North Cook News

At its June 14 meeting, The River Trails School District 26 Board of Education heard from Matt Tombs, the district's director of innovation and technology, about how organizational communication has improved and how cybersecurity has been strengthened.

“Establishing and maintaining effective network communication is a really important thing for organizations," Tombs said. "And this past year, the River Trails School District has really been committed to improving our networks of communication through the implementation of new systems and tools.”

Tombs detailed the district's activity on YouTube, and its viewership.

“Since July, we have livestreamed 45 events on YouTube and Facebook and we've had over 16,000 total views," Tombs said. "These events include school board meetings, sporting events, end-of-the-year celebrations, concerts. And all of these events allow for a level of transparency, a level of access, and a level of awareness of what we do here in the district and our goals.”

The district has over 900 followers on its Facebook page, 166 subscribers to its YouTube page, and almost 640 followers on Twitter. The district has posted 13 school board meetings to YouTube since July of 2021. The videos average 100 views with some getting more than 600 views.

The school district has also focused on improving its cyber security. It works with an organization called Forward Edge to protect its systems and information, and analyzed its activities to better implement protection where needed. It also set up two-factor authentication for all staff members to increase security.