Lightning Chat

Lightning Chat | Episode 10 | Student Data Privacy in Action

Join Jiana Khazma, Product Marketing Manager at Lightspeed Systems, as she chats with Matt Jackson from Fayette County Public Schools, Georgia, about how his district transformed its approach to student data privacy. Discover how Fayette County went from a “wild west” of app and website use to a robust, transparent approval process that puts student safety, instructional value, and community trust first.In this episode, you’ll learn:• How Fayette County vets and approves digital resources using a structured, multi-layered process• What vendors must provide to meet district privacy standards• How ongoing monitoring and transparency build trust with families• The impact of data privacy on tech spending and ROIDon’t miss these practical insights and real-world strategies for making student data privacy a priority in your district!#StudentDataPrivacy #EdTech #K12 #LightningChat #LightspeedSystems

Lightning Chat | Episode 9 | Artificial Intelligence in K-12

Hello everyone, Donal McMahon here, Chief AI Officer at Lightspeed Systems. If you’re reading this, you probably already know: AI is having a moment. And when I say a moment, I mean a seismic shift in how we live, learn, and interact. Since the launch of ChatGPT on November 30th, 2022, we’ve seen user growth like never before—over 800 million users in just 34 months. For context, that’s faster uptake than YouTube, Facebook, Google, or even the internet itself saw in their early years. ChatGPT alone hit 100 million users in a single month. For comparison, Google took nearly six years to reach that mark. The pace is breathtaking, and as someone who’s worked in AI at Google, Indeed, and now Lightspeed, I can tell you: this is truly unprecedented.

Lightning Chat | Episode 8 | Student Reporting in the Era of Cell Phone-Free Schools

Good afternoon, Lightspeed community! I’m Kevin Askew, VP of Sales here at Lightspeed Systems, and I’m excited to welcome you to another episode of Lightning Chat. Today, I was joined by the insightful Erika Johnson, Strategic Account Manager and a veteran building leader with 25 years of experience in Wisconsin schools. Together, we tackled a topic that’s rapidly reshaping the landscape of school safety: how student reporting is evolving as cell phone-free education takes hold.

Lightning Chat | Episode 7 | Safety in the UK

Colin McCabe (General Manager, International) and Shaun Phillips (EMEA Sales Director) dig into the UK Student Safety Report. It combines national data with insights from Lightspeed Alert and Lightspeed StopIt tools to highlight the risks kids face today: bullying, violence, mental health struggles. They reacted to the stats in real-time, sharing their thoughts on what this data means for schools and everyone focused on student safety. Here are some takeaways from our discussion: ○ Bullying Hits Hard: About 40% of UK pupils face bullying yearly, with victims nine times more likely to consider suicide. Physical violence happens most often in schools, where kids should feel safe. ○ Tech Spots Risks Fast: Lightspeed Alert scanned over 454 million pieces of content from August 2024 to May 2025, flagging 82,000 high-risk incidents and 4,000 imminent threats to help schools act quickly. ○ Risks Don’t Stop at the Bell: Concerns spike in evenings, late nights, and during autumn or exam season, showing schools need 24/7 plans to tackle issues like self-harm and cyberbullying. -------------------Lightspeed Systems: https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/Lightspeed Alert: https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/products/lightspeed-alert/Lightspeed StopIt: https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/products/lightspeed-stopit/Get the Report: https://bit.ly/3IwK9s3Get a Demo: https://www.lightspeedsystems.com/request-a-demo/-------------------

Lightning Chat | Episode 6 | The Growing Threat of Phishing Attacks

In Episode 6 of our Lighting Chat series, John Genter, Chief Information Security Officer at Lightspeed Systems, and Brad White, Principal Applications Security Architect, cover the growing threat of phishing attacks targeting K-12 schools. Drawing from their 30+ years of experience in education and cybersecurity, they discuss why schools are vulnerable, recent real-world incidents, and practical, low-cost strategies to combat phishing.