Project Summary
Every school in the district will have their WiFi System replaced.
This will not only increase the connectivity for our staff, students and guests, but it will increase the security of our networks at Montrose County School District. Staff and students will be able to travel seamlessly from one school to another with their devices without having different network names and WiFi passwords for each building.
Timeline
This project will start the first week of May 2023. The goal is to have all schools completed by the beginning of October with the majority of our schools completed by the beginning of the school year.
Questions and Answers
Is there going to be a separate network for staff and students?
No. We will have one network for all our MCSD owner devices. This network will be called MCSD. We will also have a guest network called MCSD Guest. This will be for all personal devices belonging to staff, students and guests to the district.
Why can’t each school manage their own WiFi?
This design will make our network more secure separating the district owned devices from personal devices. This will better protect your personal information as well as other staff and students' information. In addition, you will have a seamless experience being able to travel to different school buildings without having to change networks or passwords.
Why get a whole new network?
We will be able to take advantage of the newest technology Wifi6. This technology will take advantage of the speedier connections for our new iPads and MacBook and is also designed to cover high density areas (areas where many devices are accessing the network.)
How do I get the password?
You will be connected to the MCSD network directly through your device. There is no password to remember.
What about my personal phone, computer or device?
You will be able to access the guest network MCSD Guest for all your personal devices. The experience on the guest network will be similar to any other public WiFi (hotels, businesses, hospitals.)
I have a new teacher who doesn't have a device yet and they want to use their personal computer while they are waiting for a district device. How do I get them connected so they can Print and do all the things we can do with District devices?
Personal devices are on guest networks - no exceptions. They can send their print jobs via email to a staff member with those capabilities. Most other resources with the exception of a few internal systems are available via a web browser or remotely, and they can access those on the guest network just as they would on the production network. IT will work to ensure staff start with proper equipment to avoid this situation.
I have a quest speaker who needs to connect to the AppleTV. How will that be accomplished?
There will be a presenter network that overlaps for certain areas.
I have a coach who is a volunteer, but he needs access to information we have on our systems. How are they going to function?
Same as they would for personal devices. They need to be on the guest network if they have personal devices or they can be issued a district owned device for their volunteer work.