The De Soto School District will pay more than a quarter of a million dollars to improve the district’s internet connectivity and technology performance.
De Soto Board of Education members voted 6-0 on March 5 to pay Provision Data Solutions in St. Louis $255,265 for the project.
According to board documents, the majority of the bid is for equipment, cloud management, including recurring costs, and installation, altogether totaling $250,656.
Provision Data Solutions must install the equipment by July 1, according to board documents.
Superintendent Josh Isaacson said 70 percent of that cost will be reimbursed by the federal E-rate program, which is designed to make internet connectivity and telecommunication services more affordable for schools and libraries, according to the Federal Communications Commission.
Isaacson said the board authorized an additional $4,609, which is not E-rate-reimbursable, to replace switches at the district’s central office. He said that is not E-rate reimbursable because there are no students at the central office.
“The reimbursement amount from E-rate on this project is $175,459.20,” said Isaacson, adding that the remaining $79,805.80 will come from the district’s technology fund.
According to the board documents, the project includes about 58 network switches and one network switch supporting 100 gigabit connection to the primary WAN (wide area network) circuit. A switch links different devices that are part of the same network.
Isaacson said the project will not only improve internet connectivity but it will improve performance when downloading and using technology.
“The district already has the updated cabling in place and the (new) switches will allow the district to (increase internet speed),” he said.
The district received bids from two companies. The other one was from Heartland Business Systems for a Fortinet switch design at a cost of $242,052.99. According to the board documents, the Provision Data Solutions bid was not the lowest but was the best.
“The overall design was determined to better meet the long-term needs of the district,” said Deana Pope, the district’s director of technology.