Phone System Upgrades on the Horizon for Riverview & Plum School Districts

and school district officials are discussing upgrading the districts' Cisco phone systems.

Here's a look at the district's situations:

Plum School District

When officials were deleting the accounts of retired employees, they deleted former technology director Ed Hela's, which also was considered the phone server's master account, said Superintendent Timothy Glasspool.

On top of that, the system software is 10 years old—four upgraded versions have been released since the district purchased the software.

The problem with the system can't be rectified, and Hela's account can't be recovered, Glasspool said.

The district has more that 500 phones. To replace the server and the system could cost as much as $90,000—there is about $250,000 in the district's contingency fund, which is where money for the new server would come from, according to district business manager Eugene Marraccini,

Glasspool said the problem needs to be fixed as soon as possible because if the power goes out in the district, the phones will be out of commission for good.

If that were to happen, Glasspool said parents would be contacted, and all administrators and school secretaries have cellphones that can be used.

He said he hopes to have a solution plan in place this month at the latest.

Riverview School District

Riverview's system software is four years old, said technology director Bob Dunkle.

If the district doesn't upgrade the system software this year, service will dead-end and it will cost the district more money to upgrade the software in the future.

The new software, which is estimated to cost a little more than $17,000 includes an emergency responder system. Through that system, if 911 is dialed from a classroom phone, the emergency responder alerts the school's front desk, principal, the superintendent and Dunkle with the room number.

If 911 is dialed and someone hangs up, emergency dispatchers can call the classroom back directly.

Dunkle said there are "hundreds of phones" in the district.

The school board was expected to vote on the matter at its January meeting, but officials wanted more time to look into it.

School board member Ernie Tillman said the district should stay on top of software upgrades so it doesn't become more costly to maintain over time.