K12 Tech Talk

On Episode 265, Josh, Chris, and Mark discuss the end‑of‑year scramble in K‑12 technology and a growing cultural moment - the Class of 2026’s strong reaction to AI at college commencements.

The guys dive into several stories affecting schools - cybercriminal deep‑fake sextortion attacks using student photos from public sites; a public GitHub repository that exposed highly privileged CISA credentials; and the ongoing fallout from the Instructure Canvas breach.

The main topic explores why recent commencement speakers have been booed when addressing AI. Josh, Chris, and Mark unpack students’ resentment, perceived academic hypocrisy (banning AI in coursework while urging graduates to use it in the workforce), fear over job displacement, and the pedagogical shifts already appearing in syllabi and assessment methods.

Join us July 6th-10th, 2026 – GAMEIS Conference in Savannah, GA

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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.

On this episode, the guys discuss Google's announcement of the new "Googlebook" (a reported merge of Android and Chrome OS), growing controversy and litigation around iReady and screen time in schools, and a debrief of the recent Canvas/Instructure security incident with guest Michael Klein from the Institute for Security and Technology.

Unofficial demo of AluminumOS: https://youtu.be/dXmFIfv_tIA?si=Baw0OInBqJf-IkDD

The largest segment is a deep dive into the Canvas/Instructure incident with cybersecurity expert Michael Klein. He walks through the timeline (initial unauthorized activity detected April 29; exfiltration via cross‑site scripting of a free‑for‑teachers account; a later attack that posted extortion notes to some users), the involvement of CrowdStrike, the public claims by the ShinyHunters group, and Instructure’s statement about an agreement with the actor. The conversation covers the technical nature of the attack, impacts on confidentiality, integrity and availability (including disruptions to finals/registrar functions), the downstream consequences for integrations with SIS and other edtech systems, and why many institutions remain cautious to reconnect APIs.

Michael and the hosts discuss practical guidance and explore policy implications.

Join us July 6th-10th, 2026 – GAMEIS Conference in Savannah, GA

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Join the K12TechPro Community (exclusively for K12 Tech professionals)

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Email us at [email protected]

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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.

Episode 263 covers the unfolding Instructure/Canvas breach by the threat group ShinyHunters. Josh, Chris, and Mark discuss the timeline, the potential scope of compromised data, and immediate steps schools should take.

The episode also examines a new bill aimed at restricting AI companion chatbots for minors and debates age verification and safety concerns. Finally, the guys review a National Bureau of Economic Research study on lockable cell phone pouches, weighing the limited academic impacts found after one year against observed cultural benefits in schools.

Finally, Chris interviews Dave Barclay, Director of Product with Deledao!

https://www.k12dive.com/news/proposal-to-ban-ai-companions-for-minors-advances-in-senate/819239/

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Deledao

How K-12 Charging Models Impact Chromebook Sustainability

Textbooks Didn’t have Cables

Bring Chromebooks Back to the Classroom, but NOT Carts!

One-Person Tech Department Success Story

Join the K12TechPro Community (exclusively for K12 Tech professionals)

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Email us at [email protected]

OR our "professional" email addy is [email protected]

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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.

On Episode 262, Josh, Chris, and Mark discuss the risks of edtech tools that add generative AI without age checks or strong guardrails, share a new K12 SIX resource and rubric for security essentials, and cover email security best practices.

For the main topic, the guys talk about "secure email." Districts are being asked to send more sensitive information outside the network - to parents, agencies, vendors - but there's no shared standard for what "secure email" even means in K12. TLS encryption in transit isn't the same as end-to-end encryption. A password-protected PDF isn't a secure channel. And most staff don't know the difference.

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Sponsored by:

How K-12 Charging Models Impact Chromebook Sustainability

Textbooks Didn’t have Cables

Bring Chromebooks Back to the Classroom, but NOT Carts!

One-Person Tech Department Success Story

Join the K12TechPro Community (exclusively for K12 Tech professionals)

Buy some swag (tech dept gift boxes, shirts, hoodies...)!!!

Email us at [email protected]

OR our "professional" email addy is [email protected]

X @k12techtalkpod

Facebook

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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 episode 261 of K12 Tech Talk, the hosts are back from CoSN Chicago and revisit the P3 breach story that has been ongoing for the last few weeks. The latest reports show the stolen records have now been listed for sale, while the company has not issued a full public disclosure.

On the screen time front, the hosts review LAUSD’s draft approach that emphasizes guidelines over hard time caps, reductions in K–1 screen use, changes to device programs for grades 2–5, and limits on student-led YouTube use.

The episode closes with a deep dive into K-12 IT careers: why pay and titles vary widely, how to grow from help desk roles to director or CTO positions, and practical tips - gain hands-on experience, earn relevant certifications, build communication skills and networks, be patient, and be intentional about career moves.

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Sponsored by:

How K-12 Charging Models Impact Chromebook Sustainability

Textbooks Didn’t have Cables

Bring Chromebooks Back to the Classroom, but NOT Carts!

One-Person Tech Department Success Story

Join the K12TechPro Community (exclusively for K12 Tech professionals)

Buy some swag (tech dept gift boxes, shirts, hoodies...)!!!

Email us at [email protected]

OR our "professional" email addy is [email protected]

X @k12techtalkpod

Facebook

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.

