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District outlines private fiber network and security upgrades; officials project private network by summer 2026
Summary
IT staff briefed the board on a WANREC partnership to build a private fiber network for Hendry County schools (about 210,000 feet of conduit in place) and described firewall and monitoring features intended to protect students and district systems.
The Hendry County School District presented a progress update on a planned private fiber backbone and related security systems that the district expects to have in service by July 2026 if the project proceeds on schedule.
Francisco, an IT staff member who briefed the board, said the district is partnering with WANREC and contractors (transcript references Landrack/Lantel) to install an all‑underground private fiber network owned and operated by the district. "Right now, we have about 200 and a little over 210,000 feet of conduit in ground," Francisco said. He said final conduit installation should finish after August and fiber pulling will follow; he gave a projected operational date of July 2026 if plans hold.
Francisco described firewall architecture using Fortinet to create a security boundary between district systems and the public Internet, and said the private network will increase available bandwidth and reduce congestion across campuses. He explained technical tools the contractor and district will use for fault identification and splicing (OTDR tools) and said having a single contracted builder should reduce the handoffs required when outages occur.
The superintendent and IT staff also reported the district’s most recent FSAT safety inspections produced "0 findings" for the past year, which the presenter described as consistent across all four quarters; board members asked follow‑up questions about training for security staff and the district’s intent to pursue additional guardian/SRO staffing as budgets allow.
The board heard the presentation and thanked IT staff; no separate vote was required for the update.
