Over the past year, life has looked drastically different for much of the country. School districts across the nation have done away with remote learning, and transitioned to full, in-person classrooms. Masks have become a point of great debate, becoming less and less a characteristic of daily life. 

However, there is no doubt that technology is still, and will continue to be, a major part of education in the New Providence School District. While students and staff alike heavily rely on technology, it can always fail to live up to its expectations. As Department Head of Technology Mr. McGeechan put it, “It is very hard to find a place that’s completely invulnerable to cyber defense.” 

Salt Brook, Allen W. Roberts, the middle school, and high school all experienced this during the security breach last spring. 

As many can remember, the internet in all of the NP schools went down numerous times, cutting into class time and frustrating both remote and in-person students. Connectivity concerns via Zoom caused classes to end abruptly and teachers to unexpectedly shorten their lessons. 

However, it may come as a surprise to many that the state of the security network was actually in a great place during these attacks. The Superintendent of Schools, Dr. David Miceli, explained that, “We were fortunate that over the past couple years, the technology department has been working on a number of cybersecurity issues. And so when this was sort of playing out, we were pretty well positioned to understand what was happening because of the resources we had already put in place.”

Although this violation of security was nowhere near easy on the district’s teachers and students, it is safe to say that it can be looked back on as a reflection of the perseverance and unity of the NP community. Not only did students still have the resources they needed to continue with their learning, but the outstanding efforts of their teachers to keep them going. 

Dr. Miceli said, “Everyone did a really good job in terms of responding appropriately to the situation without having all of the information and knowledge about what was actually happening.” 

Mr. McGeechan had a similar response, highlighting the determination of teachers throughout the district: “They didn’t just throw their hands up in the air in frustration. They just kind of grit their teeth and said all right, this is another challenge that we have to overcome.”

As for the future of technology and security in New Providence schools, the outlook is extremely promising. Though the public is not able to see, new modifications are continuously being made to help ensure the safety of students and teachers, and the confidence of parents. 

“We have to put some resources in place every year and work with our technology department and our technology staff to continue to provide them with the professional development that they need so they can make the appropriate recommendations to us and the board so we can put some money in place for the budget to continue to purchase new software and new resources to help keep the district a safe as possible,” Dr. Miceli said regarding the district’s methods in fortifying all things technological. 

Although “nothing is foolproof,” those still hesitant about keeping faith in their school’s cybersecurity can be confident that the NPSD is doing whatever it can to protect itself, and behind the scenes is even preparing for another incident, just in case.