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Quakertown Community SD staff recommend phone‑system replacement, three‑year CrowdStrike deal and Comcast service change to save recurring costs
Summary
District IT staff told the communications and technology committee that replacing a 15‑year PRI‑based phone system, signing a three‑year CrowdStrike contract and switching Comcast service could cut recurring costs and simplify support; all items were recommended for the May board agenda.
District information‑technology staff on May 11 urged the Quakertown Community SD communications and technology committee to move a package of technology changes to the full board for approval, saying the items would reduce recurring costs and modernize aging systems.
“The phone system we’re replacing, I’m gonna say, is probably about 15 years old,” a staff member said, noting the current ShoreTel installation runs on PRI lines while modern systems use SIP and cloud calling. The staff member said the vendor quote includes five years of support and that the district’s existing annual support cost of about $27,000 would be eliminated; removing four Comcast PRI lines would also eliminate roughly $2,000 per month in carrier charges.
The staff member recommended locking current vendor pricing by issuing a purchase order in May even though the acquisition would be recorded on the July 1 budget cycle, saying the vendor reported “they’re seeing about a 10% increase April over May.” The quoted hardware and configuration work for the phone replacement, the staff member said, comes in just under the budgeted amount.
On cybersecurity, staff said CrowdStrike — the district’s endpoint detection and response provider — is offering a government program that would require a three‑year term but lower annual costs by roughly $20,000 compared with the current year‑to‑year pricing. The staff member told the committee they would place the three‑year option on the May board agenda for a July 1 start date.
The same staff presentation flagged a Comcast service‑change agreement that would convert the district away from legacy PRIs into a unified communications service, reducing a current roughly $3,000 monthly charge to about $900, and which requires an authorized signature to implement.
Committee members asked about service quality and potential disruptions. When asked whether CrowdStrike’s service had met expectations, the staff member said, “I have no complaints … we’ve had two incidents since we’ve had them where they actually had a response team reach out to us, and they took care of it immediately.”
Staff also noted smaller recurring items on the near‑term agenda, including the district’s annual $880 technology legal retainer with Sweet Stevens for counsel on technology questions.
Next steps: staff recommended moving the phone‑system replacement, the CrowdStrike three‑year option and the Comcast service change to the full board for action; the committee did not record a formal vote on these recommendations but agreed to forward them for board consideration.
