Wichita Public Schools empowers 60,000 students and staff by creating virtual classrooms and hybrid work capabilities on Microsoft Teams

Wichita Public Schools urgently needed to keep its 94 schools and special program sites running after COVID-19 made in-person work and school unavailable. To move students online, assist with remote work, and allow in-network communication for teachers, staff, and students, the district decided to connect its current public switched telephone network (PSTN) to Microsoft Teams.

Using its existing relationship with NEC Corporation of America (NEC), a Microsoft partner, the district created an online platform that supported both online learning and remote working. With Microsoft Teams, the school district saved money and a lengthy transition process by avoiding costly cell phone purchases and monthly plans for staff members. 

Placing 94 schools and special program sites, 50,000 students, and 10,000 staff members online

Wichita Public Schools, part of the Wichita Unified School District 259, is the largest school district in the state of Kansas, serving nearly 50,000 students. The district includes about 10,000 teachers and staff across 94 schools and special program sites. In 2020, when at-home schooling and remote hybrid work increased, schools immediately required an agile and scalable communications platform to operate without interruption in student learning or staff duties.

The district wanted to continue its mission of providing students with the right resources to succeed no matter the circumstances. It also needed staff to adjust to working from home without impeding necessary communication standards.

“We had to empower teachers, staff, and students with 21st-century skills and knowledge around a modern work and learning environment while still managing costs and reliability,” says Rob Dickson, Chief Information Officer of Wichita Public Schools. “When stay-at-home orders were issued in the spring of 2020 to stop the spread of COVID-19, Wichita Public Schools had to migrate rapidly to virtual learning for nearly 50,000 students. Parents were vital to connecting students with the new online classroom experience, and teachers needed to communicate with parents to offer encouragement and provide educational resources.”

By using Microsoft Teams, the school district created a centralized location to access learning materials and communication capabilities without spending money on unfamiliar and complex platforms. 

Connecting reliable service with new technologies

As a system that educates 11 percent of Kansas’s public-school children, the Wichita Public Schools wanted to limit any interruption in curriculum lesson plans. “The school district needed to find a way of achieving this move and migrating quickly so we could minimize the impact on our staff and students,” says Dickson.

The option to use personal devices and home phones meant extra costs and a long and complicated implementation process. Instead, the IT department decided to transition to Microsoft Teams because it had the ability to connect with the district’s existing unified communication (UC) infrastructure and the flexibility of supporting a reliable hybrid work environment.

“Wichita Public Schools was already using NEC private branch exchange, so we understood its existing infrastructure and had both the capacity and the insight to help the district switch quickly to virtual learning and support,” says Chris Bennett, Director of Cloud Solutions at NEC. “The district’s decision to work with us was driven by this existing relationship and our knowledge of its systems and what it needed to thrive during COVID-19.”

NEC’s partnership with Microsoft also made this connection easier. “We had a suite of cloud communication solutions designed to help the organization stay connected and in control while migrating to cloud services,” says Bennett. “Our NEC NETWORK CONNECT solution integrated Microsoft Teams with the PSTN, facilitating outside direct inward dialing for nearly 10,000 Microsoft Teams users, including the district’s teachers.” 

Facilitating seamless remote communication 

The Microsoft Teams–certified NETWORK CONNECT direct routing solution, along with a calling plan, permitted PSTN access to all teachers and staff from their Microsoft Teams applications. Teachers and staff could route their calls to existing direct inward dialing numbers to Microsoft Teams and to their NEC UC platform’s desk phones.

This migration process took only four weeks to set up with direct assistance from NEC. The result was remote accessibility for staff to communicate without the addition of new devices or phone numbers. It also helped parents stay informed about their children’s education while being able to address concerns instantly online.

The online communication platform also empowered faculty, staff, students, and parents, providing them with next-generation technology and access to new skills and learning methods. This ensured that schools in the district could maintain rich home teaching, remote advising, and teacher collaboration. Plus, Microsoft Teams now helps everyone to continue to work seamlessly and independently in a hybrid work environment. 

Providing security and control all in one place

NETWORK CONNECT for Microsoft Teams offers Wichita Public Schools enhanced security, with compliance for emergency calling, within a fully scalable system that can adapt to meet changing academic requirements. It is compliant with Kari’s Law and the RAY BAUM’S Act, ensuring that staff members can make emergency 911 calls and have dispatch information sent to security personnel.

It also provides the school district with visibility and control over its entire telecom/UC platform, including connectivity, down to the individual call. It also creates a universal online learning platform for the entire district to maintain educational standards across all its schools.

Leading the way for future education

Wichita Public Schools’ reason for implementing Microsoft Teams was to accommodate the increase in at-home learning and remote work; however, it proved to be more than a temporary solution to a potential problem. The online communications platform also displayed the technological possibilities of moving an entire school district online without spending a fortune or sacrificing precious learning time.

“The silver lining during these difficult times is that we’re better prepared for disruptions and other fast-changing circumstances thanks to Microsoft and our partnership with NEC,” says Dickson.