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Trustees suspend district-paid cell phones, approve transition toward Google Voice to cut annual costs
Summary
Board voted unanimously to suspend the district policy that established district-issued cell phones and directed staff to migrate eligible lines to Google Voice; staff said the change could reduce the district’s phone bill by roughly $20,000–$26,000 per year.
The Douglas County School District on Thursday voted unanimously to suspend a policy that had supported district-paid cell phones and directed staff to pursue a Google Voice-based alternative for administrative communications.
Jesse Bates, the district’s interim director of information technology, told the board the district currently spends about $36,000 a year for roughly 60–62 cellular lines. He said a Google Voice rollout — an app-based service tied to the district’s Google Workspace accounts — would cost the district roughly $10,000–$15,000 a year for the lines the district expects to use, yielding a projected savings in the mid‑five figures. "We're trying to migrate to Google Voice... we're probably going to be closer to 10,000, with a savings of about $26,000 if we're to turn off all the FirstNet phones tomorrow," Bates said.
Trustees and staff discussed technical and safety considerations. Bates and other IT staff said Google Voice can operate over cellular service or district Wi‑Fi, and that Google‑hosted messages would be retained in the district’s Google Vault for public-records compliance. Staff said board members’ phones would remain available because trustees’ communications are subject to public-records requests. The district will continue to maintain handheld two‑way radios that work during power outages and said UPS backups at school network closets provide limited battery backup (about 30–90 minutes) for Wi‑Fi and voice-over-IP systems.
Public commenters asked that any transition preserve the ability to call 911 from personal devices in areas with spotty coverage. "If I'm an administrator, I'm down at Reed High School, and there's a problem and I have to make a 911 call, I would absolutely be guaranteed that that's gonna work," one resident said during public comment.
Trustees adopted a motion to suspend Board Policy 8.12 (cell phones) while the district implements the app‑based alternative and works through contracts. The motion passed unanimously.
Staff said they will preserve district phones where required (board phones and a small number of lines still under contract) and will provide training and written guidance to staff on the new Google Voice workflow and public-records handling.
The board’s action is intended to reduce recurring operating costs and modernize communication, while retaining compliance mechanisms and some district‑owned lines for records and operational resilience.
