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Wallkill Valley Times, Wednesday, December 21, 2016
VC plans security upgrades
Continued from page 1
funds. The proposal contains $694,098 in
technology improvements and $1,195,429
in extensive security upgrades for Valley
Central schools. If approved by the State
Education Department, the plan would
leave $1,514,319 for purchasing devices
and additional equipment in the second
phase of the project.
Confirming the administration’s
instincts, the tech audit carried out by the
Annese firm concluded that the district
should modernize its infrastructure
before it started spending on state-ofthe-art classroom devices like tablets
and interactive smart boards. “We’re just
trying to take it slow,” Board of Education
President Sheila Schwartz said. “You don’t
want to go out there and spend money
that could be better used someplace else.
There is a need for updated devices, smart
boards, things like that. But you have to
have the infrastructure there. I know as
a board member that I’ve heard it from
various administrators and staff that
whenever they’re going from building
to building, they’re losing their wireless
or they can’t do their work in different
buildings. So we need that built.”
During the board session, IT department
head Chris Moore outlined both
components of the plan. The technology
improvements include fiber optic, UPS
and lightspeed upgrades. Bandwidth
capacity will also be increased to comply
with state requirements. The phone
system in the district will also be replaced
as the current model is over eight years
old. A generator will be purchased so
the phone and internet connections in
the schools will be kept running during
emergency situations.
Before Valley Central can move forward
with acquiring education devices for its
students to use in class, the district first
has to lay the technological foundation
that can host an array of electronic
gadgets. “This money is critical to us
and I think we have some great ideas,”
said Superintendent John Xanthis. “We’re
so anxious to get our proposal to get
these items for the kids. But we have
to do this step first. That takes a little
while to study. I know people are saying
two to three years (to complete phase
one), but I’m hopeful that we can get this
part up to Albany probably in the spring.
Once people know that you want to spend
money, that tends to speed things up. If
you have the money, and it’s approved,
people know that. So I’m hoping that it
can be a little bit faster than that.”
The security portion of the proposal
will allow the district to take a major step
in ensuring the safety of its students and
staff members, as the swipe card access
program that regulates entry into schools
will be expanded to more doors. Under
the new system, visitors would have to
swipe their driver’s license through a
card reader to gain access to a school
building. If the visitor is flagged on a
federal database, they would be denied
entry. Cameras will also be installed at
the entrance of school parking lots so
license plates can be scanned well before
a visitor approaches the doorway. If the
database scan indicated that the driver
could be dangerous, security would be
aware of the threat as soon as the person
drove onto the lot.
Under the proposal, camera coverage
would also be increased in the district
to cover all current blind spots on
school property. “What we have is very
antiquated,” Xanthis said of the current
security setup. “We have swipe cards and
cameras, but I think certainly we need
more cameras. This gave us a good chance
to see what we have and it showed that we
have to catch up in a lot of those areas.”
Musician need support
The meeting also included an appeal
from 10th-grader Jordan Mazariegos
for the district to provide more musical
equipment for its live band class.
Mazariegos, who’s been playing guitar
since the sixth grade, attends the elective
class every other school day. He told
the board that the students don’t have
enough instruments to handle the five
or six groups that play live music in the
program. “We get some equipment, most
of it is donated,” he said. “The equipment
we do buy is not whole sets. Some of the
equipment we get, we have to mismatch.
Not everything’s fully there with our
drum sets, so a lot of that’s mixed and
matched. We don’t have nearly enough
guitars for everybody. I even go in there
sometimes and try to fix them, restring
them, and try to fix them as best I can. I
donate some of my stuff that I don’t need
anymore.”
Approximately 30 kids participate in
the program, but only three guitars are
available to rotate between the musicians.
“I’m not saying we need $10,000 guitars, but
it would be kind of nice to have equi