Administrators and Policymakers

School and educational leaders should be implementing educational programs to increase technological and social media competency of students, and institute polices to secure networks and the computing environment for all users.

Administrators and Policymakers
Responsible technology use and media literacy are now a social expectation of the education system.  School administrators and policymakers should promote the deployment and development of Internet education curriculum that focuses on all aspects of the Internet, including security, safety and ethics, to all children across all grades in all schools.

Educating Our Children
Today’s education system is filled with mandated testing and curriculum.  The role of a teacher has become more complex and the opportunities to add customized curriculum are becoming fewer and fewer.

Yet, it is the responsibility of our administrators and our policy makers to allow our educators to change with the times.  Computers and the Internet have replaced chalk and blackboards in our classrooms.  Teachers need to be fully educated on the safe and secure behaviors they need to employ and pass down to their students. Today’s children need to be media literate and responsible users of technology to succeed in the workforce of tomorrow.
Programs and policies need to be employed that:

• Encourage and reward teachers to receive continuing Internet education.
• Require that teachers use or develope Internet safety and security curriculum in their classrooms.
• Set baseline levels of Internet and computer knowledge that all students need to meet.

Protecting Your Network
As administrators, it is understood that you are not the technology experts.  You are relying on your chief technology officers (CTOs) to ensure that computer viruses don’t cripple your networks and your CTOs are implementing user and content controls that prevent employees from access certain Web sites and other content online.
While you cannot fully understand the inner workings of a comprehensive security plan, there are 8 key questions you need to be asking your CTO on a regular basis, according to The Cyber Security for the Digital District Project (http://securedistrict.cosn.org/admin/firststeps/eightquestions.html). 

Administrators need to ask:

1. How are we doing so far?
   Inquire about whether incidents such as data or equipment theft have occurred recently and investigate to determine the causes and impact.
   
   
2. Do we have a security plan?
   Determine when your plan was updated and if it was been reviewed recently by outside experts.
   
   
3. Do we have adequate security and privacy policies?
   Ensure that a clear data privacy policy is in place and that staff and students are informed of the policy on a regular basis.  In addition, make sure your policy has been reviewed by legal counsel and that data communications systems of your outside service providers such as payroll, email, etc, abide by the same high standards that you do.
   
   
4. Are our network security and procedures and tools up to date?
   Check to make sure all of  your computers receive security patches or virus definition updates, and ask whether you have the capacity to centrally monitor all of your equipment.
   
   
5. Is our network perimeter secured against intrusion?
   Make sure that you enforce regular updates of passwords by all users and check to see that you are able to deal with viruses and other problems that might be brought in by home-used laptops or mobile devices.
   
   
6. Is our network physically secure?
   All of your network equipment should be located in facilities protected against flooding, burst pipes, freezing, overheating or fire and only authorized personnel should be able to access key equipment.
   
   
7. Have we made our users part of the solution?
   Empower your staff and your students to understand the role they play in protecting their school and protecting themselves.
   
   
8. Are we prepared to survive a security crisis?
   All of your precautions still may not prevent a security breach so making sure you have a backup system in place along with a communications plan is crucial to mitigating damage.