By Lynn Janes

The Silver City Consolidated Schools held a special meeting March 12, 2025. Members in attendance included Ashley Montenegro, Patrick Cohn, and Kimberly Klement. Superintendent William Hawkins had not attended but Louis Alvarez, associate superintendent, sat in for him. Michelle Diaz and Mike McMillan did not attend.

Benjamin Potts, technology director, had a few RFP (request for proposal) awards he needed to present to the board and ask for approval.

The first one would be to have Wi-Fi on all eight of the activity busses. They had received three proposals. Potts thanked them all for the quotes. The committee that reviewed all of the proposals chose Kajeet. It had been the most expensive but provided the best service. Kajeet has access to more cellular service than the other proposals. This way they could ensure they would always be connected. Because of the many rural routes, it would be important.

The second RFP had been for district internet and links Cliff and all the Silver City schools. They had two proposals and decided to stay with the current one WNM Communications. The other could not link or provide service in Cliff. The district pays as much for internet in Silver City as it does for Cliff.

The last thing Potts asked of the board had to do with the E-rate budget. They had not received the RFPs but would need to have that approved quickly. He asked for a preapproval of the committee's award. The RFPs would be due March 24, 2025, and the paperwork had to be in by March 26, 2025. He wanted to avoid another early board meeting. The RFP would be for specific hardware and will just be based on price.

Pots asked if they had any questions.

Cohn thought the Wi-Fi on the activity buses would be a genius idea. "I am sure everyone will really appreciate it." He thanked him for bringing it forward.

Klement asked if it would just be the activity buses and if it included any GPS tracking. She asked if they could do telematics also. Potts said it would just be Wi-Fi, and that telematics and GPS would cost extra. He also said it would just be for the activity buses.

Montenegro wanted to clarify it would be just for the activity buses and Potts said yes. She knew this had been high on Hawkins wants. Some of the buses would not be Wi-Fi ready and Montenegro asked if the RFP would include all the needed equipment and installation. Potts said yes and the new buses already have the needed equipment.

The board approved all three RFP awards that Potts requested.

Adjourned