Litchfield Schools Highlight Fiber Upgrades, Digital Safety, and Drop in Device Breakage During Annual Tech Report

Litchfield Community Unit School District #12 Board Meeting | April 21, 2026

Article Summary: The Litchfield School District’s technology department presented its annual update, detailing the successful implementation of new fiber optic connections, the impact of AI monitoring on student safety, and a significant decrease in broken Chromebooks.

District Technology Report Key Points:

• The South Central Illinois Regional Training and Innovation Center (SCI) is now connected to the district’s fiber optic network, allowing the district to utilize free internet service through the state consortium.

• The “Gaggle” monitoring system flagged over 240 concerning incidents in student digital workspaces this year, including threats of violence and self-harm.

• Chromebook breakage has decreased notably since the district stopped allowing lower-grade students to take their devices home.

• Over the past year, the district logged 736,279 printed pages and 1.1 million copies.

The Litchfield Community Unit School District #12 Board of Education on Tuesday, April 21, 2026, received a comprehensive look at the district’s digital infrastructure during the annual technology update.

Director of Technology Abe Loveless presented the data, outlining the completion of several major infrastructure projects. A standout achievement was the successful installation of fiber optic lines connecting the South Central Illinois Regional Training and Innovation Center (SCI) directly to the high school campus.

Loveless explained that dealing with railroad permitting delayed the project by six months, but the connection now yields substantial savings.

“The district gets our internet service from the Illinois Century Network… we get our internet service for free,” Loveless explained. “By getting them connected to us… we no longer have to pay for internet service out of the SCI center.”

Loveless also detailed the district’s use of “Gaggle,” an AI-driven monitoring software that scans student emails and Google Drive documents for concerning keywords. The system flagged approximately 240 incidents between August and April.

“Anything that a student types into their Google Word, their Google Document… it sees that and then it flags things that could be self-harm… identifying a fight or suicidal thoughts,” Loveless said. If an alert is deemed severe and time-sensitive, Gaggle’s human review team will directly call district administrators until someone is reached, a feature Loveless called “super valuable.”

On the hardware front, the tech department reported that overall help desk tickets are trending downward, largely due to a policy shift regarding student Chromebooks. After noticing a spike in breakage when younger students carried devices to and from home, the district pivoted.

“About two years ago, we decided that they’re really not using them at home to do homework… let’s keep them at school, and I think that has really made a huge difference on our Chromebook breakage,” Loveless noted.

Looking ahead to the 2026-2027 school year, the technology department plans to utilize federal e-Rate Category 2 funding to upgrade the district’s firewall and Wi-Fi equipment. The e-Rate program covers 80 percent of the cost, leaving the district responsible for the remaining 20 percent. Loveless also announced that the district will begin migrating its student management software to Skyward Qmlativ in the summer of 2027, as support for their current, 20-year-old system is gradually being phased out.