The Big Foot Union High School District recently received a federal grant of nearly $30,000 to upgrade its Wi-Fi infrastructure.
The district said Tom Schauf, a long-time math teacher who assists with information technology, wrote the grant.
BFHS will use these funds to offset the cost of replacing two aging wireless controllers and network software.
The high school originally installed its school-wide wireless access network in 2011. This Wi-Fi network included wireless access points in every classroom.
In 2017, Big Foot purchased newer wireless access points that could handle more devices simultaneously as a part of its one-to-one program with student laptops.
This update anticipated mandated statewide testing on student devices. At that time, BFHS added an additional 20 access points to meet increased access demands in common areas. The federal E-Rate program partially subsidized the 2017 upgrade.
E-Rate is the common name for the Schools and Libraries Universal Service Fund program directed by the FCC. The program provides discounts to schools and libraries across the US for telecommunication services.
The high school receives annual E-Rate funding for Internet access This new grant is second time that Big Foot has received additional E-Rate funding to upgrade internal connections.
