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.

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!

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.

K-12 technology teams are being asked to do more than ever, all while managing increasing cybersecurity and student safety risks.

In this session, we'll walk through eight critical audits every district should be running across Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 to uncover hidden vulnerabilities and gain better visibility into daily activity.

We?ll explore real-world risks like third-party app access, suspicious logins, unsafe file sharing, phishing attempts, inappropriate student behavior, VPN usage, and device-related concerns. You?ll learn how to spot these issues early and take action before they escalate.

You'll leave with practical, easy-to-implement strategies to strengthen compliance, speed up investigations, and take a more proactive approach to protecting both data and students.

Whether your priority is security, safety, or visibility, this session will give you actionable insights you can start using right away.

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.

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/

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.

This non-technical, story-driven session is designed for K?12 educators and school staff who want to understand why districts enforce cybersecurity rules. Using a true-crime approach, we?ll examine the ?crime scenes? of real-world cyber incidents that have impacted school districts and uncover how everyday actions, like clicking a phishing link or using an unapproved app, can lead to major consequences.

This session isn?t about firewalls or technical deep dives. It?s about helping educators understand how their decisions impact student data and district security.

This session is specifically designed to help bridge the gap between IT policies and educators' understanding. Whether you're an educator yourself or you?re responsible for helping teachers and staff understand why cybersecurity matters, this session will give you the stories, language, and examples that make security concepts relatable and memorable.

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/

Amplifying EdTech leadership isn't a solo act; it's a full band effort. The work of the Indiana CTO Council is powered by volunteers who design professional learning, explore emerging technologies, build community, advocate for our profession, and create spaces where every leader belongs.

This interactive panel session introduces attendees to the six Indiana CTO Council committees: Professional Learning, Emerging Technologies, Tech Together, Membership, Social Events, and Advocacy. Committee representatives will share why their committee exists, what they've been working on, and where they're headed next. Two committees, Social Events and Advocacy, are new this year, expanding opportunities for connection, voice, and impact.

Following brief panel introductions, attendees will be invited to share ideas, ask questions, and explore how committee work can support the Council's core values and goals. Whether you're looking to contribute your expertise, try something new, or collaborate with peers and partners, this session is your backstage pass to getting involved.

Bring your ideas. Find your place. Help us turn up the volume, together.

Schools are investing more than ever in dashboards, reports, and data systems, yet too many of these tools sit unused, collecting digital dust. In this session, participants will explore practical frameworks and principles for designing data products that staff, administrators, and teams actually want to use. Through presentation and group discussion, participants will examine what separates adopted tools from abandoned ones, and walk away with actionable approaches for building custom data products that connect to real decisions and drive outcomes.