Metropolitan School District of Decatur
The Metropolitan School District of the Decatur Township has been serving residents of the Indianapolis suburb since the later 1800s. The District operates a preschool, seven elementary schools, a middle school and a high school, educating over 6,800+ students each year.
The district’s mission is to prioritize student learning, safety and customer service while fostering a support system for families. They are student invested and community connected as they prepare students to be “Tomorrow Ready.”
They offer a breadth of opportunities for their students with Indiana College Core dual-credit courses, Advanced Placement courses and extracurricular activities along with Career Technical Education courses at the Decatur Central Career Center.
Administrators are responsible for dozens of buildings across multiple campuses and when it came to standardize their AV footprint, the MSD turned to Tech Electronics.
The Challenge
“As we were assessing where we were, it seemed like every facility we had, had somewhat of a problem, and as we started peeling it back, the problems weren’t consistent across the district in terms of our sound systems,” said Director of Operations Justin Dixson.
“It was really kind of a hodgepodge of previous installs and equipment and providers.”
The district was faced with two challenges, one to troubleshoot the issues with their existing systems and two, to choose a manufacturer to standardize with and revamp their AV footprint across the district.
Dixson said the district wanted a comprehensive approach to their new system that was also an improvement to their existing equipment.
The project would take shape as a three-phased approach across the district’s larger outdoor venues, then covering the larger indoor venues at the high school and middle school.
Work would then branch out into the district’s elementary school gymnasiums and PA systems.
The Solution
Senior Solutions Designer Rob Clayton said the project was built around JBL speakers and Crown amplifiers to standardize the district’s equipment and provide the best possible product for their budget.
In, total Tech was able to replace systems in eight gymnasiums, two baseball facilities, two softball facilities, the football and soccer facilities, as well as the high school cafeteria.
“We’re extremely happy with the product and the performance,” said Dixson. “I don’t want to downplay the importance of customer service either, and if I call John (Crum) or his team, they’re going to answer the phone and they’re going to help us troubleshoot in real time, so that has been by far the most comforting part of this relationship.”
Tech also navigated shifting timelines throughout the project as work had to be done to accommodate both the academic and athletic calendars.
“We took that approach and looking at fall, winter, spring, and trying to coordinate accordingly to where we were starting those respective seasons with new products and new technology, and all that happened flawlessly,” said Dixson.
He also commended Account Executive John Crum’s expertise in the education space and said his approach to designing and offering a system that met their needs was exactly what the district needed.
“I think John and his team’s approach to coming in, assessing our system, listening to our needs and our wants, and providing us with different levels of options on what we could do to accomplish our goals and giving us the flexibility to align those with our budget, that obviously a great approach,” said Dixson.
For more information on how Tech can design, install, and service AV and intercom systems in your K-12 environment, schedule a consultation.
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