City's fiber to save school district over $100,000

By BECKY BROOKS

Enterprise Editor

clydenews@bizwoh.rr.com

Clyde-Green Springs school superintendent Todd Helms estimated the City of Clyde will be saving his district nearly $100,000 by allotting 10 fiber optic lines for local school use.

At a recent meeting, Helms informed the school board that the city council, without an official request from the board, voted to allot those fiber lines for use by the local school buildings.

City Manager Dan Weaver commented the fiber optic lines will probably save the school district even more money in coming years.

The city installed a 96-line fiber optic bundle as the backbone of its new information system for Broadband over Powerlines and its future fiber to the home program. Weaver discussed the school district needs with the council on June 17.

He projected that the city would use up to 66 of those lines, and offered to set up a meeting with Helms.

Instead, the Clyde council approved the usage of the 10-fiber lines by the school district.

An upcoming Green Springs Village sewer line project will also benefit Green Springs School, according to Helms.

As the village digs to install a new sewer line to connect to the City of Clyde's wastewater treatment plant, the school district can have a conduit for a fiber optic line installed next to it, Helms said.

That will allow for fiber optic service between all the district schools in the future at a reduced installation cost, he added.