Whitnall Wants to Upgrade District's Wi-Fi System

The is considering providing each student with a mobile internet device, or allowing students to use their own devices for educational experiences in and around school.

But before it does, the district requires major wireless infrastructure upgrades with a price tag of approximately $140,000.

Eric Gran, the district's technology director, told the School Board on Jan. 9 the district needs a better Wi-Fi system to keep up with the changing times that including educational tools that are growing increasingly mobile.

“When students and teachers are sitting idle from a lack of access, it inhibits the educational process,” Gran said in a memo to board members.

The memo said the district’s current Wi-Fi system was never designed to meet student and teachers’ present demand for wireless access, especially as the district evaluates ideas like bring-your-own-technology or a 1:1 computing initiative.

Gran’s plan to keep up with the district’s future needs, or as he put it, to “future-proof” the district, includes a “big project” discounted hardware package from Hewlett Packard that includes wireless access points, controllers and switches and costs $114,000. In addition, installation would cost another $26,000.

The School Board Finance Committee is expected to review and recommend funding. Superintendent Lowell Holtz said the goal would likely be to fund the project in the 2013-14 budget.

If approved by the School Board, Gran estimated a bulk of the project, particularly the 12-week installation process, being completed over the summer.

Right now, there are areas of limited or no coverage in large sections of and and the district’s two elementary schools run on older Wi-Fi technology, and when several devices are running at the same time, the density produces considerable downtime for the user.

A new system would alleviate or eliminate all those issues, as well as improve the immediacy of information access for students and teachers.

The School Board is scheduled to act on the proposal at its second meeting in February.