A recently approved new phone and security system upgrade across all buildings in Indian Prairie School District 204 will be installed this summer, officials announced recently during a midyear report on technology spending.
In February, the Indian Prairie Board of Education approved an initial $399,740.87 contract with the firm Rival5 for the installation of a new cloud-based phone system. The existing setup was put in place a dozen years ago.
Rodney Mack, District 204’s chief technology officer, indicated the phone system swap-out is on the docket for July as he gave his report at the board of education’s most recent meeting on Monday, April 8.
Significance of the new phone upgrade
The Rival5 contract will give District 204 access to state-of-the-art technological capabilities, but Mack said there are other considerations in the mix as well, including security enhancements.
“This new solution will put a phone in every classroom,” Mack said. “We currently do have phones in every room in the middle and high schools, but a lot of their phones are more of a closed phone system. They can’t dial out; they can only call to the main office and report something.”
The new setup also will alert district personnel if any one of the approximately 2,700 phones is malfunctioning at any given time with a 24-hour-7 day-a-week monitoring system.
“Right now, our phones are just like the phones from a long time ago — you plug them in, and they work if you get a dial tone,” Mack said. “They don’t actually report out if something is not connected.”
With the ink dried on the agreement between the district and Rival5, Mack indicated preliminary steps for the phone and security system change are already underway.
“They’re working on it now,” he said. “There will be communication going out to the entire community.” Elaborating further on the process, once the heavy lifting takes place, Mack indicated the transition “will take a few days.”
In addition to the initial $399,740.87 contract, Indian Prairie officials have entered into an agreement of $43,218.01 per month with Rival5 for ongoing phone service.
Changes to the Chromebook setup
In his most recent technology report to the board, Mack also discussed the frequency of issuing Chromebooks to students as a part of the ongoing one-to-one device program.
Beginning next year, Mack said all Indian Prairie schools will implement a standardized system, where students receive new Chromebooks in grades 2, 6 and 9. From a budgetary standpoint, Mack said there will be a more streamlined process, going forward, that he anticipates will mitigate budget spikes in some years, compared to others, due to previously uneven processes of distributing new devices to students.
“We’re hoping that reduces the repair and replacement,” Mack said. “This is a little bit more of an ownership, where we can work with the parents and schools and say, ‘This is yours, as a second grader. It’s yours until fifth grade.”
D204 Board members give support
Mack’s report did not require any formal vote from the board at the recent meeting. But several board members did weigh in on the information presented and gave resounding support to the steps Mack and other district staffers are taking on technology policies, procedures and purchases.
School Board President Laurie Donahue said she believed the Chromebook change is practical and will yield all-around positive results.
“I do think it makes a difference when you give a student a Chromebook,” Donahue said. “They will likely treat it more as a possession that is to be valued, rather than something that is turned in at the end of the year. I think that is a creative change that will serve our community well.
Board member Mark Rising praised Mack and others in the district for proactively investing in technology upgrades — particularly in light of ongoing cyber attacks, which have been reported in school districts across the U.S.
“Kudos, because it’s not even a comparison,” Rising said, specifically referencing the new phones. “It’s apples to oranges, compared to where we’ve been. Well done, for protecting our staff, our students and everyone else.”
Image courtesy: Rival5
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