![]() “For example, if we do a phone upgrade, all of our thousand subscribers benefit from the upgrade. “I believe our methodical approach involves a reinvestment of some tax dollars, some in savings, and then back into this whole shared service network,” he said. The township is also refreshing older equipment in public works, the library, and the new 9-1-1 system. Esolda said the Federal E-Rate program monies were able to go back into the classroom by purchasing one-on-one iPad usage for the entire eighth grade across five middle schools. The ability to always be online gave the Township E-Rate funding from the government. Other savings allowed the township to put in a redundant Internet circuit, providing another layer of security if one circuit would go down.īecause of Woodbridge Township’s self-healing network, the networks are active 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and 365 days a year. Recently, from savings, the school district put two access points in every classroom and upgraded all of the network switches in all of the schools. The fiber network also provides unlimited bandwidth between all of the schools, which has grown to almost 30,000 devices and computers. This effort results in additional financial savings, and the community was able to build their own private fiber network, which alone saves the township $900,000 a year. ![]() The savings was used to provide a Voice Over IP phone system between the town and the school district. After the initial agreement was set in place, the entity was able to refinance the phone system. Woodbridge Township quickly saw the partnerships benefits, not only with its students, but in financial savings. “In many ways, the venture was like the town and the school district reached across the street and shook hands in how to share services that profited everyone,” Esolda said. ![]() The sharing agreement and financing was able to connect all 24 Woodbridge Township schools with Internet and a data repository – soon becoming the network operation center for both the town and the school, simply by having an inter-local agreement between the two parties. They went a step farther and considered working together to connect all 24 schools to the local government data center.įor this vision to become reality, the data center was able to get a lease purchase from the Woodbridge Township School District for a million dollars, a bonding ordinance from the Woodbridge Township for a million dollars, and a local business arrangement provided money in lieu of taxes for another million dollars. The two entities brainstormed ways they could put the community’s children first, and the discussion ranged from how to share services for things such as rock salt, janitorial services, and plowing. McCormac, and the school district administration. The sharing agreement first started with a conversation between then – Chief Financial Officer/now current Mayor of Woodbridge Township, Mayor John E. The Shared Services Agreement Began in 1998 We put the kids first and provided 125 computers throughout the 24 schools and since then we’ve been able to save money and add more to the agreement, benefiting everyone but especially the kids,” said Michael Esolda, Chief Information Officer of Woodbridge Township Municipal Government Public Safety and School District. “This program started in early 1998-1999 by connecting the schools with the media centers, as they were the hubs where all of the network equipment was stored. The shared services technology program agreement is now going on its twentieth year and the community continues to place priority on its students, while saving over $900,000 a year. This Herculean effort twenty years ago meant 24 local schools in the school district and the local government shook hands to share services encompassing everything from plowing to a local government data center. In 1998, Woodbridge Township made a commitment to their children when the Municipal Government combined services with the Woodbridge Township School District.
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