You're sold on meeting management software. Perhaps you sit on another board that is doing amazing things with it. Or you've read the data on the vast improvements it can bring. But your school board shows little interest. To persuade them, you must assume the role of educator. As the teacher of the school board, the best strategy is to link meeting management software to security and transparency.
Security
The school board accesses FERPA- and HIPAA-protected information all the time, as members must be fully informed on the most highly sensitive matters. Yet board members may well have technological know-how inferior to a teenager's, and the computer systems they use are hardly foolproof. Hackers see the resulting security vulnerabilities as a golden opportunity. International ransomware rings adore US school districts as targets, as they meet their two main qualifications: Corrupted data could drastically disrupt essential services, and the district could access the average $52,000 ransom that they demand. ISIS even broke into 800 US school websites to air recruiting videos to the young audiences that they reach. These threats demand every board member's attention. There are precedents for holding each individual board member financially liable for a data breach, and a tightening of the screws is probably right around the corner; since the exposure of privacy compromises by Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, future laws are apt to go to greater lengths to protect privacy by whatever means necessary. Most school board members know neither the enormity of the threat nor the steps they must take to eliminate their greatest security vulnerabilities. Most regularly conduct business in ways that position their board information as low-hanging fruit for opportunistic hackers. For instance, 61% of respondents to a 2017 National School Boards Association (NSBA) survey of 428 school board members nationwide said that they use personal email accounts to discuss board business. The extent of their ignorance comes as no surprise, as only 12% of respondents had received mandatory cybersecurity training. As their teacher, your curriculum should highlight five key points:-
Board documents must be reliably segregated from public documents.
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Paperless communications are safer.
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Email invites hacking and phishing.
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File-sharing sites and unsecured district websites put data within easy reach of cybercriminals.
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Downloading board documents amplifies risk.
Transparency
Once the board understands that a meeting management system protects the district from cybercriminals, your work may well be done. If not, showing how such a system can maximize public transparency should seal the deal. Such a system makes meetings more inviting, welcomes inspection of district business and facilitates unconventional formats to elicit public participation.-
Better meetings.
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Spirit of openness.
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New communication formats.
Media Highlights
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues have become more complex and multifaceted than ever before. At the same time, ESG continues to ascend on board and leadership agendas.
In this buyer’s guide, we explore what a market-leading ESG solution should look like and highlight the key areas organisations should be prioritising as they embark on their search.