Sullivan school system/health department getting new audio-visual system

BLOUNTVILLE — Antique may be a positive descriptor when it comes to furniture or classic automobiles, but not for the sound system of a public government body.If you've ever watched a Sullivan County Board of Education meeting in person or on an audio-visual livestream or video, you may not always hear school officials or other speakers.However, you can sometimes hear alternating hisses, crackles and silence that make lip reading a usable skill. That's because of a 1994 audio system, which for perspective pre-dated the Y2K computer scare of 1999 and the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.It is outdated and, officials say, has been failing for some time. In recent months it is the butt of a running joke at board meetings, where school officials dutifully wait for it to begin working again.Its replacement is to be a state-of-the art audio-visual system costing $36,767 to be covered by COVID-19 relief money, according to a recent presentation to the board. The timeline to get the new system in place is four to six months, which school system technology officials said is a delay caused by supply chain issues.The region's largest school system, with about 8,500 students, is about to get rid of the hisses, crackles and silence, plus add video capacity, with a new audio-visual to be paid for by in ESSER 2.0 or the second of three rounds of the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund money."Our technology team being able to do the installation, that' an added bonus here," Director of Schools Evelyn Rafalowski said.And while West Ridge High School audio-visual students do video of the work sessions and meetings, she said that students are generally not available during the day, when the new system's video cameras could be used for school system and other meetings.As for the funding source, the school system has had problems getting bids and completion times on projects being funded by ESSER 2.0 and 3.0 and has had to switch project schedules around, moving some to ESSER 3.0. AUDIO-VISUAL REFRESHThe discussion occurred when Eric Maynard, technology facilitator or supervisor for Sullivan County Schools, and Cooper Wilson, information technology technician for the system, gave a presentation to the Board of Education on the audio-visual plans at the board's Feb. 2 work session. Rafalowski, a repeat victim of the current audio system dropping her voice mid-sentence over the past few months if not longer, said the project did not require board approval or bids because of the amount."We'll start the process unless there's an objection from someone in here," Rafalowski said during the work session.No one objected.Board member Mark Ireson, also a county commissioner, helped push the matter to the forefront after the current system failed repeatedly during board work sessions sometimes held in the room and voting meetings usually held there. He said the upgrade is sorely needed.ANTIQUATED AUDIO"We realize that it is quite antiquated," Maynard said. "It has been in that board room since 1994." That's the year the health and education building was completed.The Sullivan County Regional Health Department and county Department of Education share the meeting space, which is in a building the county constructed and is part rented by the school system, with the rest occupied by the health department.The health department recently installed a new projector and screen in the room, and Maynard said he is checking to see about more inputs and outputs for that equipment.In addition, the Sheriff's Office based just east of the health and education building sometimes uses the space, Director of Schools Evelyn Rafalowski said.As for other use, aside from school board meetings, teacher and administrator meetings and various health department meetings and events are held in the room.Maynard said the current audio system is downright antiquated and uses low-quality equipment, has out-of-date frequency usage, no video or archives or streaming infrastructure, no mixing or other controls for customization and a low-quality audio output.NEW EQUIPMENT COMINGAll those issues will be addressed, Maynard said, by equipment from Switchblade, Shure and Behringer. Maynard said a breakdown of the system is as follows:• A Shure Microflex conference system, a newer version of what the Sullivan County Commission uses in its meeting room in the old courthouse, will have speakers so those in the room can hear, web capacity, wireless capacity guest microphones and school board member microphones and other amenities.• A Behringer digital rack mixer will enable touch-screen voting for the seven-member school board, with capacity for earbud or head phone plug ins and the board chairman to be the "team lead" and designate who is speaking, Cooper said.• A Switchblade camera setup to enable video streaming, which also is recorded.A video presented to the board said lithium ion batteries will be used and the system can support up to 125 users if needed.During the COVID-19 pandemic, the school board had meetings online where members attended virtually from their homes or offices or from the first-floor meeting room of the health and education building or elsewhere in the building.If ever a pandemic hits again, the system would make better audio for video captured by the system or by West Ridge students.Later, when in-person meetings resumed, because the health department used the meeting room for COVID tracking, the school board took its meetings on the road to some of the system's schools.In a presentation on the audio-visual refresh, the two presented a packet of information to the board, which met in work session in Room 212 upstairs instead of the first-floor main meeting room where the voting meeting was held that evening.It is a much smaller room and has no audio-visual or audio system, although the West Ridge student does video from there, too.