By the time you read this, districts throughout the CNYRIC’s service region (BOCES included) will have reported the results of their annual budget votes to stakeholders. Voting day itself (and in most cases, the actual result) earmarks the end of what is often a long and difficult process, as districts work to find the balance between needs, goals, and proposed funding that often comes in under both targets. But when the dust settles, the end result remains the same: Find ways to provide students with the best possible education, within the means provided. 

This is why organizations such as BOCES (and by extension, the CNYRIC) exist; to help districts who can’t necessarily land the funding to meet every single need and want find a way to provide the desired programs, courses, and applications through cooperative educational services.

While the process is often challenging, our goal is to continue providing the best possible services, and I look forward to another go of providing exemplary service to our districts in the 2024-2025 school year.

But before a new year can begin, of course, the existing year must wrap. So it is here that I’ll remind you that our Employee Cookout year-end celebration will be held on June 20, from 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. in the Erie/Ontario conference room(s). There will be hot dogs, hamburgers, vegetarian and gluten free options (upon request), and additional sides that are contributed by employees! And those looking to request those special items (as well as those planning to attend in general) can do so by using this form to RSVP for the event. 

Inside (the) CNYRIC

We’re creeping up to the finish line of the 2023-24 school year! Let’s take a trip around the CNYRIC to see what our different departments have been up to over these last few months of the school year.   

Data Privacy and Security Service (DPSS): 

• Members of the DPSS crew hit the road this month, convening in Albany for the annual RIC One Data Privacy and Security Statewide Conference! The two-day event featured a slew of panelists, breakout sessions, and vendor exhibits, and afforded data security professionals throughout New York State the chance to convene to discuss current events, and take a look at what might be on the horizon as it pertains to student data privacy and protection in the coming months and years.   

Educational Data Services: 

• EDS personnel conducted an “Elementary Report Card Workshop” earlier this spring, which saw nearly two-dozen attendees. Twenty-nine districts and two BOCES submitted requests for changes to elementary report cards for the 2024-25 school year. 

• Chris Klivak recently hosted an AIMSweb Plus User Group as well, keeping in line with the CNYRIC’s re-emergence as the #knowledgenexus. Participants were provided with “big picture” data for their district, prepared for spring assessments, and began to discuss updates coming for 2024-25. This, too, saw a couple-dozen district representatives attend to learn more about all things AIMSweb.  

Food Service: 

• The department is exploring the possibility of working with Linq’s “Titan” software for food service. Members of the team have met with members from the Northeast Regional Information Center’s Food Service team to learn more about their experience with the product.  

• The team has also been hard at work in updating its website pages with more FAQ (frequently asked questions) information to help assist users of its various services and software applications. 

Information Security:

• Steven Tryon continues to work tirelessly with customers to help them understand the different information security services, products, and training offered by the CNYRIC, and to provide price quotations for them as they consider end-of-year and next year spending. Anyone reading this knows how much we’ve been pushing “security” over the past several years, and districts are accounting for these same concerns.  

Infrastructure as a Service (Iaas):

• The IaaS team continues to help Cato-Meridian fine tune its virtual environment, as well as working with the network team to assess its firewall and web filtering capabilities, and making changes as needed. 
• For Baldwinsville, the IaaS team is ramping up preparations to onboard them to IaaS as a self-provisioned unit. Once the Network team has completed its part of the migration, IaaS can begin moving virtual servers to CNYRIC’s cloud platform. Given the relatively large size of the district, the current timeline will be limited to mostly summer hours, with the “stretch goal” of beginning before the end of the school year if possible.  
• The IaaS team is happy to report that, between the fully-provisioned and self-provisioned  servers in the IaaS cloud platform, nearly all servers have been moved to Microsoft Server 2022. That is about 95% of 299 virtual servers!

Mimecast Stats for Nerds: 

• Mimecast’s internet sleuthing technology monitored nearly 22,000 emails across the month of April! 
• Despite the staggering amount of inbound/outbound emails over the course of the month, no malware was detected either coming in nor going out. This is great news!
• Mimecast also “sandboxed*” a hair over 3,000 attachments over the course of April, but found no malicious content within those attachments when all was said and done.  

*Using information security parlance, “Sandboxing” is the act of observing and analyzing code and attachments in a secure, isolated environment in order to prevent malicious software from reaching a network at large. Once the integrity of attachment content is verified, it is “released” to the recipient.  

