North Judson-San Pierre Schools to Upgrade Technology with Help from E-Rate Program

Posted on February 22, 2019
Author Michael Gallenberger, WKVI

The North Judson-San Pierre School Corporation is upgrading its technology infrastructure. The school board agreed Tuesday to move forward with a list of improvements, at the recommendation of Superintendent Dr. Annette Zupin.

“So these upgrades will include running new fiber everywhere – we have fiber optics in a few places but this will be everywhere, all new access points and five-year licenses with those, new cabling, and all new switches,” Zupin said. “I don’t know what all of that means, but our tech person does. And I believe it’s important as we move forward with our device enhancements and our digital learning, that this is done.”

The total cost of the project is $225,000, but Zupin said the school corporation will only have to pay less than have of that, since part of the work qualifies for a federal E-rate funding match. “Those opportunities have always been there for schools,” she explained. “However, the schools have to have some cash available, and until the auditorium bond issue went off, our cash flow was an issue. So now, we have some money with our G.O. bonds, that we can take advantage of this.”

Zupin added that school officials chose the company N2N to complete the project. She said N2N’s bid was the lowest of the five the school corporation received, and the company scored the highest for the work that needs to be done.