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Hiawatha board approves five-year managed IT contract with K12 ITC
Summary
The Hiawatha School Board voted unanimously to contract K12 ITC for a five-year managed technology services agreement that bundles help-desk support, cybersecurity, network hardware and hosted data services. The board approved the contract 5-0.
The Hiawatha School Board approved a five-year managed-technology agreement with K12 ITC, a vendor that provides outsourced IT services to K–12 districts, after a presentation and discussion of service levels, implementation and E‑Rate eligibility. The motion to approve the agreement passed 5-0.
K12 ITC representative Lawson Kingsley told the board the company’s “Albert” bundle covers switches, wireless access points, servers, backups, a web filter, a firewall and a district “director of cybersecurity,” plus a live help desk for staff and students. “What Albert is is it's our bundled kind of all inclusive, solution designed specifically for k 12 schools,” Kingsley said during the presentation.
Superintendent Lonnie Mosher and district technology staff discussed how the contract would change local operations. Tim, listed in the meeting as the district’s technology staff, said he expects to retain responsibility for many day-to-day tasks but hopes the contract will reduce unscheduled on-site work. Kingsley estimated K12 ITC could resolve roughly 85–90% of help-desk tickets remotely; the district’s on-site staff would handle the remaining 10–15% of incidents.
The contract includes data hosting in K12 ITC data centers and hourly backups; Kingsley said the company maintains data centers in Dallas, Denver and Kansas City and backs up district data every hour. He also said roughly 30–40% of the contract is eligible for E‑Rate (Category 2) discounts through USAC and that K12 ITC will assist district staff with E‑Rate filings each year.
Kingsley and district staff described a five-business-day implementation window for installing equipment and migrating services, with heavy after-hours work to avoid disrupting instruction and a short on-site follow-up period for teacher training. Kingsley said service-level agreements are written into the contract and that the district would receive bill credits if response-time targets were missed.
Board members voted in favor of the agreement by voice vote; the official motion as moved and seconded was recorded in the minutes and the vote tally was “Motion passed, 5 0.” The board and vendor discussed possible go-live dates; board members signaled interest in timing implementation around spring break or another natural break in instruction.
The board’s approval begins the five-year service period and authorizes staff to proceed with implementation planning and E‑Rate coordination.
