Schools
New Phone System for Nazareth Area Schools
After 15 years, a new phone system will be installed as school board approves $162,942 cost.
After about 15 years—what an official called “an eternity” in the technology world—Nazareth area schools are getting a new telephone system.
The school board Monday night awarded a $162,942 contract to Guyette Communications Industries Corp. of Plymouth (Luzerne County) to install a new NEC phone system.
NEC is the Japanese-based manufacturer.
In a related item, the board approved an $18,400 payment for HP PoE switches for the new phone system.
According to the board’s agenda, the new phone system is part of the district’s five-year technology plan. The equipment and installation will be bought through the PEPPM (Pennsylvania Education Purchasing Program for Microcomputers) state contract and funded through the Capital Projects Fund for Technology.
Michael Uelses, the district’s director of information technology who used the word “eternity” in connection with the new system, gave the board a brief overview and answered a question about why the $18,400 in switches are needed.
The switches, also part of the five-year plan, will be bought through the COSTARS (Cooperative Sourcing to Achieve Reductions in Spend) state contract and funded through the Capital Projects Fund.
In another spending item, the board approved $55,070 to buy interactive projectors and associated data cabling for the intermediate school. This project also will go through the COSTARS and Capital Projects process.