Schools
Your buildings cannot go dark in October
A typical school building carries two to four analog lines: the fire alarm panel, the security panel, an elevator phone, and the secure entry vestibule phone — plus fax and backup lines at the district office. Multiply that across a district and the count surprises everyone.
What this costs you today
E-Rate stopped subsidising voice service in 2019, so districts pay full freight on every line, and those lines have tripled or worse in price. A forced migration letter arriving mid-term is an operational problem, not a billing one: these systems cannot be down while children are in the building.
The lines we find
| Device | What the code requires |
|---|---|
| Fire alarm panel | A supervised communication path and standby power |
| Elevator phone | Two-way communication answered by a live person, around the clock |
| Secure entry vestibule phone | Reliable operation during a lockdown |
| Security panel | Signalling the central station will accept |
| District office fax | Analog signalling for records that still move on paper |
How this gets bought
July to June fiscal years. Planning happens November through January, board approvals land February through April, and installation has to happen in the June to August window while buildings are empty. Facilities owns the life-safety systems, technology owns the lines, and the business official signs.
Audit in winter, approve in spring, install in summer. Start with two buildings so there is proof before the district commits, and bring the carrier’s own notice to the board meeting as the agenda item.