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Reddit’s r_k12sysadmin Credits: @r_channels @reddit2telegram
PowerSchool SIS Hosted Districts - Check your machine uptime!
Shortly after PowerSchool's data breach, I discovered what I believe are unwarranted delays in applying Windows OS patches to their SIS VMs. For comparison's sake, I have been checking on two other vendors that run Windows instances (Tyler and PSNI). Both are ahead of the typical patching timelines I've observed from PowerSchool.
Unfortunately, these delays have taken a turn for the worse.
Currently, I believe many PowerSchool SIS Windows VMs have gone without patching for 70+ days. I have a statement from support that (at least for my VM), they intended to continue that delay through mid October, meaning they'd be 3-4 full Patch Tuesday releases behind at that point.
I did manage to get my AM to pass along one statement from the engineering team this spring. In my opinion, their justification was concerning and revealed shortsighted and dated practices similar to those that led to their breach last winter.
I encourage you to do the following:
Check your machine uptime (System Management > Server > Server Statistics). If it's high, it indicates they haven't rebooted the VM to complete the installation of Windows OS patches recently.
If you share my concerns about the risks to your student data and agree that they should be prioritizing a more prompt patching schedule that aligns with a modern threat landscape, please open tickets and start conversations with your AM and CSM.
https://redd.it/1nqfbsy
@r_k12sysadmin
GEO-IP FW Blocks
With datacenters being all over the world now for normal safe traffic, do you still do a lot of GEO-IP Blocking on your firewall? I see a lot of legit traffic going to Germany, Netherlands ,Japan etc.
https://redd.it/1nq8gcg
@r_k12sysadmin
Art Room Printers
Has anyone had any good experience with a specific larger format art printer for art rooms? We recently went to centralized printing but that doesn't work great for art class purposes and the department is requesting dedicated art printers. In the past one supervisor went rouge and purchased a Canon Pixma Pro 100 for one room that we got stuck supporting and it was a pain to manage. Has anyone had luck with something that can print A3 size but also be managed through Papercut or at the very least have the driver pushed out remotely? I would hate to have something that our techs have to manually install drivers on users laptops. Thanks.
https://redd.it/1nq5hge
@r_k12sysadmin
"F-word" on college application sites
Our Filter blocks pages when it finds certain words on sites. In this case it's finding the "f-word" on every college application site. Any Ideas what's going on? I do have a way of exempting the sites so i have a solution. I am more curious than anything.
Filter: Aristotle K12
Site Examples: latech.edu, lsu.edu, usm.edu, tulane.edu, auburn.edu, mitadmissions.org
Specific sub site is always their application process
word found causing it to block F***
https://redd.it/1nphmrm
@r_k12sysadmin
Random Service Outages
I trust others have been experiencing this today? We lost Solink and ExtremeIQ, as well as users reporting issues with Canva, Safeshare, and a few other here-and-there web services.
AWS reports no issues on their status dashboard, but clearly something is going down somewhere.
https://redd.it/1npck8x
@r_k12sysadmin
Canvas Outage?
Looks like Canvas is having some issues this morning. We're either getting a "page can't be reached" or the Classlink wizard saying "Item not found." Canvas' status page and downdetector aren't showing any issues. The issue is occuring both on an off our internal network.
The site came up momentarily at 7:24 and then just spun and got stuck on loading, so I'm guessing its a server issue. We're back to "Page can't be reached."
https://redd.it/1np9l44
@r_k12sysadmin
WiFi for Sports Fields
We are trying to cover our baseball and soccer fields with WiFi so we can stream games with Huddl. What would be the best way to do this? Could one outdoor access point per field accomplish this, or would we need P2P units?
https://redd.it/1novvrt
@r_k12sysadmin
Onedrive Backup Solutions
Hello! We want a backup solution that will backup all users onedrive data at our private k12 school to a local windows server we have on site. We would like it to be automated and have some retention time for deleted files. We would also like to keep it low cost (or free). Does any one know of a good piece of software that will do this? We tried backup assist 365 and it did exactly what we wanted. Just curious if anyone has a better solution or software before we pay. We are a Google School, just High school has Microsoft accounts for Office and One drive.
https://redd.it/1nopzbo
@r_k12sysadmin
Streaming equipment for board room
We are wanting to stream board meetings on YouTube, the only requirement that was asked for was microphones for each speaker (eight) Is there an easy button for this?
https://redd.it/1nolsss
@r_k12sysadmin
Social Media use policy
Does anyone have a social media policy based on use? Like how it should be used?
For context, we are a rural <1000 student district in the upper midwest.
