Fairfield Union board approves $165,000 Chromebook purchase and E‑Rate access point procurement
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Summary
Trustees approved a $165,000 purchase of Chromebooks and an E‑Rate purchase of wireless access points (vendor CDW Government LLC) to upgrade school technology; staff explained a switch from Dell to Lenovo and that the access‑point purchase is largely reimbursable through E‑Rate.
The Fairfield Union Local board approved two IT procurements at its February meeting: a $165,000 order for Chromebooks from Bloom of Minnesota LLC and an E‑Rate purchase of wireless access points from CDW Government LLC.
IT staff explained the district has seen higher failure rates with recent Dell Chromebooks and recommended switching to Lenovo. "We've been having some issues with the Dell Chromebooks that we bought the past couple of years," the IT speaker said, and noted the Lenovo purchase comes with a four‑year standard warranty that can be held until August so the warranty life aligns with school deployment.
The Chromebook purchase motion ($165,000) passed on roll call. Later the board approved the purchase of access points through the E‑Rate program from CDW Government LLC; staff said the total cost is shown in the packet and that the district expects approximately an 80% reimbursement for equipment serving instructional buildings. The IT presenter said the district solicited nine bids via an E‑Rate consultant and selected CDW as the lowest responsive bidder.
District staff also noted a change in licensing structure for vendor Meraki required a three‑year switch licensing renewal so future licensing end dates align. Trustees approved both procurement motions by roll call with no recorded dissent.
The purchases were described as routine capital/operational investments; funding for the projects was described as coming from permanent improvement funds and E‑Rate reimbursements where applicable.