Live from CoSN 2026 in Chicago, this episode brings quick conversations with leaders across K12. Guests include:

Earl Franks, NAESP

Jean-Claude Brizard, Digital Promise Global

CTL (Jason and Michelle)

Dr. Kari Murphy, Deer Park

Joey Wender, SHLB

Amanda Lanicek ("Amanda from LinkedIn")

Joan Wade, AESA

Jim Rowan, ASBO

Stacy Hawthorne, CoSN Chair

David Wren, NTP

School leadership, funding concerns, AI, building coordinated systems, sustainable device lifecycle, cybersecurity, data privacy, screen time policies, and more are discussed!

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Sponsored by:

How K-12 Charging Models Impact Chromebook Sustainability

Textbooks Didn’t have Cables

Bring Chromebooks Back to the Classroom, but NOT Carts!

One-Person Tech Department Success Story

Join the K12TechPro Community (exclusively for K12 Tech professionals)

Buy some swag (tech dept gift boxes, shirts, hoodies...)!!!

Email us at [email protected]

OR our "professional" email addy is [email protected]

X @k12techtalkpod

Facebook

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.

The guys discuss the rising AI-driven security risks facing school districts, including convincing deepfake video and voice scams, advanced phishing, and the implications of new AI research such as Anthropic’s Mythos and Project Glasswing.

They cover recent news items that affect K12 cybersecurity: proposed federal budget cuts that shift CISA and school safety responsibilities to states, the growth of non-classroom education jobs including IT roles, and the industry response to potentially dangerous AI models.

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Sponsored by:

How K-12 Charging Models Impact Chromebook Sustainability

Textbooks Didn’t have Cables

Bring Chromebooks Back to the Classroom, but NOT Carts!

One-Person Tech Department Success Story

Join the K12TechPro Community (exclusively for K12 Tech professionals)

Buy some swag (tech dept gift boxes, shirts, hoodies...)!!!

Email us at [email protected]

OR our "professional" email addy is [email protected]

X @k12techtalkpod

Facebook

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.

Josh, Chris, and Mark debrief last week’s Infinite Campus interview, explaining new findings about the leaked support data - what was in the release, how directory-level information and PII were involved, and what districts can do to check and respond. They discuss vendor ticket practices, district ticket practices, minimizing data in support requests, and how districts should approach vendor privacy agreements going forward.

The episode also covers recent news - the Navigate360 tip‑line breach, the White House AI legislative recommendations related to students, the Google/Meta social media liability case, and Waymo’s repeated failures to stop for school buses in Texas.

Finally, Chris interviews Brian Edwards from Swank. They discuss Swank's movie licensing and classroom streaming solution.

Judge grabs internet's attention after confrontation with IT technician 

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Charging Station Solution Matrix

Take Home Model Solution Matrix

Charging Station Goals

                *Needs Assessment Survey Example for Students

                *Needs Assessment Survey Example for Teachers

                *Goal Resource for IT/Administrators

Join the K12TechPro Community (exclusively for K12 Tech professionals)

Buy some swag (tech dept gift boxes, shirts, hoodies...)!!!

Email us at [email protected]

OR our "professional" email addy is [email protected]

X @k12techtalkpod

Facebook

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.

On this episode of the K12 Tech Talk podcast, Josh, Chris, and Mark interview Charlie Kratsch, CEO of Infinite Campus, about a confirmed cyber incident involving the company’s Salesforce instance. Charlie explains how attackers used a fast, professional vishing campaign and an imposter login domain to harvest credentials and bypass MFA, and then ran targeted reports through Salesforce. The data accessed was limited to support and customer‑directory information from the ticketing system, not the Infinite Campus student databases. Infinite Campus shut down access, audited the exports, engaged outside forensics and the FBI, and refused to engage with ransom demands. The episode outlines takeaways for districts: review support ticket content and third‑party connections, enforce MFA and stronger access controls, and limit plain text PII in tickets. Infinite Campus is contacting affected customers directly and completing a third‑party validation before issuing a final all‑clear.

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Join the K12TechPro Community (exclusively for K12 Tech professionals)

Buy some swag (tech dept gift boxes, shirts, hoodies...)!!!

Email us at [email protected]

OR our "professional" email addy is [email protected]

X @k12techtalkpod

Facebook

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.

On this episode, the guys discuss how students are using AI and how districts are responding with pilots, policy lessons, and content controls. They share real pilot data showing most AI chats were educational, while a smaller portion involved attempts at academic dishonesty or flagged content.

The conversation also explores the controversial use of AI chatbots for mental‑health support. Josh, Chris, and Mark share personal experiences and the challenges of balancing safety and usefulness.

The main segment summarizes four major federal proposals affecting student safety and tech: Sammy’s Law (third‑party child safety monitoring), COPPA updates raising the age protections and ad limits, the App Store Accountability Act (age verification and parental consent), and the broad but divisive Kids Internet and Digital Safety Act. 

Articles discussed this episode:

Should teens be confiding in AI for mental health?

Clever’s 2026 Cyber Secure Report

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Buy some swag (tech dept gift boxes, shirts, hoodies...)!!!

Email us at [email protected]

OR our "professional" email addy is [email protected]

X @k12techtalkpod

Facebook

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.