Arlington to boost school Internet capacity

The Arlington School Board will greatly improve its broadband width as early as this summer at no cost through the Vermont FiberConnect project.

The school board Wednesday unanimously decided to go ahead with the broadband upgrades that have been described as going from broadband lines the size of a garden hose to a culvert. The district will then have a monthly fee for services from SoverNet of approximately $860.

The upgrades will greatly increase the speed and effectiveness of the district's computer system. Currently the system slows down when too much data is being used at the same time in the schools, forcing the district to ask people to stay off the computers when administration is doing payrolls.

The Vermont FiberConnect project federally funds the infrastructure upgrades that will be done by Education Networks of America.

"One of the big things with that contract is basically we get $100,000 of infrastructure for free," Chairman Todd Wilkins said.

ENA has a contract with the state Department of Education to provide managed connectivity and communication services to interested schools using Sovernet Communications' fiber assets, which would link schools to an education network.

Once installed, the district would be charged $2,150 per month for fiber optic services, about 60 percent of which would be reimbursed through E-Rate funding.

ENA also works with the district to ensure it maximizes E-Rate reimbursements -- a federally subsidized discount schools may receive for many technology- related expenses.
The school district has also talked about doing $125,000 worth of internal infrastructure upgrades that would go hand-in-hand with the broadband upgrades to increase the data capability and technology speeds in Fisher Elementary and Arlington Memorial Middle and High School. A conceptual budget presented to the board in January by CompuWorks recommended $64,000 for hardware upgrades, $13,000 for software upgrades that could be installed for $48,000.

Arlington could fund the project through the technology sinking fund, which voters added $98,000 to on Town Meeting Day.

March 16, 2012

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