Oxford School officials are considering spending a potential $555,000 to update the district’s wireless network to keep up with its growing student population.

The network update project is anticipated to be awarded to Intracom at an approximate bid of $613,000 in the near future.

A portion of those funds are expected to be reimbursed to the district by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) through the schools and libraries universal service support program, commonly known as the E-rate program, which helps schools and libraries to obtain affordable broadband by reimbursing them anywhere from 20 to 90 percent of the cost of telecommunications or broadband services.

Oxford Schools applied for this reimbursement on “category two services” (which includes internal connections, basic maintenance of internal connections, and managed internal broadband services) through the E-rate program in the summer of 2017, according to Assistant Superintendent of Business and Operations Sam Barna.

While the district was expected to receive approximately $232,000 in total reimbursement through the program, according to Barna, the district was only approved to receive matching funds of around $58,000 due to an “error” on the part of the federal reviewer.

The district is currently filing an appeal through the FCC to correct that mistake and officials are hoping to receive the remainder of nearly $175,000 as a future reimbursement.

“(The district’s E-rate) consultant at Convergent Technology Partners is confident that we will eventually get up to $175,000 of (additional) matching funds. Very confident. However, it could take as much as one year (to receive a response to our appeal),” Barna told the board.

Several board members expressed worry that the district could suffer in other areas, should the district spend $555,000 on network updates and then be denied the anticipated full reimbursement through the E-rate program.

“Where are we prepared to take money from if (our appeal is denied)?” President Dan D’Alessandro asked Barna during a recent board meeting.

Barna assured board members that the district would be able to comfortably afford the purchase of the proposed network updates whether or not the FCC ultimately approves the district’s appeal.

“That’s a great question. A question that should be asked,” Barna responded. “But, to be clear, (the district) budgeted (at a flat rate of) 5,880 FTE students in the current year and we’re far exceeding that (number), so that’s additional revenue in the door. From a general fund perspective, we do have the dollars available to us (to complete this update). Our fall numbers, in terms of FTE students, are up quite considerably year after year and we’re doing really well… We can afford this ‘float,’ if you will, for the additional $200,000 for this equipment until we hopefully, eventually, receive this funding in total.”

Based on preliminary numbers, the district is up 262.04 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) students from last fall, bringing its total count up to 6,171.35

Should these updates be approved, the district’s two main core switches, which were last updated in 2003, would be replaced to provide faster service to district students, staff and administrators.

The core switch is considered a “backbone device” according to Throne which allows crucial pieces of equipment to connect to district servers.

Other network components, such as Firewall security devices would also be updated in the project.

These updates would work in conjunction with other upcoming improvements to district’s “behind-the-scenes” technology infrastructure– which will include the update of edge switches and be funded by an approximate $100,000 in proceeds which will be garnered from the district’s recently approved bond starting in 2018.

“We were planning on updating our network whether the bond/sinking fund passed or not. It was just something we needed to do,” Throne said in a recent interview with this reporter. “(These network updates) would offer more security. The network would better be able to handle our traffic because we have more devices and more students… A lot has happened over the course of the years in technology so we just need to update some of our main components to the appropriate technology. It’s also more costly at this point to maintain the older equipment because we need to make more purchases to keep it updated.”

Should the updates be approved, the more reliable signal provided by a new broadband network could eventually allow district officials to have a 1:1 device to student ratio as the district continues to grow, Throne added.

The board is expected to make its decision Nov. 21.