Mon Jun 14 2010, 7:00pm
District Meeting Room Portable
Regular Meeting

ACTION ITEMS

Telephone Upgrade Proposal

The current telephone system used by Woodland Public Schools is state of the art.... for 1990.    We have three telephone PBX switches between our four down river schools.  Though they are all made by Toshiba they are different switches.  The WPS Switch integrates well with the WHS/WMS PBX switch so that their integration is seamless to the user.  The WIS switch, simply put, does not integrate at all with the other switches and is connected through a remote access port that very much limits functionality between schools.

 All of the switches access the telephone company through copper wire, or what telephone professionals call "POTS" lines (Plain Old Telephone Service)  each one of these lines costs the district about $60 per month and there are multiples into each switch.  At last count we had 42 lines coming into our buildings.  (exclusive of Yale)  

This proposal would eliminate most of the POTS Lines, leaving one in each location for Security System (and possibly FAX)  All others would be replaced by a circuit called a PRI  (Primary Rate Interface).   A PRI Circuit is a "T-1" line that goes from the WHS/WMS Campus to the Telephone Company and offers 23 lines of connectivity to be shared by the schools.  (There are 24 channels but the 24th channel is used to manage non-voice information and control traffic on the other 23 lines).  The monthly cost of the PRI is $699 before taxes, likely about $800 with taxes.

This proposal would also replace the PBX at WIS with one that will play well with the PBX at WHS/WMS.  We will utilize a channel on the existing fiber loop between the WIS/WHS campus to carry information between the two PBX switches.

Why Make the change?

1) Decreased monthly costs.  The replacement  of most of the POTS lines will save the district an estimated $625 per month in line charges.  It is estimated that the entire system will be paid for within 35 months.

2) Increase functionality.  This proposal would increase functionality by adding DID capability (Direct Inward Dial).  Essentially any phone we wish to assign a telephone number, able to be dialed directly from the outside world, will have one.  The cost of DID is 15 cents per month.   We would also increase our voicemail capacity to accommodate increased communication from parents to teachers, etc.  Intra District telephone calls would not tie up this PRI circuit.  They would route through the switches (currently calls between WIS and the rest of the district tie up two POTS lines when a call is made)

3) Increased Capacity.  There are times, almost daily, when callers get a busy signal when calling the schools.  This is because, though we have multiple POTS lines coming into various locations each location may have only 4 or 5 lines that can be accessed simultaneously.   With this system we can have 23 simultaneous telephone calls occurring across the district at any one time.   In schools this is particularly effective because of the staggered start/stop/lunch schedules.   Telephone traffic is most intense in short periods before and after the school day and during the lunch hours.

4) Increased Control.  The upgrade will allow for local or remote management of the system at the desktop level. Our own Tech department will be trained to do most of the management that currently we are paying Matrix for.  When Matrix is involved the costs will be lower because they can do more remote management.

5) Safety Enhancement.  With this system we will be able, if we wish, to add E-911 services.  Currently when a call goes from any phone to 911 it shows up as Woodland School District.  E-911 allows identification down to the handset level to be sent to emergencey services.

6) Increased Commuication.  With this system upgrade I am proposing an upgrade to our current voicemail system.  Currently we have a very old, PC based four port voicemail system that has very limited storage capacity (three hours)  because of these limitations we are very selective about who has voicemail.  With the voicemail upgrade we will be able to store 100 hours of voice, deliver voice mail to outlook boxes, and potentially provide voicemail access for all staff in the district.  (We would likely move the current voicemail system from WIS to Yale to provide them the same functionality. 

 

To pay for this system we anticipate using funds in Capital Projects Fund that come from State Forest Revenues to the DSF and are transfered to CPF.

Monthly utilities savings would impact the General Fund Budget.

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Attached are the proposals from Integra (the PRI vendor) and Matrix (Our Telephone vendor) for your review.

Also attached is a brief analysis of payback period for the investment.

Attached Files:
Integra Savings.pdf application/octect-stream 48B
Matrix Quote.pdf application/octect-stream 118B
Telephone Repayment Estimate.pdf application/octect-stream 24B