BCSD to upgrade entire communications system; staff honored
By The Bakersfield Californian
The Bakersfield City School District board on Tuesday night approved an $8.2 million project that will update telephone and internet service in the state's largest elementary school district. After federal discounts, the district will pay just $1.5 million of the bill.
The project -- expected to start in the fall and completed in six to eight months -- will include upgrades to phone systems in the 40-campus district, and also at two new schools. New features will include auto routing of calls at schools, voice-mail for all staff, and an electronic directory.
"The new phone system will help us better communicate with staff, parents and the community," according to district staff.
BCSD's current phone system is 12 years old. Upgrades are expected to last at least 10 years. The cost breaks down to about $2,400 per school site per year for 10 years. About $1.1 million of the $1.5 million bill will be paid using cash from BCSD's general fund.
In other business, the board and district administrators recognized several people for receiving state accolades. They include: Principal Sammie Cervantez for completing National Board Certification renewal; Janie Flores, Migrant Education supervisor, for being selected as the California Association of Bilingual Education administrator of the year; teacher Francisco Flores for being selected as the California Association of Bilingual Education teacher of the year; Teacher Lila Perez, for being selected as the Migrant Teacher of the Year, Region 21; and principal Ruscel Reader for being selected as the Association of California School Administrators administrator of the year, and also for getting the "Valuing Diversity" award.
-- Jorge Barrientos, Californian staff
Most CommentedMost Popular
Since Karen Goh returned to Kern County from a publishing career in New York in 2004, she has helped foster a strong network of Christian leaders in government, politics, media, business and nonprofits.
California voters approved Proposition 215 in 1996, giving "seriously ill Californians ... the right to obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes" as recommended by a physician.
Is Kern County, as has widely been reported, really the expulsion capital of California? That's the question posed Friday by state Sen. Michael Rubio, D-Shafter, to 50 or so Kern County educators, elementary and high school district administrators and community leaders.
Kern County has agreed to pay a Kern River Valley family $1 million for wrongfully taking their son in 2008 when the family was in a dispute with the South Fork Union School District over how school officials were dealing with the boy's food allergies.
A Bakersfield mother of two who took up competitive cycling nine months ago after an injury ended her marathoning career died Sunday while competing in a bicycle race outside Yosemite National Park.
A Bakersfield police officer shot and killed a man who was armed with a gun in a northwest Bakersfield apartment Monday morning.
Since Karen Goh returned to Kern County from a publishing career in New York in 2004, she has helped foster a strong network of Christian leaders in government, politics, media, business and nonprofits.
Kern County has agreed to pay a Kern River Valley family $1 million for wrongfully taking their son in 2008 when the family was in a dispute with the South Fork Union School District over how school officials were dealing with the boy's food allergies.