We have had an influx of local businesses and events, not directly involving the school district, dropping off flyers asking us to share them on our platforms. I am reluctant to "create" a post on our platforms unless it is school-sponsored or directly related to the district. If it's a community event that already has a post somewhere else, I'll share or like to help spread the word. The problem is that they go to admin and they say yes without thinking about it. When it's passed to me I have to pump the brakes and be the bad guy. I don't mind being the bad guy, but I want something behind me.
I'd like to draft a policy with guidelines so we can be consistent and turn away anything non-school-centric. Like anything else in k12, without a policy I feel that we have to be equitable, and if we do it for one then we have to do it for all.
If anyone has addressed this or has something in place that I could draft a policy from, Iet me know.
https://redd.it/1nokesc
@r_k12sysadmin
Autodesk SSO and named user licensing
Hello, I am looking for advice from anyone who has managed to migrate an Autodesk education account from the "classic" user management to the new user management console. We need to get SSO set up for named user licensing to work next year, and that is not possible in classic user management. There is scant documentation on classic user management & nothing about how to get the account upgraded from it.
https://redd.it/1nogfyi
@r_k12sysadmin
YouTube access
I need some help regarding YouTube access and Google Workspace. About 3 weeks before school started (Aug 13th, 2025) I was volunteered to be my son's private school IT guy. Yep full time job and now nights full of volunteer IT work. The school only has about 150 kids so it is not super terrible to manage. I have worked in non profit healthcare IT for the past 19 years from helpdesk to systems engineer in a Microsoft environment. I have now spent my fair share of late nights learning Google Workspace and making sure things are running smoothly.
Today we had a request to unblock YouTube as this has been turned off for all students as far as I can tell. After spending some time creating a security Google Group for this class and allowing YouTube through I cannot see how to block all YouTube videos/channels except for approved videos. (Which I did approve an entire YouTube channel.) I have turned on the "Signed in users in your organization can only watch restricted and approved videos" and set the restrictions down to 9+ with no luck blocking all other videos.
Am I missing something to block all other videos?
My only other thought that I can quickly use to bypass this issue would be to embed the video into a Google Slides presentation which does appear to work even with the YouTube service turned off. And since the students will be doing this on a self guided learning it might be best anyway.
Thanks for taking the time to read and respond.
https://redd.it/1no7fj6
@r_k12sysadmin
Logo Designers
Anyone have a company they work with that can provide source files after generating a logo? I am left with years of Fivrr logos made by god knows who and somehow the logos were uploaded to facebook from a flip phone, downloaded onto a fax machine, rescanned into a pdf and then compressed again just because it is fun.
Seriously, just opened a schools logo that is 100x100 pixels.
I have zero experience here and so I don't even know where to start with creators that would provide this work, let alone through a PO. I am a photographer and graphic designer as a hobby, but I am not touching this with a 10 foot pole.
https://redd.it/1no1f5s
@r_k12sysadmin
Reasons to block
I’m being asked to allow the following 3 things
1. Unblock GitHub.com
2. Unblock personal email
3. Create a guest WiFi with minimal restrictions so staff and students can get around our filter if needed
I’m against all 3.
GitHub has so much hacking software, plus every way there is to get around all our filters
Personal email is for multiple reasons. We don’t want kids on personal unrestricted accounts, they have a district email that should be used for everything school related and everything else should be outside only. When we had personal emails open kids were sending porn, bomb threats, cyber bullying and worse. Once they knew we could track them all stopped.
Guest WiFi I feel like if we do that then why even have a filter on our regular network? Why not unblock it all?
Please, help me find reasons not to do this.
https://redd.it/1no0mu7
@r_k12sysadmin
Where to allow Honorlock in Google Edu Admin Settings?
I have a student who's taking an online college course that requires the use of the Honorlock Chrome extension to take exams. I can't seem to find where I can allow this on the Google Admin side. When I follow the sparse instructions I can find online, I hit a dead end. Here's what I've tried:
\- Went to Devices>Chrome>Apps & extensions>Users & browsers
\- Selected organizational unit containing current students
\- The next instruction is to set the installation policy for the Honorlock extension to allow install; however, when I use the search function to find Honorlock in the Chrome Web Store, nothing comes up. Even if I go to the Chrome Web Store under a personal account Honorlock isn't showing up.
I suppose I could turn on the ability for users to request extensions as I don't currently have that enabled, but there's got to be a way to do this without that. How is it that this extension doesn't seem to exist?? Any help would be appreciated--thank you!
https://redd.it/1nnukkr
@r_k12sysadmin
SAML apps in Google Waffle missing
Is anyone missing their SAML apps this morning? Most of our users are missing 3rd party SAML apps in their Google Waffle.
https://redd.it/1nq80bl
@r_k12sysadmin
Drive is Read only on Chromebook
https://redd.it/1nq864u
@r_k12sysadmin
Experiences with Larger UniFi Deployments (1,000+ APs)
Curious if anyone here has managed a largerish UniFi deployment—thinking on the order of 1,000+ access points. We are testing some of the new "Enterprise" line E7 aps and they seem really nice from the capabilities and ease of management perspective. It helps that they also have no license fee. What are yalls thoughts?
https://redd.it/1npiaqs
@r_k12sysadmin
Google API (GAM?) issues
I'm seeing this morning that calls with GAM v7 or v6 look to be hanging. I'll get either no data and the program sits expecting something or I'll get a partial return followed by stunned silence.
