By Lori Carlson, Editor 

Prior Lake-Savage Area School Board members approved a contract with Integra Telecom to connect the district to a fiber-optic network.

The district chose the Integra proposal over one made by Access Communications for the Scott County fiber ring. Though both proposals “essentially provide the same connectivity,” the Integra contract will save the district money and allow it to hook up more schools, said Ralph Vetter, director of information technology.

The board approved money for the project last year. The district got a $234,000 one-time allocation from the state for technology for the 2007-08 and 2008-09 school years.

“We felt last year that this would b e a great use for this because it’s going to set us up for the long haul,” Vetter said.

The Access Communications proposal would have left out Jeffers Pond Elementary School. The district would have had to pay much more to hook up the school due to its location in relation to the Scott County fiber network, Vetter said. The Integra proposal includes the connection of Jeffers Pond.

By going with Integra, the district will save about $69,000 per year, Vetter said. The district would pay a one-time startup cost of about $245,000 (including up-front charges by Integra and equipment upgrades) plus $36,000 in annual costs after a reduction from Erate, a federal program that subsidizes school districts’ data and technology costs.

Right now, with the Erate reduction, the district spends about $105,000 a year on telecom needs.

The Integra deal includes a 20-year lease and will hook up all buildings across the district. Any future buildings would have a fixed one-time charge of $20,000 plus contracted annual maintenance.

The fiber-optic network will increase the speed of connections between buildings and allow the district to centralize and reduce future storage and server costs, Vetter said. The plan also would allow the district to hook up to the county’s network.

The district connection to the network would be ready by July 1, Vetter said.

 Lori Carlson can be reached at (952) 345-6378 or editor@plamerican.com.