Voters to Consider GPPSS Technology Bond

The Grosse Pointe Board of Education voted 5-1 Monday to place a $50 million technology bond on the ballot Feb. 25. Cindy Pangborn was the lone no vote, and Tom Jakubiec was absent.

The bond would address security systems, technology infrastructure, technology computing devices and energy efficiency improvements, according to board documents.

“This is a technology proposal that very much includes needed capital improvements and infrastructure in order to utilize that technology,” said Joan Dindoffer, board president. “In this community, many of us have older homes that we had to update, and upgrade, and it’s certainly reasonable to expect we need to do the same with our very old school buildings.”

• $1.5 million for safety and security improvements for items including alarm upgrades and exterior lock replacements,
• $2.5 million for high definition security cameras and centralized video storage,
• $1.1 million for enhanced 911 equipment, telephones for classrooms and offices and a unified voice messaging system,
• $862,000 for a private fiber optic network,
• $7.7 million for network infrastructure and servers,
• $1.5 million for wireless networks,
• $1.4 million for uninterruptible power supply,
• $3.6 million for generators,
• $126,000 for air conditioning and ventilation equipment,
• $759,000 for a digital media system,
• $2.7 million for device management systems,
• $16.9 million for computers,
• $7 million for classroom technology and power support,
• $1.8 million for computer labs and media center improvements,
• $6.9 million for energy management systems,
• $3.4 million for lighting upgrade,

She added that she would have liked to have had discussions about where savings from retiring debt could be used, and have the bond broken out into separate proposals.