District presents plan to move phones to Cisco WebEx cloud; staff cite compliance gains and higher five‑year cost

District technology and operations staff outlined a proposal to migrate Lincoln Public Schools’ phone system to Cisco WebEx cloud calling during the March 25 meeting, describing operational benefits and compliance considerations even as the cloud option showed a modest cost increase over continuing to host telephony on premise.

Staff said the district previously adopted Voice over IP and has more than 6,000 handsets in the field; cloud migration would preserve compatibility with existing handsets while adding functionality such as easier softphone provisioning, multi-device support and a “call-center light” capability that could expand help‑desk options.

The presenter said a five‑year cost comparison showed roughly $1.4 million to continue the traditional on‑premises approach versus about $1.525 million to migrate to the Cisco WebEx cloud — an approximately 8.65% difference. Staff argued the tradeoffs (cloud security teams, simplified management and added features) justify the migration and noted a 90‑day assisted migration window would avoid a hard cutover.

The presentation also addressed emergency-call compliance: staff explained the need to meet E911 location requirements and to comply with Kari’s Law and the RAY BAUM’S Act (federal rules governing 911 and enterprise dialing). Board members asked about security tradeoffs and whether classrooms would lose physical handsets; staff said handsets would be retained and the district would keep existing handset investments while enabling new device options for staff when appropriate.

Staff recommended the board consider the migration as a multi-year operational expense and noted the item will return for board action later in the process.