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Articles by Tom Ashley
How Agentic AI Can Supplement K–12 IT Help Desks
Sep 04 2026 Artificial Intelligence To alleviate support burdens, lean IT teams can rely on an AI technician. The reality of K–12 IT teams is that most are very small — and, as a result, stretched thin. More than half of K–12 districts say they’re understaffed for everyday classroom technical support needs. On a given day, technicians may handle dozens of support requests for password resets, basic device troubleshooting, network connectivity issues, broken devices and more.
CTEM Offers a Better Way to Manage Cyber Risk in K–12
Jun 12 2026 Security Continuous Threat Exposure Management offers a practical framework for districts looking to be less reactive and get ahead of security risks. Lately, school-related data breaches seem to keep coming. PowerSchool and Canvas made major headlines this year. Countless smaller incidents may not hit the news, but they disrupt instruction and expose sensitive student data just the same. For K–12 IT leaders, threats to their district are inevitable.
Does Passwordless Authentication Have a Place in K–12 Schools?
Apr 22 2026 Security Even if schools aren’t ready to adopt this identity solution, it’s a trend worth paying attention to. “Passwordless authentication” has generated buzz in the broader tech world, but in K–12 it is still very much an emerging concept.
How K–12 Schools Should Approach Cyber Readiness
Apr 08 2026 Security Cybersecurity maturity is an ongoing process that requires buy-in from all stakeholders. Cyber readiness in K–12 schools is not a product you buy or a box you check; it is a journey that every district is on, whether they realize it or not. The issue of cybersecurity is more than just determining whether your district is secure. IT teams must know their current security posture, their goals for the future and how they will achieve them with the resources they have.
Where Can K-12 IT Professionals Find Networking and Support?
What a State CoSN Chapter Can Do for K–12 Technology Leaders A state CoSN chapter plays a vital role for technology leadership. There’s so much value in getting involved and being able to connect with peers and networking. It’s important for all tech leaders to network within their states because that’s where real collaboration happens. A mature state chapter may have any number of initiatives that support technology leaders in school districts.
How to Find Your Fellow K-12 Ed Tech Enthusiasts
Aug 29 2024 Management Memberships are the not-so-secret way to prepare tech-savvy school leaders. While silos might be an IT phenomenon, they can be exceptionally problematic in K–12, where IT must work with educators to integrate technology into the classroom. And when educators and IT professionals specialize, they may talk only to people in their departments or local communities and end up falling behind due to skills atrophy.
How to Bolster Your School’s Network Architecture to Keep Up With Future Growth
3 min Is your network architecture prepared to meet the requirements of emerging endpoints? Uncover key considerations for ensuring that your school's network architecture can accommodate ever-growing demands and operate with optimal efficiency. The increasing number of endpoints in schools is a significant challenge causing constraints on network performance.
Your Questions About CETL Certification, Answered
Jan 18 2024 Management As tech plays an increasingly crucial role in K–12 education, many IT professionals are aspiring to leadership roles. How can Certified Educational Technology Leader certification help? People might understand K–12 education, and people might understand IT. But in today’s K–12 landscape, you need to understand both.
Make the Case for IT Managed Services in Your K-12 School
Use Managed IT Services to Support the School’s Biggest Priorities You can afford anything in education if it’s a priority. The problem is that sometimes communicating the need for managed services is difficult. Unfortunately, in cybersecurity, the easiest way to show and communicate the importance of services is to suffer through and recover from a ransomware attack.
Electrifying at Scale: What Fleet Managers Need to Know to Overcome Charging Infrastructure Complexities
New Trending The road to electrification is more than just acquiring EVs. It's about establishing a robust charging infrastructure that will meet the needs of your fleet today — and well into the future. Beyond acquiring the vehicles, fleet operators have their work cut out for them, navigating the new and complex territory of evaluating fleet needs, selecting and acquiring the optimal charging site, procuring power and much more.
Time To Break Down Silos To Help Promote Security Measures in K-12 Schools
Safety in schools has become a very complex issue; it is no longer as simple as stopping a bully on the playground. Every day students can encounter a wide array of safety issues, including cyberattacks and physical attacks. One barrier to implementing security in schools is inadequate or inconsistent communication across departments, staff and leadership.
