Students, teachers and parents in the Sherman Independent School District in North Texas are leveraging the power of advanced communications in and out of the classroom, using new services from Verizon Business. The services will be provided under a new agreement that expands the company’s decade-long relationship with the district, which is located about 60 miles north of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, near the Oklahoma border. The Sherman ISD serves about 6,100 students at 12 locations.

Verizon Business is currently completing the installation of a new VoIP platform and is deploying wireless LANS for each school campus to expand the district’s communications capability and reach. The new services are provided via the district’s existing high-capacity Ethernet network, which also carries the district’s Internet, data and voice services.

In addition to the new VoIP and wireless capabilities, Verizon Business expanded the district’s existing Ethernet capabilities, enabling it to use its data network for a wide range of administrative and educational functions including processing cafeteria transactions, tracking library books, and distance-learning activities in the classroom. The wireless-access points being installed provide students and teachers with greater flexibility by enabling them to access the network, using laptops on district campuses.

Some of the new services and network expansion are made possible through the federal E-rate program. The program, created as part of the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 and managed through the Schools and Libraries Division of the Universal Service Administrative Company, provides assistance for eligible schools and libraries to obtain affordable telecommunications services and Internet access. Verizon Business is one of the nation’s leading participants in the program, with more than 10 years of E-rate experience in working with K-12 clients nationwide.