Networking & Wireless | News

DeKalb County District Goes Wireless from Border to Border

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 01/08/14

After nearly a year of work, a Georgia school district with about 99,000 students has succeeded in going "100 percent wireless" in its 136 locations. The $4.5 million project at DeKalb County School District was put in place to support a number of wireless initiatives. The current hardware infrastructure supports 38,000 computers.

In 2011 voters passed a 60-month one-cent special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST) to cover the expense of capital improvements, including building improvements, new schools, classroom additions, technology, and transportation needs.

On the technology front, in addition to providing wireless access for all classrooms, the district has been using the SPLOST funding to update hardware, provide interactive white boards, improve IT infrastructure, distribute digital content, and upgrade telecommunications infrastructure.

"District-wide wireless access allows us to maximize our investment in computers and smart boards," said Melvin Johnson, chair of the county's board of education. "We will be a more efficient school system as a result of this achievement, and our students will have access to more information and even greater opportunities to learn."

Added Superintendent Michael Thurmond, "Achieving this major milestone brings us into the 21st century of technology and provides unprecedented access to information for our students... No longer must students take turns in a computer lab or rely solely on hard-wired technology. With this achievement, technology-based learning becomes part of the everyday classroom experience, broadening communication and learning across classrooms and schools for all of our students, teachers and administrators."