theVoice rockfordchamber.com April 2014
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Guest Perspective INSIGHT
2014 Academy Expo to go regional Plans to expand to include Belvidere About 5,000 Rockford Public Schools students entered the doors of the BMO Harris Bank Center last September for the Academy Expo. In order for students to reach the 140 booths that would help them make their high school academy choices, they had to walk through a gauntlet of clapping and cheering volunteers. Some students high-fived the volunteers; some students wore sheepish smiles. But they all reveled in the support from their community. We want to make that great experience even better. For the 2014 Academy Expo, we’re opening the event to students of Belvidere Public Schools as well as our own. We want to do everything we can as a region to attract, retain and recruit young talent. We want to showcase the region’s economic opportunities so we have the best chance for students to stay in the area -- or to come back home after their schooling and training is done. We know job opportunities don’t stop at the boundaries of District 205, or the boundaries of any of our regional school districts, for that matter. The expo is designed to introduce students to a variety of careers. Much more than a field trip, it’s a critical step in choosing an academy to enter for their next three years of high school. The allday format allows a comprehensive college and career readiness focus. It’s an extremely successful event, but we think we can build on the success.
Expanding the Scope of Expo Expanding now makes sense for these reasons: ■■ Less than half the number of RPS students will participate at the expo this fall. Last fall, because of the academy rollout schedule, we needed to prepare a few more high school class levels for their
choices. This coming September, just the freshmen at our high schools will be attend the expo. That will free up room at the BMO Harris Bank Center. ■■ Belvidere will help shoulder the cost of running the expo, always a factor in getting the best value for our public education dollar. ■■ Adding Belvidere means as many as 30 more businesses at the table (actually, the booths). Among the targeted additions: Chrysler, the region’s biggest employer, as well as many of the company’s suppliers. ■■ Partnering with the Belvidere district -- and showing our willingness to expand – could save us from offering a more limited expo if other districts start hosting their own events. Businesses might be unable to commit to more than one event a year. ■■ While Belvidere doesn’t have high school academies like Rockford, the expo day still is a great way to excite students and promote college and career readiness. The expansion idea came out of discussions with Alignment Rockford. ■■ In the next three years, we’ll explore adding Hononegah and Harlem to the expo, too. Ultimately we’d like to include all public schools in Winnebago and Boone counties, expanding our business footprint to the entire region. After last year’s expo, we surveyed the nearly 600 industry experts who staffed the booths. An astounding 98 percent of those businesses wanted to come back and help. It only makes sense – for students, for the community and for the region’s economy – to share the wealth. Dr. Ehren Jarrett is superintendent of Rockford Public Schools. The views expressed are those of Dr. Jarrett’s and do not necessarily represent those of the Rockford Chamber of Commerce.
Are you ready for the new credit card transaction standards? Regulations effective this year
Douglas Berry SVA
The PCI (Payment Card Industry) Security Standards Council, a body established by the large credit card companies, released a new Data Security Standard (DSS) for credit card transactions. The standard is designed to incorporate security awareness into merchants’ daily routines. PCI DSS requires companies to protect credit card terminals from physical tampering, to compile an inventory of system components that comply with the standards and to evaluate evolving malware threats. Organizations that breach the standard might be fined up to $500,000 per incident or face revocation of processing privileges. And in the event of a data breach, organizations also might be forced to make disclosures to customers. The regulations are effective Jan. 1, 2014, and organizations have until the end of 2014 to ensure compliance.
American Express, Discover and JCB. The card companies follow the standard and enforce it on merchants’ banks that in turn enforce the standards on merchants. All businesses conducting credit card transactions are affected. Debit, credit and prepaid cards that carry one of the five major payment card company brands also are included in the scope of the PCI DSS. Larger merchants (such as “Level 1 merchants” with more than six million transactions per year) will be required to provide expensive on-site security assessments and quarterly network scans from an approved vendor (cost estimates run from $50,000 to $1.5 million for an on-site security assessment). Smaller merchants are required to perform an annual PCI DSS self-assessment and attest that they are eligible to and have performed the self-assessment. Because of the complex nature of completing the PCI DSS self-assessment, organizations often enlist the help of security professionals. SVA can assist your organization by designing agreedupon procedures to help you gain the assurance you need to confidently attest to your self-assessment, through its partnership with CompliancePoint, Inc., a PCI qualified security assessor. If you would like more information, please contact me at 608-826-2225 or John Himmelspach at 262-923-5177.
Ramping Up Basic Security Practices
Douglas Berry is principal with SVA Certified Public Accountants.
The new PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) establishes baseline security practices for major payment-card companies including Visa, MasterCard,
The views expressed are those of Berry’s and do not necessarily represent those of the Rockford Chamber of Commerce.
PCI DSS requires companies to protect credit card terminals from physical tampering, to compile an inventory of system components that comply with the standards and to evaluate evolving malware threats.