Episode 249 of K12 Tech Talk podcast has Josh, Chris, and Mark discussing their Olympic favorites, the latest news in K12, and the Snow Day Message winner:
Option 3: Code Red - Montgomery County Public Schools (MD)
The episode features an interview with Tyler Kingkade, national reporter at NBC News, about his recent reporting on internal Google documents revealed in litigation. Tyler explains how those slide decks describe K12 as a potential “pipeline” of future users and explores tensions around YouTube’s place in classrooms - useful educational content versus algorithmic rabbit holes. The conversation covers school responses like disabling YouTube for minors, embedding workarounds, and the practical tradeoffs districts face when choosing devices and platforms.
Beyond Google and YouTube, the guys discuss major sector developments: Congress’ decision to keep Department of Education funding roughly level at about $79 billion; PowerSchool’s EdTech Pulse report highlighting teacher workload, recruitment and retention challenges, student absenteeism, and the growing role of data and AI in district priorities; and a ransomware case out of Belgium in which attackers targeted parents directly to extract payments tied to stolen student data.
Articles Discussed:
Google's work in schools aims to create a 'pipeline of future users,' internal documents say (NBC News)
Congress Has Passed an Education Budget. See How Key Programs Are Affected (EdWeek)
2026 K-12 EdTech Pulse (PowerSchool & Project Tomorrow)
Hackers attempt to extort parents after school refuses to pay ransom fee
Connect with Tyler Kingkade:
https://www.nbcnews.com/author/[email protected]
————
Sponsored by:
Rise Vision
Interactive Digital Signage Templates + Touchscreen Displays
Screen Sharing
Emergency Alerts 
VIZOR
 
Meter - meter.com/k12techtalkVisit meter.com/k12techtalk to book a demo!
 
Lightspeed Systems
NTP
Fortinet
————
CALET - Mark will be there! February 18th-20thK12TechPro NEXT in Cape Girardeau, MO February 20thK12SIX Conference in Albuquerque, NM – K12 Tech Talk Podcast - February 24th-26thMidwestTechTalk Security Symposium/K12TechPro Meetup (Midwest) March 12th-13th, 2026
————
Join the K12TechPro Community (exclusively for K12 Tech professionals)
Buy some swag (tech dept gift boxes, shirts, hoodies...)!!!
Email us at [email protected]
OR our "professional" email addy is [email protected]
X @k12techtalkpod
Facebook
Visit our LinkedIn
Music by Colt Ball
Disclaimer: The views and work done by Josh, Chris, and Mark are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions or positions of sponsors or any respective employers or organizations associated with the guys. K12 Tech Talk itself does not endorse or validate the ideas, views, or statements expressed by Josh, Chris, and Mark's individual views and opinions are not representative of K12 Tech Talk. Furthermore, any references or mention of products, services, organizations, or individuals on K12 Tech Talk should not be considered as endorsements related to any employer or organization associated with the guys.

Episode 248 has a listener poll of viral snow-day announcement songs from districts around the country. Check out the videos below and tell us your favorite by emailing us at [email protected]:
Option 1: Benson Boone - Ozarks Schools (MO)
Option 2: Extraordinary - Novi Community School District (MI)
Option 3: Code Red - Montgomery County Public Schools (MD)
The second half of this episode is an interview with Dr. Richard Charles, CIO for the Denver Public Schools. Dr. Charles discusses Denver’s decision to block ChatGPT for students and staff over privacy, safety, and compliance concerns, explains the district’s AI governance and procurement changes, and outlines criteria for safe vendor adoption (data privacy agreements, visibility and guardrails). He also shares alternatives being evaluated, plans for an AI whitelist, and district AI initiatives like knowledge management and partnerships.
https://openai.com/index/our-approach-to-age-prediction/
————
Sponsored by:
Rise Vision
Interactive Digital Signage Templates + Touchscreen Displays
Screen Sharing
Emergency Alerts 
VIZOR
 
Meter - meter.com/k12techtalkVisit meter.com/k12techtalk to book a demo!
 
Managed Methods
IncidentIQ
Fortinet - [email protected]
————
Join the K12TechPro Community (exclusively for K12 Tech professionals)
Buy some swag (tech dept gift boxes, shirts, hoodies...)!!!
Email us at [email protected]
OR our "professional" email addy is [email protected]
X @k12techtalkpod
Facebook
Visit our LinkedIn
Music by Colt Ball
Disclaimer: The views and work done by Josh, Chris, and Mark are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions or positions of sponsors or any respective employers or organizations associated with the guys. K12 Tech Talk itself does not endorse or validate the ideas, views, or statements expressed by Josh, Chris, and Mark's individual views and opinions are not representative of K12 Tech Talk. Furthermore, any references or mention of products, services, organizations, or individuals on K12 Tech Talk should not be considered as endorsements related to any employer or organization associated with the guys.

