School Districts
Two thousand devices go home in June. Most of them come back.
Student information systems, one-to-one device fleets, FERPA-aware separation of staff and student data, and the ORC § 1347.12 breach duty that applies to you as a political subdivision.
Districts hold more personal information per employee than almost any private business in the state.
ORC 1347.12
You are a political subdivision.
FERPA
Student records, federally protected.
1:1 fleets
Out in August, back in June.
Two populations
Staff and student data, separated.
The Real Problem
Staff payroll and student records live in the same building, often in the same mailbox.
A district holds employee Social Security numbers and banking details alongside student records, health information, IEPs and family contact data. Two very different populations, two different bodies of law, and frequently one set of systems and one set of habits sitting across both.
On top of that sits a device fleet that leaves the building. One-to-one programs put hardware in the hands of thousands of students for a year at a time, on home networks you do not control, returning in variable condition.
And the legal position is the public-sector one. ORC § 1347.12 gives you forty-five days from discovery to notify, FERPA governs student education records federally, and the Chapter 1354 safe harbour is unavailable because a board of education is not a business.
Separate the two populations properly and most of the risk goes with it.
The most common finding
Staff and student data reachable by the same accounts, because permissions were set up years ago by someone who has since left. It is the first thing we look at.
What We Handle
For districts, buildings and boards
Student information system support
The system everything else depends on — available, backed up, and restored quickly when a grading period is at stake.
One-to-one device management
Deployment, tracking, filtering, remote wipe and the summer return, for fleets measured in thousands rather than dozens.
Staff and student data separation
Permissions that reflect FERPA and common sense, so payroll and student records are not reachable by the same accounts.
Network capacity per building
Wireless that survives a testing window with every device in a building online at once, which is the real design case.
Breach readiness under 1347.12
Knowing who was affected and being able to notify within forty-five days — which requires logging that exists before the incident.
Board and administrative systems
Meeting records, public records obligations and the administrative side that has to keep running through the school year.
Public-entity statutory detail is on the secure email and Ohio compliance page.
Protect the students, the staff and the school year, in that order.
Questions
Questions from districts
Does the Ohio safe harbour apply to a school district?
No. Chapter 1354 covers businesses, and a board of education is a political subdivision. Your breach duty sits in ORC § 1347.12 and prevention carries the weight.
How do FERPA and Ohio breach law fit together?
They run alongside each other. FERPA governs student education records federally; ORC 1347.12 governs breach notification for you as a public agency. Neither replaces the other.
Our one-to-one fleet is unmanageable by June. Is that normal?
Very. The districts that cope have deployment, tracking and return built as one process rather than three departments improvising in sequence.
Can you work around the school calendar?
That is the only sensible way to do it. Significant work belongs in the summer or over breaks, never during a testing window.
Backup & Security Compliance
SOC 2 Type II platforms
The backup and security platforms we deploy are independently SOC 2 Type II audited.
HIPAA controls, BAAs signed
Configured to the HIPAA Security Rule, and we sign Business Associate Agreements.
PCI DSS aligned
Cardholder environments segmented, encrypted and logged to PCI DSS requirements.
Your One Stop I.T. Shop·Your One Stop AI Shop
Whenever You Are Ready
Let us look at your district before the next school year.
Permissions, device fleet, network capacity and breach readiness. You get a plain account of what is solid, what is fragile, and what to budget for.
Summer is short. Planning it now is how it fits.
Chas Enterprise Group · Grafton, Ohio 44044 · (440) 364-3596 · charley.george@chasenterprisegroup.com