Upgrades to improve schools’ Internet access

As published in the Record Journal Friday December 14, 2012

By Russell Blair
Record-Journal staff
rblair@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2225

WALLINGFORD - Wireless Internet at the town’s high schools and middle schools will be faster and more easily accessible after upgrades to the network are completed.

The Board of Education approved more than $500,000 in technology and maintenance upgrades this week. School Superintendent Salvatore Menzo said the improvements are being paid for out of the district’s unencumbered fund balance, money budgeted for the current fiscal year that hasn’t been spent.

The bulk of the expense, $284,000, comes from wireless upgrades. Randall Backus, the district’s director of information technology services, said upgrades are necessary because the networks haven’t been improved since wireless was first installed in the schools five or six years ago.

“Our current wireless infrastructure was engineered back when the only devices connecting wirelessly were one teacher laptop per classroom, to be used for basic tasks,” Backus wrote in a memo to Board of Education members. “Since then, the demands for wireless access have increased.”

Menzo said the wireless upgrades are also needed for the school district to roll out a “Bring Your Own Device” program, which would allow students to bring smart phones, laptops or tablets into the classroom for educational use.Other technology purchases include a new network filing system, a new data backup and restoration service and new email archiving software. Menzo said with the current system, restoring the server can take days.

“This (upgrade) allows us to restore in a matter of hours,” he said.

Fileway, the new network software, will allow teachers and other staff to access the school network remotely so they can work from any location using any device.

“We’re trying to help the teachers with the efficiency they need to do their jobs,” Menzo said.

Board of Education member Christine Mansfield said the technology upgrades are overdue. Expanding wireless access is cheaper than adding computer labs, which require more maintenance and air conditioned rooms, she said.

“There’s a lot of efficiency in these proposals,” Mansfield said. “Prices have come down from where they were a year ago. It’s not overspending, we’re catching up.”

In the area of maintenance, the district plans to buy two service vehicles, replacing a utility van used by an electrician and a plow truck that has suffered repeated broken brake lines. Air conditioning will also be installed in several classrooms at Moran Middle School. The total cost of the maintenance projects is $157,000.

Menzo said the district was able to afford the purchases through savings in several areas of the budget, including personnel costs. When teachers take unpaid leaves of absence — this year, that number will be 30 to 40 — substitutes are brought in at a substantial savings