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IT director outlines multi‑year E‑rate plan, replacement of aging network and UPS systems
Summary
Karl Mank, the district’s director of IT, told the board the district will front‑load E‑rate funds to replace aging wireless access points and UPS batteries, including a planned roll‑out of about 110 access points and new lithium‑ion UPS units to extend lifecycle and reliability.
Karl Mank, the district’s director of information technology, gave a detailed presentation to the board on Jan. 26 about infrastructure upgrades planned with E‑rate and district funds.
“My name is Karl Mank, director of IT for Tri City United Schools,” he said in opening his report, then walked the board through the district’s main distribution frames, intermediate distribution frames, device inventory and lifecycle planning.
The presentation covered remote management tools (Palo Alto VPN), visitor screening and badge printing at main offices, cell‑signal repeaters for sites with limited coverage and OptiSigns digital messaging deployed across campuses. Mank said device damage rates are down and that a detailed inventory will help plan Chromebook lifecycle replacement.
On federal funding and hardware replacements, Mank said the district is prioritizing older sites that still have first‑generation equipment from a 2008 bond. “We’re looking at 110 first gen Cisco access points being rolled out from Lonsdale to Montgomery,” he said, noting a focus on core switches and wireless access points for instruction. He also described UPS replacement needs: “We did a large investment in UPS because of the power instability in rural areas,” and explained why newer lithium‑ion systems have longer expected lifecycles.
Why it matters: The investments are aimed at reducing downtime, improving classroom connectivity and ensuring paging, phone and emergency systems remain operable during outages. Mank said the next‑generation UPS units should extend battery life from 3–5 years to roughly 7–10 years and provide longer run times during outages.
Board next steps: The board received the informational report; no action to approve specific purchases was taken at this meeting. Mank said much of the replacement work will be done in‑house using district technicians following July funding timing tied to the next fiscal year.
