NEC Business Network Solutions Awarded Major E-Rate Contract for Jasper County School District - school district in South Carolina - Brief Article

Fiber Optics Business, Dec 15, 2000

NEC Business Network Solutions (BNS) announced it was awarded a multimillion dollar, five-year contract with the South Carolina Jasper County School District to implement a comprehensive data and telecommunications network. Jasper County School District was able to utilize government E-Rate funds to purchase its fiber optic network, which is comprised of NEC and Cisco products and NEC BNS services.

Jasper County School District was awarded $10 million in E-Rate funds that will be used in part to install a high-speed voice, data, and fiber optic cable network to all classrooms within the district. This highly advanced network will support a complete NEC voice, ATM, and data server network, along with a Cisco Gigabit Ethernet network. Once deployed, the network will provide the backbone for implementing a videoconferencing network for distance learning applications.

Jasper County, located in South Carolina, has set considerable goals for their school district stating 100 percent of its students will master the required grade-level objectives, graduate from high-school, and attend college or study a vocation within nine months after completing high-school.

"Dr. Singleton and the Jasper County School District have taken the necessary steps to ensure their students are on the right side of the digital divide," said John Colvin, director of sales, E-Rate program, NEC Business Network Solutions Inc. "NEC BNS is excited to partner with Jasper County to make the school district the E-Rate model for the nation."

"The mission of the Jasper County School District is to ensure that all students develop into self-sufficient learners and contributors to society," said Dr. William Singleton, superintendent of the Jasper County School District. "NEC BNS is partnering with us to meet this goal by designing, implementing, and servicing our state-of-the-art network."

As part of the contract, NEC BNS is providing complete training to the school district's teachers so that they are better able to use modern technology as a teaching tool. Parents will be able to link right into the classroom via telephones and access the Homework Hotline, which allows students and/or parents to call in and either hear a recording, or receive via fax, daily and weekly homework assignments and study tips.

The E-Rate funds program is administered by the Universal Services Administrative Company, and provides affordable access to modern telecommunications services to several groups, including rural areas, low-income neighborhoods, and public and private schools, and public libraries.