EMERGENCY BOARD MEETING

An EMERGENCY SCHOOL BOARD MEETING has been set for MONDAY, JANUARY 28th at 3:00 p.m. in CVUSD offices conference room A.

Please attend!!!!!!!! It seems as the district has set the meeting at an unconventional time to make it inconvenient for parents to attend.


The following is information from the website:

Should the Board of Education authorize staff to enter into an agreement with Sunesys, LLC to install a high-speed, fiber optic network connecting the District Office to 31 District sites?
BACKGROUND:
The District currently maintains a local area network (LAN) connecting the District Office to 31 separate District school and work sites to provide Internet access and data transfer. The current network utilizes five, T-1 copper phone line/frame relay circuits, providing speeds of from 0.7 to 1.0 megabits per second (mb) to each site. Up until January 2008, the District LAN was connected to the Internet through the Ventura County Office of Education (VCOE), who serves as the District’s Internet service provider. The District utilized three T-1 circuits for this connection, which provided speeds of up to 4.5 mb. This frame relay LAN is completely antiquated, and does not provide the type of speeds necessary to support the timely use of resources available on Internet. It is also unable to handle the speeds necessary for effective data transfer using current management information software like Zangle, Escape and Edusoft, and instructional software such as Successmaker, requiring speeds in excess of 50 mb to operate effectively. The recent social sciences adoption provided the District with software and video resources that can only be used with networks running at least 100 mb, with a 200 mb recommended speed. The net annual cost of telecom tariffs on the current LAN and the prior VCOE connection was approximately $186,000; approximately $136,000 associated with the LAN and $50,000 associated with the VCOE
connection, which included the cost of Internet service. The gross costs of the connections are reduced by 42% through use of the Federal E-Rate program, and an additional 50% of the net E-Rate cost through the California Teleconnect Fund (CTF), a combined effective discount of 71%. The District is billed the net rate, and the telecoms and VCOE bill the Federal and State directly for the E-Rate and CTF discounts on behalf of the District. . .
In order to address the needs of the LAN for higher speeds, in December 2007 the District issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for installation of a high-speed, fiber optic LAN connecting the District Office to 31 District sites. The RFP utilized a format required for eligibility for E-Rate and CTF discounts, and specified the need for a minimum speed of 1,000 mb, or 1 gigabit per second (gb) to each site. The RFP requested costs for installation of the LAN with connection directly to each site’s Main Distribution Facility (MDF). Under E-Rate rules, telecom vendors can amortize the initial capital costs of installing the fiber and connecting it to the MDF over a five year period. . . The District would be required to install the connections between the Verizon fiber network and the MDF at all sites through a separately bid construction contract, at a one-time cost that could exceed $2.0 million, and would not be eligible for E-Rate and CTF discounts. The Sunesys proposal provided connection to all 32 site MDFs as requested, with installation costs amortized over 5 years. The table below summarizes the costs submitted by the three vendors, including gross annual costs years one through five, net annual costs years one through five after E-Rate and CTF discounts, and net annual costs for years six and beyond. . .
ATT 18 $2,777,532 $805,476 $254,040
Sunyses 32 $1,600,164 $464,052 $92,808
Verizon 32 $734,400 $212,976 $212,976
ALTERNATIVES:
1. Authorize staff to enter into an agreement with Sunesys LLC to install a high-speed, fiber optic network connecting the District Office to 32 District sites. at the expense of two wonderful elementary schools.
2. Do not authorize staff to enter into an agreement with Sunesys LLC to install a high-speed, fiber optic network connecting the District Office to 32 District sites. and actually tighten up the budget instead of excessively spend it!
RECOMMENDATION:
Approve alternative 1.
RATIONALE:
Sunesys is the only vendor that submitted a complete proposal for 1 gb service to all District sites, delivered to the MDF, and their quoted costs are less than those submitted by ATT for only 18 sites. Because the Verizon proposal does not include the amortized costs of installing a connection from the Verizon network to each site’s MDF, it is very difficult to evaluate their proposal. They were contacted and asked to include these costs in a revised proposal, and they declined. It is estimated the District could spend $2,000,000 in a separate construction contract for this installation. The $2,000,000, amortized over five years would add $400,000 per year to the Verizon net annual cost of $212,976 for years one through five, which would exceed the Sunesys net cost by approximately $150,000 per year.
The net annual costs for the Sunyses proposal in years six and beyond are approximately $120,000 less than Verizon. Therefore, staff is recommending the District contract with Sunyses. . .
The annual net cost of the current frame relay LAN and former frame relay connection with VCOE was $186,000. The net annual cost of the Sunyses LAN and radio link to the VCOE is $484,052, and increase of approximately $300,000. The 2007-08 District Budget at first quarter was revised to include an additional $300,000 in net telecom charges in anticipation of awarding a contract for a high-speed fiber optic network. However, since that time, the Governor has proposed significant cuts to State education funding in 2008-09 that could require the District to significantly reduce its expenditures. so why are we spending more at this time of crisis? District staff surveyed administrators and school site principals regarding the wisdom of moving forward with the new expense in light of the Governor’s proposal. The response was unanimous. District sites cannot continue to function effectively with a slow, outdated network, and it is significantly impacting the quality of District instructional technology programs. In addition, the current network will require several hundred thousand dollars in maintenance and replacement costs of the next several years, with no increase in speed (is this a fact??). For these reasons, it is recommended the Board authorize staff to enter into the agreement with Sunyses. Since Sunyses will not begin billing the District until July 1, 2008, the $300,000 budgeted in the current year can be used to purchase any one-time equipment necessary to support the LAN, with the balance carried over to 2008-09 to partially support next year’s costs. Instead of using funds to SAVE OUR SCHOOLS!

Respectfully submitted,
Mario V. Contini
Superintendent

Prepared by:
Jeffrey L. Baarstad, Ph.D.
Deputy Superintendent, Business Services
Mike Vollmert, Ph.D.
Director, Assessment and Technology

District Update

This evening, Tuesday, January 22nd, students and staff of CVUSD received a recorded phone message from Superintendent Mario Contini notifying us that the process of identifying the final two elementary schools for closure is temporarily suspended.

No recommendation for school closure will be offered at the Feb. 5 Board Meeting. The Board will more deeply explore the outcome of the first phase of criteria before beginning the 2nd phase of the process.

Parents and staff will be notified of the next steps following the Feb. 5 Board Meeting.

Front Page News

The Front Page of the Ventura County Star has featured Maple:
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/jan/19/maple-school-parents-voice-frustration/

Join the Fight to Save Our Schools!

Welcome to this Blog!
We as a community feel strongly about the decision the school board has made to close two elementary schools in the CVUSD effective Fall 2009. Here is a forum where you can gather information, and share information regarding the school closures. We think Conejo Valley has wonderful schools, and closing them would be detrimental to our community at large. Thank you for taking the time to visit.