Programming Note: 

• The Technology Repair Service’s repair space is swapping spaces with the Print Shop. Tech Repair will be moving into Print Shop’s current finishing area, and giving up what was its repair space (which is objectively larger, footage-wise) to give the Print Shop more room necessary equipment and personnel. 

A Little Bit of Sunshine

The Sunshine Committee has been busy coming up with fun employee-focused events and philanthropic activities! As for the immediate future, here's what's on the docket (note: times/dates are subject to change):

June:

The 2024 Employee Cookout will be held from 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. in the Ontario Conference Room! Please click here to RSVP so that the committee can purchase accordingly.

Hot dogs, hamburgers, soda, and chips are on the menu! Gluten-free options and other treats are also part of the fare.

Last year, many brought side plates as well, creating a beautiful cornucopia of treats! If you'd like to do the same, please contact Tina at x8402.

LinkedIn Learning: Featured Training

This course only clocks in at around 10-11 minutes, if you’re starved for time!

The Anxious Achiever: Turn Your Fears into Your Superpower

Do you often find yourself struggling with worry and dread, or always trying to hide your anxiety? Millions of people struggle with daily anxiety, but that anxiety doesn’t have to hold you back—in fact, you can turn it into your superpower. In this audiobook summary, entrepreneur and mental health advocate Morra Aarons-Mele shares five key insights from her new book, The Anxious Achiever: Turn Your Biggest Fears into Your Leadership Superpower. Morra shares her own story of overcoming anxiety and how she learned to use it to her advantage.

She provides practical tips and strategies for other anxious achievers to manage their anxiety and achieve their goals. Check out this course to learn how you can use your anxiety to become a better leader and enhance your creativity, empathy, communication, and vision.

Employee Spotlight: Matt Hermann

The CNYRIC is extremely fortunate to have a number of hard-working and dedicated employees. But some of these employees are also exceptionally loyal, having devoted upwards of a decade (or more) of their professional careers to the cause. In this feature, we'll spotlight these long-tenured employees. What made them stick around for so long? What were things like “back in the day”? What’s changed the most? Join us on this journey through time! 

Employee: Matt Hermann

Department: Network Operations Center

Job Role: Project Manager

Started with the CNYRIC in: 2008

Question: What can you remember about the era when you started at the CNYRIC? What stands out to you now, looking back at that time?

Matt: “Technology grows at an unimaginable rate,” said Matt. “Having wireless available everywhere was not a thing. Cell phones were mainly the flip type with tiny antennas. RAM was still measured in megabytes!”   

Did you ever think you’d be employed at one place for such an extended period of time? Was that ever the goal?  

Matt: “Yes. I was with UPS for almost 18 years, but advances in technology eliminated my job there, for the most part. So I was fortunate enough to land a job here.”

What roles/responsibilities have you had over the years at the CNYRIC?

Matt: “Information technology-related positions. I started as a network administrator in-district, moved over to senior network administrator for Infrastructure as a Service, and then project manager at the Network Operations Center. All different levels of technology work!”

What are some of the most significant things that have changed outside of work during your CNYRIC tenure? 

Matt: “I would say that - because I started at the RIC later in my life - many life events other than family deaths had already happened. So the most significant thing at this point would be the birth of my four grandkids during my tenure at the RIC.”  

What has been your favorite thing about working here over the years?  

Matt: “I’d say the people in general; the interactions with our customers and with our co-workers. Always makes most days interesting!”

What has changed the most over the years? 

Matt: “Other than technology? People. New hires come in, and others retire, both here at the RIC and out in the districts (our customers). I’m on my third CNYRIC Senior Leadership team, and have already seen multiple co-workers going on to retire, or head off on other career paths.”

What has changed the least? 

Matt: “The goal, at the end of the day: To help keep the districts rolling and the kids educated, without anyone really knowing that it's happening. When they know it is happening, then that means that things are not running smoothly.”

Staff Suggestions

For those who may not have been aware, the CNYRIC houses a digital "Staff Suggestion Box" on the website. This allows employees to directly (and anonymously, should they choose) make suggestions that will be sent directly to CNYRIC Director Chantal Corbin.

You can access the Staff Suggestion box from the "Staff Only" page of the CNYRIC website, or directly by clicking here.