Board awards E-rate bid to 2 Trees for Meraki access points; UPS replacements deferred

The Emporia Board of Education approved a district purchase of network equipment and licensing through the federal E-rate program, awarding the bid for access points to vendor 2 Trees by a 7-0 vote.

IT staff member Paul Beetle explained the purchase comes at the end of the district’s five-year E-rate funding window and that remaining funds should be spent before the window closes. Beetle said E-rate will fund 80% of eligible costs and the district will pay 20% of the total cost. The board packet and discussion noted the award focuses on Meraki access points that are compatible with the district’s existing licensing and infrastructure; two lower bids were excluded because those access points were incompatible with software licensing previously purchased through E-rate.

Paul Beetle said the purchase would replace approximately 289 of the district’s 461 access points and would bring older elementary sites closer to the configurations already installed at Jones and Emporia High School. Beetle said the district expects to cycle E-rate-supported access-point replacements on roughly a five-year life cycle.

On uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), Beetle said most UPS bids received were either for units incompatible with the district’s UPS management infrastructure or for 30-amp units that would have required extensive rewiring of electrical closets. For that reason, the district did not accept any UPS bids; staff said they will replace failing batteries as needed out of capital outlay and plan to revisit UPS replacements in a future E-rate cycle.

A board motion to approve the 2 Trees bid carried 7-0. No additional procurement approvals were voted on for UPS equipment that evening.