Ark Valley News - School district’s phone system on the fritz

School district’s phone system on the fritz
By Chris Strunk
Last Updated: August 23, 2013

The Valley Center school district's phone system was expected to return to normal on Aug. 21 after two full days of problems.

The system shut down Aug. 19, affecting incoming and outgoing calls in every building in the district. Superintendent Cory Gibson said the company that sold the system to the district as part of the 2008 bond issue was called in to troubleshoot and believed there was a software problem.

A district technology staffer worked through the night Aug. 19 to try and resolve the issue, believing it was fixed when school started Aug. 20. However, every 20 minutes, the system shut down and the server had to be manually restarted.

Gibson said staff used e-mail and cellphones to communicate and that "parents were very understanding."

"It certainly was an inconvenience," he said.

A software patch was expected to resolve the issue by Aug. 21, he said.