Here is all the news from the week of October 25, 2021. You can also access it by clicking THIS LINK.
Articles of Interest
Virginia schools can now apply for $107 million in grants to combat learning loss
Free money for local teachers to use in the classroom
Area schools receive $2.2 million to expand internet access
November is Take Your Legislator to School Month
There is no better way to prepare your delegation for the 2022 general assembly session than to participate in the annual VSBA Take Your Legislator to School Month. There are many benefits from participating in VSBA Take Your Legislator to School Month, including developing closer relationships between school divisions, local communities, and our elected officials, as well as creating opportunities for productive dialogue so that educational and political leaders can work together to ensure that we provide the best possible education for our students. In addition, when legislators visit your schools as part of VSBA Take Your Legislator to School Month, local students will have the opportunity to interact with elected officials and learn about the important roles and responsibilities of Virginia General Assembly members. Almost like a field trip that is coming to your school, a visit by your local legislator creates many different “teachable moments.”
Again this year, we have included resources in case you wish to hold your event in a virtual setting. We ask that you please share photos of your legislative visits with VSBA so that we can use them in future publications.
If there is anything we can be of assistance in planning advocacy efforts with your local school board, please do not hesitate to contact Jason Kessler by calling VSBA at (434) 295-8722 or by email jason@vsba.org.
VSBA President Janet Turner-Giles has created a PSA to encourage participation in VSBA Take Your Legislator to School Month.
Resources HERE
Suffolk public schools eases burnout for teachers, after tough year
VA Board of Education prescribes updates to Standards of Quality
School officials tackling spike in student behavior issues
DOE Updates
Career Switcher Program
VCU School of Education’s Career Switcher Program is holding a virtual informational session on November 8 for anyone interested in becoming a teacher. Please RSVP today!
Free Webinar: Educational Experiences of Afghans
A free webinar will be held on November 10 at 7:00 p.m on Educational Experiences of Afghans: Learning from Afghan Refugee Students and Families. This will be a facilitated panel discussion that will include resettled Afghan refugee students and parents. Register to participate today!
VCU School of Education Virtual Info Sessions
Are you passionate about TESOL, Reading Specialist, or are you looking to add an endorsement in administration and supervision endorsement to your license? Registration is open for VCU fall information sessions!
November 9- M.Ed. in Reading and Post-Master’s Certificate in Reading
November 10- M.Ed. in Reading- TESOL and Post-bacc certificate in TESOL
November 17- Post-Master’s Certificate in Educational Leadership
MEMO 300-21
FY 2022 Dual Enrollment Alignment Grant Program (PDF)
MEMO 298-21
2021-2022 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Proportionate Set-Aside Requirements (PDF)
K–12 Cybersecurity Act Signed into Law
On Friday, Oct. 8, President Biden signed the K–12 Cybersecurity Act of 2021 into law. The act comes in response to growing data security incidents impacting K–12 schools in recent years, including a dramatic rise in ransomware and other forms of malware.
How to Talk to Your Stakeholders
We all hear the statistics that make up the number of attacks on K-12, especially over the last year. The cost of a ransomware attack ranges from the amount of time you may be down to potentially having to pay the ransom. All of this seems like it would make for an easy discussion and justification to add people or technologies to help secure your environment. Time and time again we hear that stakeholders want their data to be secure, but technology departments still end up searching for answers with their current resources.
So how do you have these conversations?
You can read article after article but the bottom line is there needs to be buy in and your stakeholders need to share in the responsibility. Cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibly. You need to lead these conversations with resilience, and challenge them with questions about your security posture. Help them understand whether your program can actually respond to an attack. Do you have insurance? Who do you call? Are you proactive in your detection of threats? Do you have mitigation efforts in place to help with any deficiencies in your program? Do you know all the assets on your network? Are they patched?
Lenny Shad, Chief Information and Innovation Officer of District Administration states “Many superintendents and school boards view cybersecurity as a “technology” issue and have very little understanding of their district’s current cyber posture. School districts, whether rural, suburban, or urban, should not believe that they are less of a target for cyber-attacks. As it relates to cybersecurity, every school system needs to accept the new reality of, “It’s when, not if.” Given this new reality, cybersecurity needs to have shared ownership between the school board, superintendent, and IT department. To formalize a shared ownership model there are five critical questions that need to be understood.”
- What is the district’s current cybersecurity risk profile?
- What type of cyber awareness programs are in place for employees?
- When a cyber-incident occurs what is our incident response plan?
- Do we have the right security talent on board or at the ready?
- What is our risk profile?
Your stakeholders need to know that there is more to securing their data than the newest technology tool or dashboard. While those things are needed, they are just part of the overall program to keep your division secure. To read more on each of these questions follow this link:
