The Caddo Parish School Board Executive Committee on Dec. 16 reviewed a recommended purchase for district network electronics aimed at replacing aging switches and wireless access points.

Josh Linder, the district’s network manager, told the committee the RFP covers roughly "203 switches, networking equipment, along with about, 223, wireless access points," and said many existing devices are approaching their 10‑year end of life. "If a Chromebook or a student needs to connect to a, wireless access point, those access points are important, to the classroom," Linder said.

Purchasing staff explained federal E‑Rate funding would shoulder the majority of the cost. "It's 85%. The district will be responsible for 15%," said the district purchasing lead, who supplied the recommended award numbers: Presidio’s total bid of $2,000,939 and a district responsibility under the E‑Rate recommendation of $440,850.54.

Board members asked why some bidders appeared to have much higher total price lines and whether that reflected differing equipment eligibility for E‑Rate credits. Linder said some proposals lacked the specific line‑item pricing or proposed hardware that was not eligible under USAC rules; staff added that integration with the district’s existing Cisco Meraki ecosystem was a factor in scoring. As Linder put it, some proposals "did not fully integrate with existing ecosystem" and would require managing multiple systems.

Public commenter and committee member Rochelle questioned the magnitude of the deal, saying, "Dollars 3,000,000 worth of stuff for $440,000 I need that kind of deal all the time." Staff responded by explaining the E‑Rate calculation and the district share, and pointed to the bid‑assessment worksheet showing rating comments and deviations.

The item (6.01, network electronics) was placed on the consent list by the chair for the full board meeting. The committee discussion did not record a separate roll‑call award in this executive session; next steps are full‑board consideration on the consent agenda at the regular meeting.