, or individuals on K12 Tech Talk should not be considered as endorsements related to any employer or organization associated with the guys.

Chris, Josh, and Mark discuss an update on the cybersecurity pilot, an FCC court case, and the future of E-Rate. Most of the episode is an interview with Tony Sager. Tony is a Senior VP & Chief Evangelist for the Center for Internet Security (CIS). 

FCC Cybersecurity Pilot Receives $3.7B in Funding Requests

Supreme Court Weighs High-Stakes Fraud Issue for E-Rate Program

What a Trump win means for the Universal Service Fund

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Scale Computing

Scale Computing - [email protected]

Verkada

Extreme - Email [email protected]

Fortinet - Email [email protected]

ManagedMethods

VIZOR

Email us at [email protected]

Call us at 314-329-0363

Join the K12TechPro Community

Buy some swag

X @k12techtalkpod

Visit our LinkedIn

Music by Colt Ball

Disclaimer: The views and work done by Josh, Chris, and Mark are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions or positions of sponsors or any respective employers or organizations associated with the guys. K12 Tech Talk itself does not endorse or validate the ideas, views, or statements expressed by Josh, Chris, and Mark's individual views and opinions are not representative of K12 Tech Talk. Furthermore, any references or mention of products, services, organizations, or individuals on K12 Tech Talk should not be considered as endorsements related to any employer or organization associated with the guys.

Chris and Mark are traveling this week and try to record an episode next to a rowdy party of librarians at Vita-Learn's Vermont Fest. We give a brief intro and then flashback to episode 132 where we cover the CIS Controls, a set of cyber security frameworks to help districts evaluate and improve their cyber security.

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ManagedMethods

Extreme - Email [email protected]

Fortinet - Email [email protected]

Scale Computing

Scale Computing - [email protected]

Verkada

Email us at [email protected]

Call us at 314-329-0363

Join the K12TechPro Community

Buy some swag

X @k12techtalkpod

Visit our LinkedIn

Music by Colt Ball

Disclaimer: The views and work done by Josh, Chris, and Mark are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions or positions of sponsors or any respective employers or organizations associated with the guys. K12 Tech Talk itself does not endorse or validate the ideas, views, or statements expressed by Josh, Chris, and Mark's individual views and opinions are not representative of K12 Tech Talk. Furthermore, any references or mention of products, services, organizations, or individuals on K12 Tech Talk should not be considered as endorsements related to any employer or organization associated with the guys.

Chris, Josh, and Mark get political - they discuss their thoughts on the impact of this year's election on the K12 technology landscape (E-Rate, cybersecurity, DoE, and AI). They also discuss new AI guidance, spooky edtech apps, Halloween costumes, and the latest in k12 tech news.

Education Department releases highly anticipated AI toolkit for schools 

Scary Apps

--------------------

ManagedMethods

Extreme - Email [email protected]

Fortinet - Email [email protected]

Scale Computing

Scale Computing - [email protected]

Email us at [email protected]

Call us at 314-329-0363

Join the K12TechPro Community

Buy some swag

X @k12techtalkpod

Visit our LinkedIn

Music by Colt Ball

Disclaimer: The views and work done by Josh, Chris, and Mark are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions or positions of sponsors or any respective employers or organizations associated with the guys. K12 Tech Talk itself does not endorse or validate the ideas, views, or statements expressed by Josh, Chris, and Mark's individual views and opinions are not representative of K12 Tech Talk. Furthermore, any references or mention of products, services, organizations, or individuals on K12 Tech Talk should not be considered as endorsements related to any employer or organization associated with the guys.