Augusta, ME—The Maine Department of Education’s (DOE) Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) awarded a total of $1.5 million in Cyber Performance Grants to 61 Maine school administrative units (SAUs). These grants fund SAU projects to upgrade end-of-service infrastructure, strengthen managed detection and response for network security, firewalls, and cloud backup services, and to provide professional learning.
The grants were in response to the federal Cybersecurity Act and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) report on K12 education Protecting Our Future, which provides schools with recommendations. These include implementing multifactor authentication, security awareness training, professional development, system backups, patch management, minimizing threat exposure, incident response plans, and investments in CISA’s Cyber Performance Goals. Maine Schools continue to learn and progress through the implementation of CISA’s recommendations.
“Getting a Managed Detection and Response (MDR) with our grant is helping us be a lot more proactive in monitoring our endpoints. It was like hiring a cybersecurity professional to watch over our staff devices and servers,” said Mike Arsenault, Yarmouth IT Director.
“The Cyber Performance Grant provided a firewall as an additional layer of defense against cyber threats, offering redundancy to enhance our overall security resilience, ensuring continuous protection, and minimizing the risk of unauthorized access or malicious activities on a network,” said Dr. Dave Fournier, RSU71 Belfast IT Director.
The cyber performance grant is a part of the Maine Learning Technology Initiative’s comprehensive set of supports that include software, broadband and wireless network support, technical support, professional learning, and cyber safety, which together aid all local school units to effectively use technology for teaching and learning.
Have questions? Want to learn more? Reach out to MLTI’s Infrastructure Specialist, Jim Chasse at james.chasse@maine.gov.
Maine SAUs Receiving Cyber Performance Grants
| 1 | Acton Public Schools | 22 | Nobleboro Public Schools | 43 | RSU 61 |
| 2 | Auburn Public Schools | 23 | RSU 01 | 44 | RSU 68 |
| 3 | Bangor Public Schools | 24 | RSU 04 | 45 | RSU 71 |
| 4 | Bar Harbor Public Schools | 25 | RSU 06 | 46 | RSU 75 |
| 5 | Biddeford Public Schools | 26 | RSU 09 | 47 | RSU 83/MSAD 13 |
| 6 | Boothbay-Boothbay Harbor CSD | 27 | RSU 11 | 48 | Scarborough Public Schools |
| 7 | Bristol Public Schools | 28 | RSU 14 | 49 | South Bristol Public Schools |
| 8 | Brunswick Public Schools | 29 | RSU 15 | 50 | South Portland Public Schools |
| 9 | Cranberry Isles Public Schools | 30 | RSU 16 | 51 | Southwest Harbor CSD |
| 10 | Ellsworth Public Schools | 31 | RSU 17 | 52 | St. George Public Schools |
| 11 | Falmouth Public Schools | 32 | RSU 18 | 53 | Tremont Public Schools |
| 12 | Glenburn Public Schools | 33 | RSU 20 | 54 | Trenton Public Schools |
| 13 | Great Salt Bay CSD | 34 | RSU 25 | 55 | Vassalboro Public Schools |
| 14 | Kittery Public Schools | 35 | RSU 29 | 56 | Waterville Public Schools |
| 15 | Lisbon Public Schools | 36 | RSU 33 | 57 | Wells-Ogunquit CSD |
| 16 | Madawaska Public Schools | 37 | RSU 35 | 58 | Westbrook Public Schools |
| 17 | Millinocket Public Schools | 38 | RSU 40 | 59 | Winslow Schools |
| 18 | Mount Desert Public Schools | 39 | RSU 52 | 60 | Yarmouth Public Schools |
| 19 | MSAD 27 | 40 | RSU 56 | 61 | York Public Schools |
| 20 | MSAD 76 | 41 | RSU 57 | ||
| 21 | Mt. Desert CSD | 42 | RSU 60 |