Bigfork schools to upgrade computer network
Bigfork School District can look forward to a faster, improved computer network for the upcoming school year.
At a recent board meeting trustees approved a five-year contract with local company MontanaSky for $3,149 a month.
The biggest upgrade will be when the district is tied into a fiber network that will significantly improve speed and bandwidth.
Since the district agreed to the five-year deal, Montana Sky waived a $28,900 fee to re-engineer the district’s network and reinstall devices such as computers, printers and other network components.
Montana Sky already provides the district with off-site data backup and email services. These will continue under the new contract. The contract also gives the district 60 hours a month of information technology services and support.
Currently, the district pays $3,388 a month to manage its network. This means the district will pay about $239 less for the new contract. The money primarily will come from a district technology fund, supplemented by federal money through the E-Rate program that helps schools obtain affordable services and technology.
As technology changes, the existing network has undergone multiple upgrades, leaving a patchwork infrastructure.
“It was literally a Band-Aid on heart surgery,” Troy Waller of MontanaSky said about resolving connectivity issues. “That’s why we’re going to do it for free. We’d go broke supporting the infrastructure without us fixing it first.”
The services MontanaSky will provide will help current Bigfork teacher and technology director Don Richardson focus on providing support for the district’s numerous devices such as iPads and projectors.
“We’ve put so much technology on him he’s had to connect it as well as he could,” Superintendent Cynthia Clary said at a board meeting.
Clary also noted that Richardson is on a teacher’s contract where he isn’t scheduled to work during the summer. With MontanaSky, she said, the new network will be up and running before school starts.
Down the road, the district also is considering securing money for a new phone system where calls are made over the Internet through Voice Over Internet Protocol.
Installation of a new phone system would cost $34,464 based on Waller's estimates and an additional monthly charge of $1,550.
District Clerk Eda Taylor said she already had some ideas on funding a new phone system, which would improve communication and safety by having a single system throughout the district.
Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.