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Oakbrook Terrace school district replaces outdated phone system
Updated: April 8, 2013 2:02AM
OAKBROOK TERRACE — Salt Creek Elementary District 48 has a new system operates with a combination of traditional telephone lines and the Internet.
“Features on the new phones are similar to what we had, but the new system is much less costly to operate,” said Frank Evans, director of operations and businesses services for District 48, which includes Swartz Elementary in Oakbrook Terrace. “We can receive calls, have voice mail, voice mail boxes for employees without phones, four digit extensions, and extension to extension calling.”
Evans said the previous analog system, which was installed in 2002, no longer is manufactured or supported.
“Cost to operate and keep the system was expensive, and one school, Salt Creek Primary, had a number of outages over the past couple of years,” he said.
District staff looked at leasing a system, but opted to purchase a new one.
“We elected to own our system and phones because it was more cost effective,” Evans said, adding the $58,000 price tag for installation and equipment for the new system would have covered two years of leasing.
Evans said individual extensions have changed with the new system, but building numbers remain the same.
A director of phone extensions is available online as part of a blog by Superintendent John Correll at saltcreek48.org.
