Board OKs fiber optic partnership

By Staff
Clif Knight, Hartselle Enquirer
A big step toward improving electronic communications within Hartselle's school system was made Monday night when the school board agreed to enter into a partnership with city government and Hartselle Utilities for first phase development of a fiber optic cable communications network.
The board approved an expenditure of $11,529 for its share of a consultation fee and installation of 11,000 feet of fiber cable from Sparkman Civic Center to Hartselle Junior High School and Hartselle High School. Additional costs will be involved in extending cable to the central office and three elementary schools in future construction phases.
The move was recommended by Tim Southerland, technical coordinator for the school system.
He told the board a fiber network will increase the speed of communications from 26 to 100 Megs per second and will pay for itself within 15 months from the time the network goes on line. It also will permit sub-networking and the centralization of school telephone lines in the central office.
"It will be much faster, more efficient and save the school system lot of money in the long run," Southerland said.
Currently, the school system relies on line of sight transmission of signals from a main tower located at the central office to shorter towers located at each school. The system is subject to becoming overloaded and distorted when under heavy use.
Southerland said the city and Hartselle Utilities are ready to begin the project but was not able to give a target date for completion, or an estimated cost of completing the fiber network.
"One day we're going to have to have this," Dr. Mike Reed, superintendent, said. "It's a good opportunity for us to get prepared."
The school board acted on other matters as follows:
Personnel changes were approved as follows:
As an information item for the board, Reed said the position of seventh grade volleyball coach at Hartselle Junior High has been posted and a couple of people have expressed an interest in applying.
"There has never been any indication from this office or the board that this position was not going to be filled," he said. "I'll have a recommendation for you at the next meeting."
The next board meeting will be at F.E.Burleson Elementary School Nov. 19 at 6 p.m.