Just a heads up in case you're seeing similar.
https://redd.it/1npgubj
@r_k12sysadmin
Riverside Online Cogat testing outage?
Anyone hacing issues with Riverside online testing with cogat?
https://redd.it/1npbwtg
@r_k12sysadmin
Entitled teachers what to do about them?
I have several teachers that my school were I work at that think they are entitled to my time like an hour worth. I dont think she should be entitled to that much of her time regardless of what she needs. Im willing to show her how tow do the stuff she wants me to do but wont even do that. She needs a lot of handholding and because Im a one man operation I cant allow her to take up all of my time. Got any suggestions besides getting a new job because I like my job even though I'm stretched thin as paper.
https://redd.it/1nowy46
@r_k12sysadmin
Chromebook Inventory
I have a question about inventory for Chromebook and how you do yours. We are about to purchase Chromebooks for our district and I was wondering if anyone just sends an allotment to each school let's say 500 to school A and then school B runs low due to enrollment and then school B needs 100 additional. How is your districts setup in situations like this. Trying to figure out the best way of implementing this.
https://redd.it/1nosnom
@r_k12sysadmin
Handling ChromeOS Updates
Since Google has released class tools with the latest version of Chrome OS I have a lot of teachers that started using it and are really liking it a lot. What I'm finding though is it needs one of latest version of Chrome OS on it. What I'm finding and what I'm finding is students never log out or restart their devices, they just close the lid and let it go to sleep. I'm thinking of enabling a forced restart after update but I don't want it to auto restart in the middle of a class. How is everyone handling this?
https://redd.it/1nooich
@r_k12sysadmin
You can't juggle too many balls without dropping one and I'm droping some balls. management advice?
I am coming up to my first year in edu and it has been an interesting experience to say the least. I don't intend to repeat past themes from past posts. I actually got the study hall teacher to take the day loaner cart and it has made a big difference.
I running into issues with contracts running out and outdated devices. I've been just overwhelmed since I started and it has been difficult to keep up with all forms of communication.
I came in one day to find that our adobe contract ended. I've been asked if I had recieved notifications leading up to this, but honestly I don't know. The beggening of the year has been a rollercoaster and I may have missed it. I mean, there was no documentation before me that tracked all of the different contracts we have. I get bombarded by services updating me. I just started a google sheet to track contracts, but I haven't found the time to really update it.
The contract ran out. I had no documentation on who provided it. After chasing that down, I learned we missed a window of time and had to choose another reseller. After a painful process I ended up calling adobe directly and getting something setup. This became an issue where all admin and arts department had to be in the loop. There were questions on why this happened. students didn't have access for days.
At the same time our VOIP system has been periodecally not working with external calls. Due to how busy things have been I had just been rebooting the network which would fix the issue, but due to the consistency I wanted to track down the real issue. Well this week I finally told the principle that I wanted to track down the issue. So isntead of just rebooting the FW and Switches, I had our third party look at it with me. Turns out, if I had just spent some time looking at the Xorcom unit I would see that the license agreement ran out in 2023. Then finding old emails I learn the unit is 7 years old and needs replaced.
Now at the beggening of the year I have a whole Server swap project ahead of me. I don't have any experience with in this. I had no documentation from past techs nor was notified by the last tech.
I take responsibilty for this, but I also wish I had better documentation when I started.
So you would think that the sole IT guy at a school should spend time getting to know their network gear, what services they support, etc. That I should have known all contracts that I am in charge of making sure doesn't run out without renewing. That I should know how old my devices are..
For those of us who are the only tech onsite, we have a lot to keep track of. How do you all keep track of everything? I need advice here, becuase this last couple of weeks did not look good on me. It felt a bit inivitable that something would happen like this, so I am not interally surprised, but it really does not feel great to feel spread thin enough that I miss key deadlines or issues that then lead to larger problems.
The phone situation may have been needed more attention sooner, it was a matter of conflicting priorities and I knew to a qucik fix to the phone issue, which didn't fix it long-term. The phone issue happened every other week, which is enough to become a problem that needed fixed.
