To that end, the school board this week approved an agreement to work with Micro Integration, a South Bend company, to update the school’s technology infrastructure. The work is expected to take place within the next couple of weeks. Johnon said the idea of updating the network came about when the board realized that trying to stay up-to-date by updating one piece at a time was no longer cutting it.
“What precipitated this entire change is we have been able to keep up slowly but surely with certain areas of our technology, but we’ve just reached the point of critical mass, and things were just not working and not connecting well. So we had to update the infrastructure, and we are doing that, the board is committed to that, and certainly it is the future of our children,” said Johnson.
While the price tag of $130,000 is definitely a large commitment, Johnson said it will pave the way toward a one-to-one technology initiative in the future. Teachers were given iPads this year and students may receive iPads in the future, Johnson said, and with more and more courses being offered online, having this infrastructure in place with devices for students to use opens more options for education.
Johnson said this is the best time to get the infrastructure updated.
“This gets us in a perfect position in a short time to come to add, to go to true wireless – a wifi system. So it’s very exciting, it’s quite a commitment, but certainly for the future of all of our students,” said Johnson.
The cost of the upgrade is within budget, Johnson said, and she expects the upgrade to take place before the end of the year.
