Delaware City Schools approves phone-system upgrade citing safety exemption

The Delaware City Schools Board of Education on Aug. 18 voted unanimously to approve a purchase and contract with Parallel Technologies to replace and upgrade the district’s phone servers and handsets, citing a statutory exemption for the safety and protection of school property.

The contract, as presented on the board agenda, will be funded in part by an Attorney General safety-and-security grant and the remainder from proceeds of the district’s 2019 bond issuance. The agenda text said the purchase is exempt from competitive bidding under Ohio Revised Code 3313.46.

Why this matters: District technology leaders said the project preserves existing phone investments while allowing the district to begin a phased migration from its older ShoreTel/Mitel deployment to the vendor’s newer Mitel business platform. District staff said maintaining a dedicated, reliable phone system is an important safety and operational tool that lets staff report medical problems, behavioral incidents or security concerns quickly and prevents cellular networks from being overloaded in an emergency.

Jen Fry, the district’s technology officer, described the technical plan: run the existing system and the new Mitel platform side-by-side during a phased rollout; deploy a virtual server immediately and install 50 new licenses at Willis as a first step; and replace or add cordless handsets, wall mounts and visual flashers in noisy locations such as band and orchestra rooms. “Having staff phones improves our day-to-day security for our staff members so that they’re able to quickly report a medical issue, so that they can report behavioral concerns, or they can report if there’s an unauthorized visitor in the building,” Fry said.

Treasurer Jill Corwin told the board staff had sought pricing diligence from the contracted vendor, Parallel, and that Parallel provided documentation showing pricing that matches state-term or consortium pricing the district would otherwise seek. Corwin also said the total presented on the agenda reflects adjustments made after that review and that the district will implement the upgrade building-by-building so the existing system can continue to operate during transition.

Board members cast a roll-call vote in favor of the measure; the motion passed on a unanimous vote. No mover or seconder was recorded in the minutes. The agenda listed the purchase as an action item and noted the funding sources and the statutory exemption.

Next steps: District staff said implementation will start immediately on the server and at Willis, then continue on a building-by-building basis. The district also said it will use the new visual flashers and handset replacements to address ringing and audibility problems in large or noisy spaces.