2026 INCTO Clinic

Discover how a strategic shared-services agreement can revitalize district infrastructure while optimizing fiscal resources. In this session, Superintendent Trent McCormick and Technology Director Ben Burris share their firsthand experience rebuilding technology departments across multiple districts.
The presenters will break down the dual benefits of this model: achieving significant cost savings for school corporations while providing increased compensation for the director. Burris will provide a deep dive into the operational logistics of managing two distinct districts simultaneously, while McCormick offers the administrative perspective on overseeing a shared-services agreement from the superintendent?s office.
Key Takeaways:
The Financial Win-Win: Learn how to structure an agreement that reduces district overhead while offering a more competitive salary for top-tier talent.
Operational Logistics: Strategies for managing dual calendars, distinct staff cultures, and competing technical priorities without burnout.
Administrative Oversight: Guidance for Superintendents on drafting, implementing, and evaluating a shared-services contract.
Scalable Infrastructure: How to use shared leadership to standardize and modernize technology across district lines.

In this session, we'll discuss resources that are available for new or aspiring technology directors/CTO's. Bring your questions and together we'll explore how to achieve success in this critical role.

Districts often fall into the "Data Rich, Information Poor" trap?investing tens of thousands in robust platforms that fail to drive actual change. This session shares the journey of moving away from underutilized, high-cost vendor solutions toward a custom, district-driven data ecosystem using Looker Studio. By leveraging accessible tools and AI-assisted workflows, any district can move past "spreadsheets of scores" to visual, actionable dashboards that teachers, administrators, and board members actually use.
We will explore the leadership strategy behind this shift, highlighting how data staff can bridge the gap between technical infrastructure and strategic planning. See real-world examples of custom dashboards used to navigate new Indiana math requirements, empower teachers to make impactful instructional decisions based on assessment data, automate at-risk student identification, and analyze enrollment and withdrawal trends to inform long-range capital planning. This isn't just a technical overview; it?s a blueprint for maximizing interoperability and sustainable infrastructure while prioritizing usability and high-level decision-making over costly contracts.

Relentless Leadership
Hamish Brewer is an award-winning leader and school turnaround expert who has turned around multiple schools, both at the elementary and secondary levels, working with some of the most at-risk students in America. Hamish will share his secrets to his success in this inspiring, high-octane presentation. Let's laser focus in on key areas for growth in your leadership journey, practices and processes that align to successful school and student outcomes. You will walk away with practical solutions and ideas to key education challenges around organizational improvement, closing the achievement gap, stakeholder engagement and culture and that will help you like Hamish has done to create an award-winning organization. Own your leadership and own your legacy!

The art of working at a natural pace to avoid burnout. We all have that pile of work that just never ends. We are problem solvers, but when everything is a problem; the tasks start to weigh on you. This course will help teach you some starting tools to be productive at a natural pace.

With federal pandemic relief funds no longer available to support technology programs, many school districts are confronting hard budget decisions about the future of their 1:1 device initiatives. As 1:1 programs matured rapidly during the pandemic, the expiration of this targeted funding has left leaders searching for sustainable paths forward. Districts are now exploring creative approaches to extend device lifecycles, secure alternative revenue streams, and integrate technology more effectively into day-to-day learning ? all while balancing tight budgets and growing expectations for digital access.

In this session, Secured Tech experts will share actionable insights and proven strategies for building sustainable 1:1 technology programs that support instruction, equity, and operational efficiency long into the future. Attendees will learn how districts are:
Extending device lifecycles and reducing costly replacements through smart repair and refresh planning. Reimagining funding models and workflows to support technology as an ongoing operational priority rather than a one-time purchase. Leveraging partnerships, process improvements, and proactive planning to align technology goals with district budgets and academic outcomes.

Whether your district is just beginning to rethink 1:1 sustainability or is already piloting new strategies, this session will provide practical guidance, real-world examples, and opportunities for peer conversation that empower you to keep technology working for students and educators without relying on temporary funding.

Consolidation is key to creating a seamless, high-impact digital environment. For today's district leaders, managing a patchwork of tools from websites to attendance point solutions can create barriers to engagement and limit visibility across systems. A unified approach allows districts to move beyond disconnected workflows and create more consistent, meaningful experiences for families.

In this session, district leaders will share how unifying web presence, attendance interventions, online payments, and phone calling into a single platform improves engagement and oversight across the district. You'll explore how consolidation simplifies the family experience, improves clarity for staff, and supports responsible data practices, while turning your technology ecosystem into a powerful tool for connection and student success.

With AI tools multiplying fast, CTOs are being asked to evaluate, implement, and secure platforms at a pace that can feel like improv. This session breaks down the key tracks every technology leader should have on their setlist ? from vetting tools and managing data privacy to building buy-in with instructional leaders and the board.

Many of the challenges that land on our desks are not technology failures, but confusion failures: families who miss key steps, staff who misunderstand expectations, or communities who don't see the work happening behind the scenes. These gaps create risk, rework, and erosion of trust, often without anyone realizing where the breakdown occurred.

