Episode Details

Olathe Unified School District: Cisco Helps K-12 Build Secure, Resilient, AI-Ready Infrastructure, Podcast, Umphrey brings a distinctive perspective to the CTO role. Before moving into technology leadership, he was a high school history and government teacher at Olathe East High School, where he also coached football and boys golf

By Doug Green

“For partners, the message is simple: don’t bring a cookie-cutter approach. Understand the district, understand the mission, and tailor the solution.”

At Cisco Live, Technology Reseller News spoke with Joshua Umphrey, Chief Technology Officer for Olathe Unified School District in Kansas, about how one of the state’s largest school districts is building a secure, resilient and AI-ready digital foundation for K-12 education.

Olathe serves nearly 30,000 students across 51 schools. Like many school districts, Olathe faces enterprise-level technology challenges in a public-sector environment: protecting students and staff, keeping systems available, managing limited resources and preparing for emerging demands such as AI in education.

Umphrey brings a distinctive perspective to the CTO role. Before moving into technology leadership, he was a high school history and government teacher at Olathe East High School, where he also coached football and boys golf.

“Definitely an atypical route,” Umphrey said, reflecting on his move from the classroom into IT leadership.

That background still shapes how he views technology. For Umphrey, the network is not simply infrastructure. It is part of the learning environment. Technology has to protect students, support teachers, keep learning moving and help the district plan for what comes next.

In the podcast, Umphrey discusses how Olathe is using Cisco networking, security, Splunk, Cisco UCS, Call Manager and Cisco CX offerings to improve visibility, cybersecurity and resilience across the district. The goal is to move from reactive support to a stronger model of operational control, where IT teams have better insight into what is happening across the environment and can respond more effectively.

The conversation also turns to what Cisco Partners and technology providers should understand about serving K-12. School districts are not interchangeable. They have different budgets, facilities, staffing models, security needs and educational priorities.

For partners, Umphrey’s message is clear: K-12 customers need practical, secure and manageable solutions that are aligned with the mission of education. The sale is not simply about products. It is about helping schools protect learning time, reduce risk and build a technology foundation that can support students, teachers and staff over the long term.

Learn more about Cisco education solutions at cisco.com.