District to pursue grants and E-rate; staff to plan cameras and network upgrades

Staff updated trustees on a previously submitted COPS grant with the Brea Police Department and Motorola to add campus cameras and camera infrastructure; the application originally included a broad scope and a district buy-in figure referenced at about $125,000. Trustees asked staff to continue pursuing grant funding and to keep the camera project in the planning queue pending funding results.

Josh Barton (technology) presented a broader technology backbone proposal to provide wired and Wi-Fi coverage for athletic fields, the PAC and other campus areas. He said the work would enable higher-quality live-streaming, scoreboard and camera connectivity. Barton noted internal cabling work for networked clocks and dot-matrix displays would be a major cost component but that E-rate (federal subsidy) could cover a meaningful portion of internal networking costs (historically 50% and up to 60% in the district—xamples presented).

Trustees supported pursuing grants and E-rate eligibility and instructed staff to bring back refined scopes: a minimal camera/networking package and an expanded option that leverages synergies with planned path-of-travel and athletic projects. Staff emphasized that hardwired camera installations (power-over-Ethernet) are preferred for reliability and that network infrastructure improvements will reduce marginal costs of any future camera or streaming deployments.

What happens next: staff will pursue resubmission of camera/grant applications where appropriate, coordinate cable/conduit placements with planned ground work to reduce costs, and return with minimal and ideal technology packages and costs, including potential E-rate offsets.