Board approves Webex calling, InformaCast and server replacements in FY26 technology spending

Prospect Heights School District 23’s Board on June 12 approved a package of technology contracts the administration said were among the remaining FY26 budgeted items. The approvals included a Sentinel Webex Calling phone server replacement with a five‑year license and service contract (initial year $56,269; later years billed at $18,824 annually), a three‑year InformaCast Emergency Alerts and Visitor Aware contract with Singlewire ($32,576), and server replacements from Empist LLC ($14,091).

The administration told the Board these procurements align with the technology plan discussed at Finance Committee meetings and that multi‑year agreements were negotiated where possible to reduce costs across contract lifetimes. The motions were introduced by Mrs. Peters and seconded by Dr. Long; each passed on voice votes recorded in the minutes.

Documentation included vendor quotations and scope-of-work summaries attached to the Board packet: Sentinel contract materials and a Sentinel Statement of Work describing Webex Calling design, local gateway interop and E911 configuration; Singlewire pricing for InformaCast Fusion, Visitor Aware and an appliance; and an Empist statement of work and quote for server hardware and professional services.

The Board’s approvals set implementation steps in motion: district IT and Sentinel/Empist engineers will schedule cutover windows, migrate DNS/DHCP and coordinate administrative training, while emergency-alert services will be provisioned and configured for the district’s buildings and common areas.