Trustees Consider Computer Lease Agreement with BOCES
After officials identified 225 computers in need of replacement at three district schools, Huntington School Board members are considering a three-year leasing plan through Western Suffolk BOCES that would result in state aid covering nearly half of the $163,575 cost.
After consulting with building principals and examining equipment, Joann Kavanagh, the district’s instructional technology coordinator determined that 105 computers should be replaced at Huntington High School, 95 at Woodhull Intermediate School and 25 at J. Taylor Finley Middle School.
“Last summer we attempted to stretch out the viability of these machines by going with thin client architecture in these buildings,” explained David H. Grackin, assistant superintendent for finance and management services.
Thin client technology holds the potential to improve the performance of older machines, including those that have “ancient” Pentium I or II processors. Thin client cards allow older PC machines to function like newer ones. Current software applications are able to run more quickly on the old machines as a result of this technology. But, the district encountered problems.
“Unfortunately, the thin client architecture does not easily support new printers nor does it allow the use of CD Rom drives, flash drives and Smart Boards,” Mr. Grackin said. “We were aware of this during the budget process but, unfortunately, we were not able to commit this entire purchase through the 2008/09 budget.”
Huntington and BOCES had a similar computer lease agreement about 10 years ago. Trustees would need to publicly approve any new agreement. “BOCES would purchase the computers for us and then lease them to us for either three or five years,” said Mr. Grackin, who is recommending a three-year period since computer technology evolves quickly.
According to figures developed by Mr. Grackin, the district would pay BOCES $66,721 in the first year of the agreement and then pay $48,427 in each of the second and third years, respectively. Huntington would be eligible for 49.4 percent reimbursement of the expense in the form of state aid, reducing the first year cost down to $33,694.
“We would pay for the first year costs by reallocating current monies in the instructional computer budget,” Mr. Grackin said. The actual cost of the computers before state aid is factored in would run $135,564 with the balance attributed to BOCES coordination, financing and legal fees.
Trustees are expected to consider the proposal at a public meeting this August.
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