PUSD Board OKs $7.6 Million Worth of Contracts to Replace District’s Outdated Computer Fleet

The Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) Board of Education unanimously approved two contracts worth $7.6 million for the purchase of new devices that will replace the district’s outdated computer fleet with some devices as old as 12 years.

According to the report submitted by Chief Information Technology Officer Tendaji Jamal to the school board, for the past two decades, PUSD school sites have managed to purchase computers to support the needs of their staff but the budget cuts in the past years have forced schools to spend their funds in other areas to support teacher and student needs. 

“Our aging fleet has left staff with longer downtimes, device failure, and greater security risks from devices not being able to run up to date operating systems with need security patches,” the report reads.  

Approved by the board were the proposed contracts with Dell and Apple. 

The purchase price for the Dell devices is $5.7 million plus finance charges worth $346,800 for a total of about $6 million while the Apple contract is worth $1.5 million.

The devices that will be purchased were not specified in the report. 

The items that will be purchased “will provide staff, students and community members with the technological knowledge and resources necessary to attain their educational and operational goals in a safe digital environment for all to explore, create, share and learn.”

The replacement of PUSD’s old computers is part of the Staff Device Refresh Project, a project that supplies brand new devices to district staff as per the voter approved Measure O Education Technology Bond.