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District tech director warns of aging network, servers and rising replacement costs
Summary
District IT lead reported older Wi‑Fi and wired ethernet, aging servers with little redundancy, and projected capital needs (ethernet replacement estimate cited at about $140,000) that the committee should plan for in future budgets.
Dan Saltzman presented a district technology update at the Dec. 18 Athol‑Royalston Regional School Committee meeting, describing current operations and near‑term capital needs.
Saltzman said state reporting systems are certified but that the district’s Wi‑Fi equipment is aging though still supported by the manufacturer. He warned the wired ethernet infrastructure is older, lacks centralized management and redundancy, and carries risk if critical switches fail; based on a comparable project he cited a ballpark ethernet‑replacement figure of about $140,000. Saltzman recommended documenting device configurations, backing up settings, and targeting winter/spring to audit and prepare for potential equipment replacement.
He also described server hardware running old software with little redundancy and minimal backup of configuration; while most critical data resides in cloud systems, the servers still play a role in internet access and require attention. On classroom hardware, Saltzman noted many projectors are dim and replacement costs vary—$800 for basic units, about $1,600 for modern laser short‑throw models, and roughly $2,000 for touch‑panel TVs—meaning districtwide upgrades would be a significant expense.
Saltzman said livestreaming issues that hampered prior meetings were resolved this month but recommended a more permanent streaming setup to reduce repetitive setup work. He asked the committee to consider planning for multi‑year capital needs and to discuss options with the business manager and superintendent during budget planning.
