The Wantagh Board of Education received an update from Perry Curry, the district’s director of technology, on planned upgrades to technology infrastructure, cybersecurity, and data privacy in all five district schools at its Jan. 22 meeting at Wantagh High School.
Curry opened her presentation uniquely, by playing a two-and-a-half-minute song she wrote about classroom learning with technology on Suno, an artificial intelligence tool with which users create a song based on words they give to A.I.
Curry’s song, she said, was meant to highlight the advancements made by A.I.-powered learning programs and their potential as educational tools for students. After it played, she emphasized A.I.’s ability to recognize the district’s educational programs without being told what they were. “It understood what each of those programs did,” she said. “It did it itself.”
Several upgrades are already in place, according to Curry, including a new network connection to Wantagh Elementary for disaster recovery, a districtwide public address system and new classroom phones that allow external calls among all five schools.
“We’re also able to call across the district,” Curry said. “If I had a teacher who was having trouble in Wantagh Elementary, I could pick up the phone and call the classroom. It’s been a game-changer for us.”
There were security camera upgrades at the middle and high school, and additional firewalls — a digital security system, which acts as a barrier between a trusted internal network and untrusted external networks such as the internet — was installed at Forest Lake, Mandalay and Wantagh Elementary School, she added.
Looking to the future, more fiber runs, which transmit data, voice, and video signals at high speeds over long distances using light pulses instead of electricity, are planned to enable more efficient communication in an emergency, alongside upgraded battery backups. Plans for camera upgrades at all three elementary schools are also being finalized, according to Curry.
In May 2019, district servers were infected by ransomware — malicious software that locks systems unless a ransom is paid. The virus corrupted software installed on computers districtwide, including Adobe Creative Suite and Microsoft Office, according to a 2019 report in The Warrior, the high school’s student news website.
“I still relive May 2, 2019,” Curry said, referring to the day of the attack, and she outlined cybersecurity improvements the district has made since then. They include tabletop response exercises, staff training, partnerships with Nassau BOCES and the county district attorney’s office, as well as participation in federal cybersecurity programs. She also noted the implementation of multifactor authentication, mandatory email encryption, and regular penetration testing of district systems.
“You have to eat the bad vegetables first,” Curry said, referring to the infrastructure and compliance work that comes before students’ use of technology. “This is where the heart of what we do is.” She pointed to broader uses of tools like Brisk — an A.I. platform that integrates with programs like Google Chrome to generate feedback, adapt to student needs and support learning materials — and School AI, which provides real-time student data and personalized teaching tools.
Newer interactive white boards will be installed, and there will be reviews of the effectiveness of current student instructional software, Curry added. She also highlighted the new three-grade cycle for student Chromebooks — with students getting their first devices in second grade, new ones in sixth grade and final one in ninth grade.
Beyond classroom technology, the board also addressed a different kind of tech during the meeting: electronic bikes. Last year there were several fatal and severe e-bike accidents on Long Island, including the deaths of a 14-year-old in North Bellmore and a 15-year-old in New Hyde Park, and the critical injury of a 13-year-old in East Islip.
After those accidents, “We took a much closer look at our policy,” Superintendent John McNamara explained. The district, he said, consulted with the Nassau County Police Department, and “they really informed us of all the significant restrictions for, really, anybody under 16 to be on an e-bike.” The updated policy was placed on the agenda and approved later that night.
More than 30 student musicians in grades five through 12 were honored at the beginning of the meeting for their participation in the Nassau Music Education Association’s 2026 All-County Festival and the Long Island String Festival. The performances took place earlier this month, at the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts at LIU Post, in Brookville.
“Those rehearsals are grueling, but our students did an amazing job,” Kelly Jones, the district’s director of fine and performing arts, said. “You should be so proud of your accomplishments.”
The board’s next meeting is Feb. 3.
