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FAIRMONT -- Over the summer, Fairmont Area Schools has been replacing its telephone systems in the elementary school, high school and other buildings.
The district had received quotes from three vendors, with the lowest coming from Frontier Communications for its Mitel system. It cost $130,446 for the system and installation, while the monthly charge is $1,295.
The school board approved the quote in April. Lee Stewart, manager of information systems for the district, got started on the project right away. Assisting him have been the district's other technology specialists, Erik Walker and Will McAdams, and a summer intern.
"Our biggest thing is security for kids and parents and for those who need to call 911 for any kind of emergency," Stewart said. "Time is everything when it comes to an emergency. I worked very closely with the Sheriff's Department of Martin County because they're in charge of 911 for Martin County, and with the Fairmont Police Department and [school resource officer]."
The old phone system would get emergency personnel to the physical address of the school, but once they entered a building it could be difficult to find the specific person in need or room where there was an emergency, especially if those in the office were unaware of the emergency.
As Stewart noted, the schools are now open more than they were in the past. There are after-school events in the evening and on weekends, and there is summer school and other activities that happen outside of the regular school day.
"We had to have something that would meet those demands," Stewart said.
With the new system, the dispatcher also is able to do a call back directly to the phone that dialed 911, whereas in the past the call back would only go to the office. Again, office staff might not have known there was an emergency or where it came from.
Stewart likened the system to each phone having a unique address so emergency personnel can pinpoint exactly where a call comes from.
While the main reason for replacing the system is in order to gain better security, another is because the system was so outdated. Stewart said Frontier told him the district's phone system was the last of the model Frontier had in operation in the state. It was installed during the 2009-2010 school year.
"It needed to be replaced because we couldn't get parts for it anymore," Stewart said. "I didn't want a situation where it was down for three or four days because we couldn't get parts for it."
The district began working on the project after it was approved in April, with the actual installation beginning in the middle of July and lasting about two weeks. About 300 phones, which includes phones in all of the classrooms, lunchrooms, offices, elevators and the fax machines, were replaced.
"Our goal in this whole process was that if we need to replace it, we need to do it right and address all of the concerns," Stewart said.
The monthly recurring cost will be about half of what the district is paying currently.
"We're leveraging our fiber optic system," Stewart said. "It's a joint venture with the city of Fairmont and school district. We put fiber between all of our buildings so we're using that to run this."
Another feature of the new phone system is its ability to record a call. Any teacher, administrator or faculty member who answers a call has the ability to press a button that will start recording.
"If someone calls threatening a teacher or a child or making a general threat, the call can be recorded and then it can be handed off to the police or SRO or an administrator," Stewart said.
As he noted, Minnesota is one of the states where the law is that only one party has to be aware that a call is being recorded.
"Another new thing is that the auto attendant had been upgraded to be multi-lingual, so now there's a Spanish and an English version that will help direct your call," Stewart said.
In addition to replacing the phone system this summer, the technology department has replaced computers and servers for the administration staff; replaced and updated the clock system so they are all synced; and continued to work on upgrading the security system.
The goal was to get the new phone system fully installed at the beginning of this month so administration support staff would be able to use it. While the system is working now, as with any piece of technology, it will require ongoing updating and maintenance.
"It was a big project for us," Stewart said.