Jena Passut

A one-to-one program needs to be linked to the academic goals of the district, and everyone needs to support the effort, from the chief academic officer who sets the academic vision to the CFO who figures out how to finance the effort and the chief of police who makes sure kids are safe when they carry devices to and from school. It all boils down to extensive, excruciating planning. MORE FROM EDTECH: What should administrators be thinking about when integrating new technology.

Broadband and network capacity is the top priority for IT leaders in 2016, while securing student data remains a pressing concern. Those were two of the 10 key findings highlighted in the Consortium for School Networking’s fourth K–12 IT Leadership Survey Report, which was released on Monday in conjunction with the opening of CoSN’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Even more startling: The survey highlighted a deep lack of racial diversity in the field.

With national policymaking at the Federal Communications Commission under new leadership, will the E-Rate program, which saw expansions under the Obama administration, be a target of budget cuts? Sheryl Abshire, chief technology officer for Calcasieu Parish School System in Lake Charles, La., doesn’t think so — at least not right away. “There really is very little immediate impact on E-Rate,” Abshire said during a session at the TCEA 2017 educational technology convention in Austin, Texas.