Mustang schools outline major technology upgrades, expand monitoring and device replacement plans

Jeremy Schreck, director of technology for Mustang Public Schools, told the school board the district has completed a series of infrastructure and device-management projects intended to improve connectivity, safety and classroom technology. Schreck said, "We just implemented our own district wide area network," meaning the district now owns the fiber that connects campuses and no longer relies on an external provider.

The move to district-owned fiber reduced ongoing charges the district had been paying to a vendor, Schreck said, saving the district roughly $100,000 annually by eliminating taxes and fees charged under the previous arrangement. He described a year-and-a-half rollout that encountered construction delays but now provides the district with its own bandwidth and security control.

Why it matters: The upgrades affect teaching, safety and operations across the district's 19 campuses. Schreck said the district has replaced more than 150 network switches (about 65 remain) and increased Wi‑Fi capacity with new access points and controllers, while relying on E‑Rate funding to cover roughly 60% of eligible equipment costs and district funds for the remainder.

Schreck said the district added 92 access-control doors this summer, bringing the total with badge readers to 264, and upgraded analog cameras to digital. He reported approximately 350 physical cameras and about 1,319 lenses (some cameras have multiple lenses) with retention windows of roughly 25–75 days depending on the camera's location. "That gives us trackability," he said, explaining the badge readers and cameras allow the district to lock buildings and to locate activity by classroom and floor.

On classroom communications Schreck said the district is installing a physical phone in every classroom to ensure reliable 911 connectivity and to identify the classroom, building and floor when calls are made from inside schools; the rollout is about three-quarters complete. He also described a staff-laptop initiative: 1,100 new staff laptops are in a warehouse but rollout delayed after a compatibility issue with interactive panels; Schreck said a fix had been found and distribution would begin that week.

Device counts and warranties: Schreck said preK–1 classrooms use iPads (about 2,500 districtwide at a 1:2 ratio) and grades 2–12 primarily use Chromebooks, with about 12,000 Chromebooks in circulation and spares maintained in media centers. He estimated the district manages well over 19,000 devices on its network. About 4,500 of the 12,000 Chromebooks lack active warranty coverage; to reduce repair costs the district is reallocating warrantied devices to higher‑risk environments and moving out-of-warranty devices to elementary classrooms where breakage is lower. Schreck said, "Out of warranty doesn't mean it's nonfunctional. It just means we have to start paying for those repairs."

Filtering, monitoring and parental access: The district uses LineWise for network filtering and ClassWise in classrooms to manage student screens, plus an image-filtering and monitoring layer that Schreck said can surface safety-related alerts (bullying, self-harm, gangs, grooming). He described a "custodial" portal that allows parents to see histories of sites visited and to schedule device cutoffs at home; about 27% of guardians had signed up for custodial access in the first year. Schreck said some alerts are innocuous but that the system has also triggered interventions, and he noted the district is required by law to filter student access.

Costs and procurement: Schreck noted recurring costs and capital needs: replacing interactive panels and projectors across older sites (roughly 400 units) and addressing a growth in devices out of warranty through planned purchasing and accidental-drop protection when possible. He also discussed copier leases and high paper usage (about 9.6 million pages printed last year).

Next steps: Schreck recommended continued firewall and malware upgrades, staff cybersecurity training and phased hardware replacements. Board members thanked Schreck and raised operational follow-ups such as walkie-talkie site rollouts.