Technology comes at a price — a message that came across quite clearly during a report during an April 18 Philomath School Board meeting.
Mark Neville, in his second year as the district’s technology director, spent the majority of his 45-minute discussion with the board going through a “wish list” of technology-related needs over the next six to 18 months.
The most urgent request was the replacement of the school district’s phones — a system Neville described as “dying” and outdated with increasing maintenance costs.
“It’s expensive — it’s about $68,000 to replace and then on top of that … the renewal on that would be about $6,500 a year (with) the licensing,” Neville said.
Neville said the district is spending about $13,000 per year on its current phone system, a cost that will increase this summer. Only five years old, he described the system as complex and unintuitive and if the district needs help, “it will cost you an arm and a leg.”
“We are in a state of limbo with our phone system currently,” he said. “Currently it works, currently it’s up but we currently can’t make any changes to it.”
Neville later added that the system “could die at any moment.”
Another need, he said, relates to a severely outdated door access system, which would have a base price of around $37,000 and then $5,000 per door for any that the district would want to add to the current setup. Some systems require even more money through subscription services.
Replacement computers for teachers, staff and labs are another priority. Neville said they would need to be replaced by October 2025 with current operating system software expiring, which means security updates would no longer occur and that in turn would force the district out of compliance with insurance standards.
Neville said replacements would involve 150 laptops ($160,000), 55 desktop computers ($41,000) and 77 other machines in various locations ($39,000) — the latter involving a less costly alternative to what is currently in place.
Other needs within the six- to 18-month time period involve specific types of classroom technology with current systems outdated. Asked for an estimate, he mentioned $51,000 for a dozen smartboards.
“IT is an animal and you have to continually feed it and if you don’t feed it, it’ll starve and everybody will be without service,” Neville said.
Neville also recommended that the district come up with a plan to replace Chromebooks on a yearly cycle so it doesn’t become a major budgetary issue every five or so years. Superintendent of Schools Susan Halliday said work has been done to implement a plan.
As far as helping pay for some of the needs, Halliday said the district is looking at the availability of technology grants and considering strategies with how to implement upgrades through annual budgeting.
“I do want technology to be planned for the future because technology keeps growing and we’re not going anywhere,” Neville said. “It’s just an essential part of everyday life at this point.”
One of those future expenses in the next 12 to 24 months involves licensing renewals for the school district’s network.
“Those are huge — they run everything, that’s our backbone,” Neville said. “That’s where all of our traffic goes and that is coming for renewal and that means some of the equipment needs to be life-cycled out and replaced and some of it just needs a new license. And that gets really expensive to the point that it’s scary.”
Neville mentioned how E-rate program funds could be used for specific expenses, a list that includes network-related costs. The district is in the final year of the current E-rate cycle and those dollars do not carry over to the next round. The Federal Communications Commission’s E-rate program makes telecommunications and information services more affordable for schools.
“Something in the IT department that we’ve been talking about is we love active solutions and we are going to go out there and we are going to test other products and other things that have the potential of saving us a ton of money,” he said. “I can’t guarantee anything but I can tell you we are very excited about a couple of them.”
Neville said that in January 2026, the district will need license updates on 55 switches at an estimated cost of $82,500 and on 140 access points at an estimated cost of $60,000. At the same time, he added that 77 of those access points will need to be replaced and with licensing, the $60,000 cost would increase to $178,000.
A switch is a device in a computer network that connects other devices together. Access point is a term used for a network device that bridges wire and wireless networks.
“I feel really confident in what’s been happening in terms of seeking out possible solutions without minimizing the safety-security risk of what’s happening to the district,” Halliday said.
During his talk, Neville also lauded the efforts of the district’s technology team and provided examples of steps that the department has already taken to save major amounts of money, including building its own data server and coming up with in-classroom document cameras. He also mentioned the high level of work required to support a district that has a one-to-one Chromebook program.
An ongoing effort involves improving internet connectivity throughout the district and Neville said a current project within that realm should be completed by the end of this summer.
“With that, we’ll greatly improve connectivity for all of the district and it’s going to be great,” he said.
A renewed message to the board related to the continued importance of cybersecurity measures that need to remain in place. The Philomath IT team collaborates with security professionals at Linn Benton Lincoln Education Service District.
“They take weekly scans of our system just to see what our threat potential is and the first scan they took was 82 threats,” Neville said. “We are down to eight because of the hard work of our security department, because of the IT department’s work.”
The successes seen with the Philomaty system have apparently caught the attention of others.
“We’ve been asked to consult with other districts on how we’ve made that happen and we’re happy to share,” Neville said.
The board plans to meet again at 6 p.m. Wednesday for a work session, which will primarily involve the coordination of district, superintendent and board goals.
In other news out of the April 18 meeting:
• Madeleine Thompson Rudolph, of the Oregon Natural Resources Education Fund Advisory Committee, presented Philomath High School forestry teacher Simon Babcock with a certificate of appreciation and a $2,000 grant, which included $1,729 out of the Terry Selby Memorial Subfund and $271 from the Oregon Society of American Foresters Subfund.
• Halliday went through interdistrict transfer numbers for 2022-23 and 2023-24 to give board members a detailed look at enrollment trends as part of a new process to accept and track those students for the 2024-25 school year. Later in the meeting, the board approved the proposed numbers, which were broken down grade-by-grade and added up to 310 in terms of projected new transfer students. The board also approved an update to a related school policy.
• The board approved the adoption of Philomath Middle School social studies curriculum following a presentation by Steve Bell, principal, and Meegan Benbow, social studies teacher. The materials, expected to last at least seven years, cost $50,039. The board also approved $33,539 in Philomath High School science needs, including certain materials and lab equipment. Halliday said the money for the two requests are available in the budget.
• Chris Singer, program coordinator with the Mid-Valley STEM-CTE Hub, gave an overview of the program and its impact on local schools and students. STEM is an acronym for science, technology, engineering and math and CTE is an abbreviation for career and technical education.
• As part of a report from Jennifer Griffith, business manager, full-time enrollment in the district was reported as 1,677, which includes Philomath High School (455), Philomath Academy (99), Philomath Middle School (341), Philomath Elementary School (376), Clemens Primary School (172), Blodgett Elementary (35) and Kings Valley Charter School (199).
• Halliday gave a superintendent’s report that included information on various education-related special recognition weeks, reported on the elementary school’s Battle of the Books team that participated in a state competition, shared information on summer learning opportunities, provided an update on classified union negotiations, had a thank you for special education support and mentioned the beginning of Outdoor School for sixth graders.
• The school district plans to be part of a meeting at 4 p.m. April 24 to review the latest information and timelines related to the city’s South 16th Street extension project planned for this summer near Philomath Elementary that will connect the road to the intersection of Cedar and South 17th streets.
• Among the staffing adjustments reported as part of a consent agenda was the resignation of Jolene Latz, a longtime teacher who has also been involved with theater productions.
• The board approved a resolution to transfer $15,000 in between instruction-related funds to reclassify previously appropriated costs.
• Halliday gave a report reviewing the school district’s professional development programs.
• Associated Student Body Co-President Ava Theurer provided board members with a rundown of student news and activities.
