The Washington School District will provide fiber access to interested parochial schools.
The school board Wednesday night approved a fiber access agreement for non-public schools.
Dale Loesing, network administrator for the school district, told the board that St. Francis Borgia Regional High School has requested attaching to the district’s fiber network for Internet access and other schools might be interested as well.
Providing the access will help offset some of the district’s fees associated with owning and maintaining its network, he said.
“It won’t take any speed or capacity away from our buildings,” Loesing added.
Superintendent Dr. Lori VanLeer said the board approval will allow the district officials to enter into written agreements with each school party. She said the access agreement also has been reviewed by the district’s legal counsel.
Loesing said the district fiber network was actually designed with the idea that other parties could attach to it. The city of Washington also had expressed interest in accessing the network in the past but has not done so yet.
The district has a MPLS core network which will provide “excellent security” and separation of traffic, Loesing told the board, and would not present a risk to the district’s data or traffic.
“This would be similar to East Central College, which has its connectivity through our network,” he noted.
Loesing said the entity interested in attaching to the network would be responsible for any installation fees. Monthly recurring charges (MRC) would be fees assessed each month billed. The MRC’s would be derived from a number of components including pole rental, internet fees, switch maintenance and so forth.
Connectivity would be provided based on a per student pricing structure.
“This would be the most equitable to the various schools . . . and present the least amount of effort regarding billing and maintenance,” Loesing said.
The projected cost to the parochial schools is $15.53 per student.
Loesing said Borgia would like to attach to the network July 1. He said the district has fiber that runs from the Four Rivers Career Center to Fifth Street Elementary and is in close proximity for the Catholic high school to attach.
Immanuel Lutheran School, located next to Fifth Street, also has expressed interest, he said.
School board members said they were glad the district could work the other schools.
