IT department outlines five‑year device and infrastructure roadmap; $2.6M wireless upgrade flagged for FY27

Art Anderson, director of IT infrastructure for Naperville CUSD 203, presented the district’s five‑year IT capital plan at the Oct. 6 board meeting, highlighting near‑term projects intended to keep devices, wireless infrastructure and classroom displays up to date.

Anderson said the district’s IT budget “is approximately about $7,700,000 this year,” and walked the board through a multi‑year replacement cycle: student devices on a four‑year rotation, replacement of classroom interactive boards with LCD flat panels (the district has already piloted flat panels at junior highs and high schools and says they have received positive feedback), a touch‑board refresh, and a planned wireless infrastructure replacement moved from FY26 to FY27 to take advantage of new hardware. Anderson said the wireless line item in the presentation was $2.6 million (the full cost is budgeted up front); he noted the district expects to receive about 40% reimbursement through the federal E‑rate program if current funding levels hold, but said the rebate is received months after the expenditure and is not reflected as an immediate reduction in the FY27 line item.

The presentation also described a small Windows‑device pilot at the high school level (about 60 devices per high school) to test whether Windows devices better prepare students for post‑secondary expectations; Anderson said the pilot is driven in part by employer/college feedback that graduates need more exposure to Windows‑based workflows (saving files, folder management). Anderson said the district is also piloting flat panels in classrooms and beginning a touch‑board refresh because much of the existing smart‑board fleet is approaching eight years old.

Board members asked how the district supports students without reliable home internet. Anderson said the district uses Kajeet cellular hotspots for students who need home connectivity; he also explained an operational use of Starlink during a recent site move (bus facility) when wired service could not be installed in time. He described Starlink deployments as temporary, controllable (the district can turn them on and off) and useful for rapid, short‑term connectivity needs.

On cost and operations: Anderson told the board licensing for devices and wireless controllers is included in the capital line where applicable; many student device licenses are bundled with purchases. He said some server infrastructure remains on‑site (most servers are virtualized) while “more and more” software infrastructure is moving to cloud services. Anderson emphasized cybersecurity as a high priority for IT staff.

Why it matters: the IT capital plan covers systems that support instruction, student testing and day‑to‑day operations. The wireless replacement and device refreshes require multi‑year budgeting; the E‑rate reimbursement mechanism affects timing of net costs. If approved in the FY26–27 budget process, staff said they would initiate procurement and vendor selection work.

Next steps: the board will be asked to approve the FY26–27 IT capital plan and the district’s FY26–27 budget line in October; staff said procurement work will follow to establish final contract pricing and schedules.