Geneva D-304 pays for tech upgrade contracts

GENEVA – Geneva School District 304 approved a $66,560 contract for structured cabling as part of a three-year plan to upgrade the district’s wireless network infrastructure at Fabyan, Mill Creek and Heartland elementary schools.

The contract is with Bluewire Communications, the second of a three-year contract, officials said.

The work is eligible for E-Rate procurement, which is a federally funded universal service program that reimburses costs for schools and libraries, officials said.

In a memo, Technology Director Michael Wilkes wrote the potential reimbursement was $26,650.

Wilkes also advised that Bluewire, with headquarters in Northbrook, was the lowest qualified proposal.

As part of the tech plan, the board also approved a contract with Heart Technologies for almost $62,120 at the Jan. 22 meeting. Heart technologies has offices in East Peoria, Decatur, Springfield and Nashville. The potential for E-Rate reimbursement for the Heart Technologies contract is $23,771, according to Wilkes’ memo.

In other action, the board approved almost $200,000 to be paid to the Sachman Stahler Group Inc. for a ventilator replacement at Western Avenue School and $23,463 to Linewize for its cloud-managed filter services, a 17-month subscription for 4,950 devices. The Linewize contract is for firewall improvements in the technology plan, according to Wilkes’ memo.

The board also approved several payments to Johnson Controls as part of its capital improvement plan:

• $194,000 for direct digital control upgrades for room thermostats at Geneva High School

• $9,532 for the costs of the upgraded direct digital control materials

• $190,000 for boiler replacement at Fabyan Elementary School