On this episode we talk about free certifications, Google Gemini updates, and updates to Microsoft’s Copilot Teach and Study & Learn Agents. We discuss SSL certificate lifetime changes and ACME automation. Finally, we unpack and react to last week’s Senate hearing on screen time led by Senator Ted Cruz - including perspectives from Dr. Jean Twenge and Senator Markey.
Senate Hearing on Screen Time:https://www.c-span.org/program/senate-committee/lawmakers-hold-hearing-on-the-impact-of-screen-time-on-kids/671683
————
Sponsored by:
Rise Vision
Interactive Digital Signage Templates + Touchscreen Displays
Screen Sharing
Emergency Alerts 
Lightspeed Systems
 
Meter - meter.com/k12techtalkVisit meter.com/k12techtalk to book a demo!
 
NTP - [email protected]
Extreme Networks - [email protected]
Fortinet - [email protected]
————
Join the K12TechPro Community (exclusively for K12 Tech professionals)
Buy some swag (tech dept gift boxes, shirts, hoodies...)!!!
Email us at [email protected]
OR our "professional" email addy is [email protected]
X @k12techtalkpod
Facebook
Visit our LinkedIn
Music by Colt Ball
Disclaimer: The views and work done by Josh, Chris, and Mark are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions or positions of sponsors or any respective employers or organizations associated with the guys. K12 Tech Talk itself does not endorse or validate the ideas, views, or statements expressed by Josh, Chris, and Mark's individual views and opinions are not representative of K12 Tech Talk. Furthermore, any references or mention of products, services, organizations, or individuals on K12 Tech Talk should not be considered as endorsements related to any employer or organization associated with the guys.

Hosts Josh, Chris, and Mark unpack a week of wild headlines and K12 tech policy: viral AI images that complicated a search for wild vervet monkeys in St. Louis, Denver Public Schools’ decision to block ChatGPT for students, and a preview of a Senate hearing on kids and screen time.
They discuss a Texas district fighting state regulators over bell‑to‑bell phone bans, cybersecurity warnings about teen recruitment by criminal hacking groups, and district‑level debates over academic integrity, AI pilots (including Gemini), and practical controls schools need before adopting consumer‑grade LLMs.
————
Sponsored by:
Rise Vision
Interactive Digital Signage Templates + Touchscreen Displays
Screen Sharing
Emergency Alerts 
VIZOR
 
Meter - meter.com/k12techtalkVisit meter.com/k12techtalk to book a demo!
 
Managed Methods
 
Incident IQ
 
Fortinet - [email protected]
————
Join the K12TechPro Community (exclusively for K12 Tech professionals)
Buy some swag (tech dept gift boxes, shirts, hoodies...)!!!
Email us at [email protected]
OR our "professional" email addy is [email protected]
X @k12techtalkpod
Facebook
Visit our LinkedIn
Music by Colt Ball
Disclaimer: The views and work done by Josh, Chris, and Mark are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions or positions of sponsors or any respective employers or organizations associated with the guys. K12 Tech Talk itself does not endorse or validate the ideas, views, or statements expressed by Josh, Chris, and Mark's individual views and opinions are not representative of K12 Tech Talk. Furthermore, any references or mention of products, services, organizations, or individuals on K12 Tech Talk should not be considered as endorsements related to any employer or organization associated with the guys.

And we're back! We discuss the New Year spike in cyber attacks on schools over the holiday break and practical strategies for vacation periods - automated alerting, third‑party monitoring, suspending or shutting down non‑critical services.
Other topics include what to look for when hiring technician, the rise of remote psycho-educational testing, early findings from the E‑Rate cybersecurity pilot, vendor liability caps in data privacy agreements, and a listener email about student account compromises from downloaded apps and VPNs.
————
Sponsored by:
Meter - meter.com/k12techtalk
Visit meter.com/k12techtalk to book a demo!
 
Rise Vision - Interactive Digital Signage Templates + Touchscreen Displays
ClassLink
Lightspeed
Fortinet - [email protected]
NTP - [email protected]
————
Join the K12TechPro Community (exclusively for K12 Tech professionals)
Buy some swag (tech dept gift boxes, shirts, hoodies...)!!!
Email us at [email protected]
OR our "professional" email addy is [email protected]
X @k12techtalkpod
Facebook
Visit our LinkedIn
Music by Colt Ball
Disclaimer: The views and work done by Josh, Chris, and Mark are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions or positions of sponsors or any respective employers or organizations associated with the guys. K12 Tech Talk itself does not endorse or validate the ideas, views, or statements expressed by Josh, Chris, and Mark's individual views and opinions are not representative of K12 Tech Talk. Furthermore, any references or mention of products, services, organizations, or individuals on K12 Tech Talk should not be considered as endorsements related to any employer or organization associated with the guys.

