Anuraag Sharma is anticipated to leave his position as chief information officer at the end of summer, according to sources familiar with city personnel issues.
“Technology continues to play an increasingly critical role in our schools and society writ large, and our classrooms must be equipped with the modern-day tools and technology our students need to succeed,” Sharma said when he started.
Attempts to reach Sharma on Thursday were not successful. Sharma was still listed in his role on an internal DOE document last modified on Thursday and obtained by the News.
A spokesman for the public schools declined to comment.
Just months after Sharma started at the education department in the 2019-20 school year, the job of the tech chief changed overnight.
That spring, hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren, plus their teachers and administrators, pivoted to remote classes — and required roughly 500,000 more iPads and access to Wi-Fi to make the switch. Apart from the devices, schools were pushed to embrace online platforms and applications to help kids learn outside the classroom.
Some virtual learning is expected to continue under plans for a citywide program to let students take online classes taught by teachers across the five boroughs. Individual high schools and grades 6-12 schools may also offer remote courses this fall outside the regular school day, reaching all high schools in the 2027-28 school year.
The public schools also ran up against the growing prevalence of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity risks. For the latter, the education department received multiple warnings to get serious about protecting the personal information of students and teachers.
During Sharma’s tenure, the sensitive data of about 45,000 schoolchildren — as well as information about staff and school service providers — were compromised in a worldwide cyber attack that targeted the popular file-transfer software MOVEit, local education officials announced last month.
It was not the first time the city’s public schools were breached.
Last year, the personal data of 820,000 current and former students were compromised in a hack of a widely used online grading, attendance and messaging system from the company Illuminate Education.
Under Sharma’s leadership, the city built its own applications to replace Illuminate’s products that officials promised would be more secure. But the software was rolled out in phases and with limited functionality, leading some schools to turn back to more costly third-party options. Roughly 300 to 700 schools are currently using at least one of the city’s free applications, education officials told a citywide panel Wednesday.
Another cybersecurity incident quietly took place in February, when a bug in a personnel application allowed vendors to see and download the personal information of about 80,000 current or former school employees.
It was not immediately clear who would replace Sharma and when.
Another position, the chief privacy officer, took the majority of last school year to be filled. After Joseph Baranello left in October for a job in the private sector, it took until April for the city to replace him with Dennis Doyle.
Sharma’s departure would be the latest in a summertime exodus of top education officials.
Over the last couple of months, both the department’s Chief Strategy Officer, Savita Bharadwa, and Chief of Communications, Michael Vaughn, parted ways with the administration. Before then, Deputy Chancellor of School Leadership Desmond Blackburn left after a year in the city schools.
Sharma previously held several information and technology posts at various city agencies since 2004, including the health, youth and community, and design and construction departments, according to his LinkedIn.
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