Maybe a better workflow, a better way to manage my day. I got a key part of my workflow worked out by getting day loaners off my hands. So now I need to learn to manage things better.
https://redd.it/1nok7tk
@r_k12sysadmin
Skyward Issues
The issue seems to have resolved itself around 8:30 AM. I'm guessing that the issue was on Skyward's side of things.
~~Is anyone else noticing Skyward issues this morning? Specifically, we're unable to run any sort of reports/transcripts/data mining/etc. We get an error that says "The Print Queue is currently offline, your report has been queued."~~
~~We're located in the Northeastern US.~~
https://redd.it/1nofp5a
@r_k12sysadmin
Looking for Digital Signage Software recommendations
Good morning, I was looking to get recommendations for a digital signage app that's free/low cost and easy for non-tech users to manage. Appreciate it. Thanks!
https://redd.it/1nog04v
@r_k12sysadmin
Killer Drones, Google Outages & AI Whack‑A‑Mole
https://k12techtalkpodcast.com/e/killer-drones-google-outages-the-ai-whack%e2%80%91a%e2%80%91mole/ and all major podcast platforms
We unpack a busy week in school tech: a nationwide Google outage that disrupted Chromebook logins, new Sophos data showing improving ransomware recovery and falling ransom payments, and CETA’s annual report putting AI at the top of state priorities.
The conversation dives into the controversial campus drone pilot approved in Florida (non‑lethal pepper‑ball drones and on‑demand airborne security) and the AI Whack‑A‑Mole challenge as AI features appear inside search engines and become hard to block.
We also discuss promising advances in live, voice‑to‑voice translation for K12 meetings and classrooms.
https://redd.it/1no5u0e
@r_k12sysadmin
Security Watch 9/19/25
On K12TechPro, we've launched a weekly cyber threat intelligence and vulnerability newsletter with NTP and K12TechPro. We'll post the "public" news to k12sysadmin from each newsletter. For the full "k12 techs only" portion (no middle schoolers, bad guys, vendors, etc. allowed), log into k12techpro.com and visit the Cybersecurity Hub.
A wave of cybersecurity updates highlights growing risks across multiple fronts: the threat group WhiteCobra is abusing extension marketplaces like Visual Studio Code to spread malicious add-ons that deliver info-stealing malware on both Windows and macOS, with victims already reporting cryptocurrency theft.
Meanwhile, OAuth consent phishing is emerging as a low-effort, high-reward tactic where users are tricked into granting malicious apps ongoing API access that bypasses MFA, underscoring the need for tighter consent controls and user education.
On the infrastructure side, Microsoft is reminding users that Windows 10 will reach end of life on October 14, leaving 42% of systems at risk if they do not migrate to Windows 11, despite its broader adoption.
Finally, September's Patch Tuesday introduced issues with SMBv1, breaking legacy dependencies and requiring a workaround while Microsoft develops a fix.
https://redd.it/1no1vfg
@r_k12sysadmin
TalkingPoints users - any recent "wrong language" complaints
For those who use TalkingPoints for communication with families, have you received any complaints recently from parents who received messages in the wrong language, and it seems that TalkingPoints has the correct language info for the parent? We've received 2 complaints like this in the past week, including one where a Hispanic family shared a screenshot of a message they received in Spanish, English, and Assamese. With both complaints, the language was set correctly in TalkingPoints. I do have a ticket in. Thanks!
https://redd.it/1nntox5
@r_k12sysadmin
Expresspoint Keypad solutions before I start throwing devices? 😂
Sole IT guy for my district. Cafeteria has been using PrimeroEdge Expresspoint for awhile now. However, the person running our cafe has changed 3 times in the past year resulting in a massive amount of headaches.
Mainly started with windows machines for POS devices. Head person wanted iPads. Moved to those but keypads were inconsistent. Keypads would work, but the enter key wouldn't actually hit enter in Expresspoint when putting in a person's ID. So the staff had to hit enter on the screen manually.
New head person comes in, doesn't like that (obviously, neither do I). Wants keypads to fully work (yeah, me too). Try going to Chromebooks (as they don't want large Windows laptops or desktops and want touch screens). Same issue as iPads. Get head person to relent and I move users back to Windows machines with external touch displays. Finally all is back to working as it should.
Now however, they want a POS to use as a mobile terminal during breakfasts so kids can grab breakfast from a cart instead of in the cafeteria.
They don't want a laptop as there is no touch screen. They are insistent on a Chromebook or iPad, but still want full functionality of the keypads (which again work, but the enter key does not).
Any other suggestions before I start throwing things and telling them to deal with the hardware I have and what works? 😂
The keypads work in every other piece of software, except for Expresspoint. I have tried different keypads, different inputs, different input languages, hotkeys, etc.
PrimeroEdge support has been less than useful.
Any thoughts would be appreciated!
https://redd.it/1nnvnsb
@r_k12sysadmin