Outsource These 6 Key Pieces of Your K-12 Wi-Fi 6 Upgrade for Lasting Peace
Without a doubt, the successful upgrade of a school’s Wi-Fi will require extra hands, eyes and ears. As notoriously short-staffed K–12 schools make the move to Wi-Fi 6 or Wi-Fi 6E to support additional access points on their networks, it’s a great time to turn to trusted external partners for help. A network upgrade goes beyond simply installing new APs and switches.
Envision New Life for Devices as Refresh Cycles Approach
After making massive device purchases early in the pandemic, many K–12 CTOs are looking for sustainable ways to manage their refresh cycles. In most cases, districts won’t be able to refresh all of the devices they purchased two or three years ago at once. Those that used emergency federal funds, such as the Emergency Connectivity Fund and Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds, should have their typical budgets in place.
More Schools are Considering Zero Trust. Here’s Why.
K–12 environments are prime targets for hackers due to the sensitive information they hold and historically underdeveloped security measures. As a former K–12 CTO in Indiana and Georgia for more than 25 years, I saw many school districts dealt a devastating blow by cybersecurity breaches and attacks, many of which happened as the result of an overall lack of funding, awareness, support and staff expertise.
Digital Signage Improves Real-Time District Communications Original
As a concept, digital signage in K–12 school districts isn’t new. In the past, it might have been used in front of the school or in announcement areas, but it’s now being integrated into all spaces. Today’s school staff can expect to find digital signage in hallways, classrooms and even gathering spaces such as gymnasiums, auditoriums and cafeterias. These displays are used to transmit important messages to teachers and students, from morning announcements to emergency alerts.
At 16:17 on a warm summer’s Sunday in a sold-out, sun-kissed Headingley, Ben Stokes achieved the impossible. His Cricket World Cup final exploits six weeks ago had already ensured his place in English cricketing history, but this was something that little bit extra special. Sport can do things to you that nothing else can. Test cricket, the Ashes – they can do things to you that no other sporting occasion can.
Balliol College have few plans to celebrate Boris Johnson, who read Classics as an undergraduate at the college, moving into Downing Street. The college’s July newsletter contained a short item recognising that Johnson is now at Number 10, although Balliol are not currently planning to celebrate the success of their fourth Prime Minister in other ways.
Futsal Club off to a flying start
Another week, another Futsal double-header down at the Acer Nethercott Hall at Iffley. This time, it was Staffordshire University who provided the test for Oxford’s two fledgling teams. The Dark Blues were looking to follow up wins for both the Men’s and Women’s teams against Oxford Brookes two weeks ago, with two more impressive performances here. Staffs were sure to provide a stern test.
Brookes receive an (indoor) kicking
Next year, there will be two new teams sporting the famous dark blue strip for Oxford University Association Football Club (OUAFC), as both a Men’s and a Women’s Futsal Blues team enter the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) leagues. Futsal has been a global sport for a few decades now, but only in the last ten years have British universities seriously established teams, with men’s sides competing in a total of 26 regional leagues, and women’s sides in a total of twelve, this season.
2019: a high-point for British sport?
Once the crescendo of the summer of 2012 had fizzled out, most believed it would simply not be possible for British sport to ever again enjoy a calendar year with so much success. Wiggo winning the Tour de France, the first Briton to do so. A home Olympics that produced our highest ever medal haul. Super Saturday. More medals in the Paralympics. Chelsea (somehow) had won the Champions League. McIlroy won the PGA. Murray won the US Open. Surely we would never see a year like that again?
Ten reasons to love the County Championship
For cricket fans, April means only one thing: the return of the County Championship (CC). It is certainly not as famous, lucrative or incessantly promoted as the IPL, but it remains the cornerstone of cricket in its most traditional form. Here are 10 reasons why we should all love it… 1. Up-and-coming talents Both Divisions are ripe with young talent, all of whom need to learn and improve in the domestic game before getting an international call-up.
Manchester City or Liverpool - the impossible choice?
Since Jose Mourinho was relieved of his duties on December 18th, it would be fair to say that life as a Manchester United fan hasn’t been all that bad. Admittedly, going out of the FA Cup to Wolves was frustrating and drawing PSG then Barcelona in the Champions League doesn’t feel very fair. But those concerns pale in comparison to the complete transformation that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has brought about at the club.
An Epic Climax to the JCR Football Season
The last week of Hilary term saw the conclusion of the college football season, a dramatic-climax for college football as battles for promotion and relegation swung one way and then the other. The best story of the week undoubtedly emerged from Division One. Just a few weeks ago, Christ Church were in prime position to go up, alongside runaway leaders Pembroke.
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