School will buy 602 computers

CAMPBELL -- The Campbell city schools will be getting all new computers in the fall.
The board of education approved an agreement Tuesday to buy 602 computers from Gateway Computer Co. at a cost of $479,794.
It's a different price than first offered to the district, said Superintendent Thomas D. Robey.
Gateway's initial bid was $446,684, but the company claimed there was a mistake on its quote that would have cost it hundreds of thousands of dollars, Robey said.
The original proposal offered a more powerful and more expensive computer, he said.
The school district agreed to negotiate the issue and will get some less powerful units but with some extra capabilities in a compromise arrangement, Robey said.
The 602 units will replace all of the district's old computers, which are between 3 and 5 years old.
The new computers come with five-year warranties, a major factor in the board's decision to go with Gateway, Robey said.
The district will borrow the money to buy the computers from National City Bank at 4.58-percent interest for three years, paying a total of $32,622 in interest over that period.
Robey said the plan is to sell the district's old computers and use that money to help pay off the National City loan.
Campbell has received some expressions of interest in bulk purchase of the computers and would prefer to sell all or most of them that way, he said. Some may be available for sale to school staff and the general public, he said.
The district hopes to get about $300 per unit, he said.
In other matters, the board voted to hire Erin Best, a December graduate of Youngstown State University and currently a long-term substitute teacher at Wilson High School, as the district's new music teacher/band director.
She will be paid $31,207 a year as a teacher and an additional $5,550 as band director.