In this practical, Monday-morning-ready session, participants will explore how everyday edtech systems either reduce confusion or unintentionally multiply it. Using familiar examples from AI guidance, data privacy communication, cybersecurity processes, enrollment workflows, and support systems, this session reframes visibility and amplification as infrastructure, embedded in the systems and workflows leaders already manage.

Attendees will walk through an "amplification check" to identify where messages get distorted, delayed, or lost, and will leave having identified one concrete system or workflow they can clarify or improve immediately. The focus is on strengthening consistency and building trust through intentional system design, so the work of edtech leadership is understood, supported, and sustained.


Partner Map

For those who are a part of the TLE Cohort for Indiana Cohort, this will be a productive face to face time of working towards the TLE Seal application.

For those interested come and chat about why student data privacy best practices in can become a focus of your district in the areas of your Leadership, Business, PD, Data Security and Classroom practices.
https://www.cosn.org/edtech-topics/trusted-learning-environment/

When a cyber incident hits your district, there's no time for improvisation: leaders need a clear playbook and the confidence to take the stage. In this interactive session, technology directors will work through a practical incident response template designed specifically for K-12 schools.

Using straightforward guidance and facilitated discussion, participants will begin outlining key roles, response steps, communication pathways, and financial safeguards needed to lead their district through a cyber crisis. Emphasis will be placed on governance decisions during the first critical hours of an incident, coordination with executive leadership, and protecting operational and financial stability.

Attendees will leave with a ready-to-use incident response framework, progress toward completing their own plan, and a set of clear action items to continue building or refining their district?s disaster recovery and response strategy.

If your district does not yet have a formal incident response or disaster recovery plan, this is where you need to be.

Hard Hats & Smart Classrooms focuses on practical tips and proven strategies to help K12 school construction and renovation projects run more smoothly.

Please join Bill Rader, Director of Technology at Danville Community School Corporation, as he shares real-world lessons learned, common pitfalls to avoid, and simple planning techniques that improve communication, reduce surprises, and keep projects on track. Attendees will gain actionable insights on coordinating with architects, construction managers, contractors, and technology teams to ensure construction decisions support efficient implementation and future-ready learning spaces.

Upgrading a school phone system is often more complex than expected, involving far more than choosing between vendors or replacing handsets. This session is a retrospective of a real K-12 phone system upgrade, focused on the hidden decisions and dependencies many tech directors don?t realize they need to consider.
Topics include evaluating cloud-based versus on-premises systems, understanding upfront and recurring costs, navigating licensing models and feature sets, determining who actually needs a phone, and planning for safety requirements such as E-911. The session will also explore operational considerations like paging systems and how to minimize phone outages caused by internet or WAN disruptions.
The project was approached with guidance from a manufacturer-agnostic partner whose role was to help identify these often-overlooked factors and ask the right questions?not to promote a specific solution. Multiple manufacturers and vendors were evaluated before a final decision was made.
Rather than focusing on products or sales, this session shares the practical lessons learned and professional perspective gained from the process, helping K-12 tech directors better plan, communicate, and confidently approach their own phone system upgrades.

Learn the value of being a 360 leader through a fun comparative analysis of John Maxwell's 360 Degree Leader and the hit show, Ted Lasso.

Amplify Impact: How AI is Transforming K-12 Tech Teams
AI is no longer a future concept?it?s a practical tool reshaping how K-12 technology teams operate every day. In this session, Billy Bass shares how Five Star Technology Solutions is leveraging AI to streamline workflows, reduce response times, and create more consistent, scalable support systems.

From reimagining ticketing into a unified, tiered model through SPARK to automating resource dispatch based on ticket content and technician skillsets, this session highlights real-world strategies that are driving efficiency and improving outcomes. Attendees will also explore how tools like Gemini for Education can be used securely to enhance operations while maintaining strong data protection practices.

Walk away with actionable ideas to simplify processes, better support your teams, and amplify the impact of your IT organization.

In K12, the best tech decisions aren’t about chasing shiny new tools. They’re about protecting what really counts: learning, data, and daily operations. Join us for a lively, hands-on conversation about using a simple RACI framework to figure out what your team should handle and what might be better to outsource.  
We’ll share practical ways to frame your technology investments so they connect with what Superintendents and Boards care about most like compliance, security, and keeping things running smoothly. You’ll walk away with a clear plan for where your team’s time makes the biggest impact and how the right partners can help reduce risk, improve reliability, and give your staff more time to focus on instruction.

For those who are a part of the TLE Cohort for Indiana Cohort, this will be a productive face to face time of working towards the TLE Seal application.

For those interested come and chat about why student data privacy best practices in can become a focus of your district in the areas of your Leadership, Business, PD, Data Security and Classroom practices.
https://www.cosn.org/edtech-topics/trusted-learning-environment/

Guided by insights from this year's Driving K-12 Innovation Advisory Board, participants will explore the 2026 Top Topics: Hurdles that impede progress, the Accelerators that propel it, and the Tech Enablers that support it. Participants will also have the chance to dig deeper into the Top Topics with fellow attendees to share how these concepts are intersecting in their work.