Josh, Chris, and Mark close out the year on Episode 244 with a fast-paced, candid recap: reviewing last year’s predictions, unpacking the biggest 2025 themes, and making bold calls for 2026. Chris shares a story about Missouri-flavored smoked ribs and a district core switch outage.
Key topics include the mainstreaming of AI in K12, vendor security scrutiny (PowerSchool and Infinite Campus MFA), continued funding uncertainty, device cost, student data privacy, and looming screentime debates.
The hosts share practical takeaways and predictions for 2026! AI, screentime, vendor accountability, tighter budgeting, and more!!!
————
Sponsored by:
Meter - meter.com/k12techtalk
Visit meter.com/k12techtalk to book a demo!
 
NTP - [email protected]
VIZOR
Lightspeed
Fortinet - [email protected]
Managed Methods - managedmethods.com
 
————
Join the K12TechPro Community (exclusively for K12 Tech professionals)
Buy some swag (tech dept gift boxes, shirts, hoodies...)!!!
Email us at [email protected]
OR our "professional" email addy is [email protected]
Call us at 314-329-0363
X @k12techtalkpod
Facebook
Visit our LinkedIn
Music by Colt Ball
Disclaimer: The views and work done by Josh, Chris, and Mark are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions or positions of sponsors or any respective employers or organizations associated with the guys. K12 Tech Talk itself does not endorse or validate the ideas, views, or statements expressed by Josh, Chris, and Mark's individual views and opinions are not representative of K12 Tech Talk. Furthermore, any references or mention of products, services, organizations, or individuals on K12 Tech Talk should not be considered as endorsements related to any employer or organization associated with the guys.

Josh, Chris, and Mark discuss students and screen time - including Australia’s ban on social media accounts for under 16, a NTIA listening session on excessive screen time in schools, and proposed Missouri legislation limiting K‑5 screen use and tech‑required homework. They dig into enforcement and equity concerns, district reporting and instructional use of devices, and the tension between digital literacy and reduced screen exposure.
The main topic is on the rising issue of wearable smart glasses (Meta/Ray Ban) on campus - privacy, covert recording risks, policy implications, and how districts might respond.
————
Sponsored by:
Meter - meter.com/k12techtalk
Visit meter.com/k12techtalk to book a demo!
 
NTP - [email protected]
Fortinet - [email protected]
Managed Methods - managedmethods.com
 
————
Join the K12TechPro Community (exclusively for K12 Tech professionals)
Buy some swag (tech dept gift boxes, shirts, hoodies...)!!!
Email us at [email protected]
OR our "professional" email addy is [email protected]
Call us at 314-329-0363
X @k12techtalkpod
Facebook
Visit our LinkedIn
Music by Colt Ball
Disclaimer: The views and work done by Josh, Chris, and Mark are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions or positions of sponsors or any respective employers or organizations associated with the guys. K12 Tech Talk itself does not endorse or validate the ideas, views, or statements expressed by Josh, Chris, and Mark's individual views and opinions are not representative of K12 Tech Talk. Furthermore, any references or mention of products, services, organizations, or individuals on K12 Tech Talk should not be considered as endorsements related to any employer or organization associated with the guys.

Episode 242 digs into the messy rollout of ChatGPT for Teachers and what it means for districts. We discuss the first‑in admin problem, educator verification (pay‑stub/DNS issues), SSO/SAML concerns, the 18‑month trial/pricing uncertainty, and whether OpenAI rushed the launch to capture market share.
We also cover recent news: the FTC’s action against Illuminate over a 2021 data breach and the Department of Education’s tentative agreements to shift programs to other federal agencies. Plus Jeff from VIZOR joins to explain asset and device management features, repair workflows, and budgeting/ROI.
————
Sponsored by:
Meter - meter.com/k12techtalk
Visit meter.com/k12techtalk to book a demo!
 
Extreme Networks - [email protected]
Fortinet - [email protected]
Lightspeed - lightspeedsystems.com
VIZOR - vizor.cloud/k12techtalk
 
————
Join the K12TechPro Community (exclusively for K12 Tech professionals)
Buy some swag (tech dept gift boxes, shirts, hoodies...)!!!
Email us at [email protected]
OR our "professional" email addy is [email protected]
Call us at 314-329-0363
X @k12techtalkpod
Facebook
Visit our LinkedIn
Music by Colt Ball
Disclaimer: The views and work done by Josh, Chris, and Mark are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions or positions of sponsors or any respective employers or organizations associated with the guys. K12 Tech Talk itself does not endorse or validate the ideas, views, or statements expressed by Josh, Chris, and Mark's individual views and opinions are not representative of K12 Tech Talk. Furthermore, any references or mention of products, services, organizations, or individuals on K12 Tech Talk should not be considered as endorsements related to any employer or organization associated with the guys.