Monday, December 15, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

CONNECTED CLASSROOMS: FUTURE IS ON THE LINE

Clark County School District upgrades phones for $15 million

Philip Brody, assistant superintendent for the Clark County schools technology and information services, uses a phone in a classroom at Paradise Elementary School on Wednesday morning. Photo by Clint Karlsen. First-grade teacher Cynthia Ayon uses her classroom telephone at Paradise Elementary School. Photo by Clint Karlsen.

In an effort to put telephones in every classroom, the Clark County School District has been working to deploy a digital Internet protocol telephony system that will one day serve up to 27,000 phone lines and connect more than 300 school buildings and administrative offices.

The system will use OmniPCX Enterprise networking equipment and software from Alcatel, a Paris-based global supplier of high-tech telecommunications equipment; and initial network assessments, project management and installation from Verizon, a New York-based telecommunications company.

In a Dec. 2 statement, Verizon and Alcatel valued their three-year contract with the district at $15 million. Verizon spokesman Kevin Ireland said Dec. 4 that the companies signed the deal with the district in January and began installing phones and equipment in April.

He said the contract-signing announcement was held this month because the companies wanted to ensure the project was progressing smoothly before making it public.

Verizon Vice President of Media Relations Eric Rabe said the potential 27,000 phone-line capacity made the district's system one of the largest his company has ever helped deploy.

"This is dramatic," he said.

Philip Brody, assistant superintendent for the district's technology and information services, called the district's system a hybrid: digital telephony over an Internet protocol trunk. He said the district saved money both by using existing digital phone equipment and wiring and by using its new gigabit ethernet wide-area computer network, which began rolling out in March as a platform for merging its voice and data networks.

Dietrich Lockard Group, a St. Louis-based independent management consulting firm specializing in voice, video and data networking, calculated the school district could save as much as $2 million annually by converging its voice and data networks.

"Because they're leveraging the (wide-area network) and existing (digital phone) capability, the new system doesn't have to replace the old one lock, stock and barrel," Verizon's Rabe said.

Brody said the system will at last connect all district phones. Before, he said, each school's phone system has essentially operated as a separate, closed network.

Brody said the board of trustees and Superintendent Carlos Garcia wanted the phones in all the classrooms to improve overall security by providing easier access to 911 and emergency services and to improve communication with parents.

In the past, often the only way a teacher could make a call during the school day was to use the teacher's lounge phone. Often, he said, several teachers would have the same idea, creating waits. The same problems still exist, he said.

Since the telephony system rollout started in April, Brody said, 7,245 new phones have been installed in district classrooms. Now, 62 of the district's 289 schools have phones in every classroom, he said. Verizon and Alcatel estimate two to three district buildings join the IP telephony network each week.

The system gives every district teacher a personal voice mailbox, Brody said. Some teachers have used the boxes both to receive messages and leave homework details.

Brody said the district planned to have all phones capable of joining the new network on line by June 2005. Though many schools have the digital-phone wiring necessary to join the network, not all do, Brody said. Schools needing rewiring will take longer to add phones.

The wide-area computer network, Brody said, now covers 128 of the district's 289 schools. By November, the network will cover all district buildings. The system allows not only high-speed classroom internet access, but also video on demand and other large data transmissions.

The district has an enrollment of almost 268,000 students and employs nearly 30,000 teachers, administrators and support staff.