WHITEHALL — Whitehall District Schools recently received a sizable E-rate grant from the state Department of Education that will allow the district to upgrade its Internet accessibility, superintendent CJ Van Wieren said during Monday's regular board meeting.
Van Wieren said the district's technology director, Patrick Long, has expressed his desire to improve Internet access points throughout the district, and this grant will allow Whitehall to do so. The district will use the grant money to improve each access point in the district, partnering with VectorTech, the only company that could complete the entire project itself and did not have a subscription-based product.
The cost of the first phase of the project, to be completed this year, is $370,000, and the grant will cover 80% of those costs. A second phase, slated for 2026, will help boost connections to the district's cameras and door access points.
The district's recently purchased phone system, Van Wieren added, can only be installed once the first phase is complete.
After a few public comments on the matter, Van Wieren also addressed a recent incident where an elementary school student "poked about 10 kids" during recess with some sort of needle brought from their home. Parents were upset the item was not detected earlier in the day and suggested the district provide more supervision during recess periods. Noting one of his own kids attends a district elementary school and the incident hit home for him, Van Wieren said the district is looking at possible methods to prevent similar incidents in the future. He also emphasized the importance of conversations between parents and kids on what should and should not be brought to school.
The board unanimously approved a purchase of 325 Hewlett-Packard Chromebooks at a cost of $96,122. During discussion, Van Wieren said the board generally purchases about a grade level's worth of Chromebooks each year to account for needed replacements due to age; these Chromebooks will be used primarily at the middle school level, and the board wanted to act now to get the purchases made before anticipated price increases.
