Building Foundations: Behind Hoover City Schools’ IT Vision

When Wes Wilbanks talks about building reliable infrastructure for Hoover City Schools, he’s talking about the same Alabama classrooms where he learned to read and write. The district’s Director of Information Technology is a Hoover graduate himself, and his wife works there too, which gives him a different perspective on what’s at stake when technology fails.

His route to IT leadership wasn’t conventional. Wes spent 20 years in the district’s facilities department, working his way through roles in HVAC systems, building automation, security infrastructure and the Assistant Director of Operations before making the jump to technology. Today, it’s that background in facilities and physical infrastructure that shapes how he thinks about networks, cloud computing and technology in the classroom.

He says: “My background has given me a deep respect for the physical side of infrastructure and how all these systems connect, how environments function and how small details in the design phase of any project can make or break the long-term performance.” 

Wes still thinks about technology projects the way he used to think about construction projects. “You have to get the groundwork first. That sets the foundation for everything that gets built above it. And if the groundwork’s not right, it can cause everything to eventually fail,” he explains. “It also taught me the value of sequencing, coordination and safety: all principles that translate directly into a technology deployment.”

Hoover City Schools implements Cisco Meraki network modernisation project

The district is currently midway through a multi-year E-rate funded network infrastructure overhaul, replacing ageing on-premise systems with Cisco Meraki switches and wireless access points across all campuses.

“It’s about future-proofing the district, building a network that can grow with our needs, rather than reacting to them. There’s nothing worse than getting yourself into a position where you’re reacting to the things that are happening in your environment,” Wes says. “The goal isn’t just new hardware. It’s a unified, cloud-managed environment that gives us real-time visibility. It should allow us to respond and troubleshoot issues faster.”

The shift from on-premise to cloud-based network management marks a change in operational approach for Hoover City Schools. The district had maintained physical servers and locally-managed infrastructure for its entire operational history. Moving to a cloud-based network management system creates new possibilities for partner engagement and support.

“Being cloud-based with our network management is a huge change for our district. Another plus of moving things into a cloud-managed environment is that, when needed, it allows us to bring a partner in quicker, because they have access into our environment off-prem.” Wes says.

The technology team manages everything from network infrastructure and cybersecurity to classroom technology and end-user support. The department operates in two divisions whilst functioning as a unified team, with Wes overseeing the network infrastructure side whilst a parallel group handles classroom instructional technology.

C-Spire partnership delivers network infrastructure across four Alabama schools

Selecting partners for the network modernisation project required finding vendors who understood the specific constraints and requirements of K-12 education. Wes established clear criteria for partner selection.

“For me, the biggest thing was a partner that understands our mission, that’s not just trying to push products. We see C-Spire – and any vendor that we partner with – as an extension of our team, and they need to get it,” Wes says. “They need to understand the K-12 environment. They need to understand some of the struggles that teachers face every day. They need to understand some of the financial hurdles that we have to go through. As an educational system, we don’t generate income, we just allocate funds.”

The partnership was tested during implementation last summer, when the team completed network switching and wireless access point installations across four buildings just days before the school year began. The tight timeline created anxiety about potential issues during the first week of classes.

“Without even asking, I had a C-Spire systems engineer just show up, with a team of engineers and our project lead on standby. I didn’t have to call and ask them. They just came. We didn’t have any hiccups, everything worked great and we got a lot of compliments on how fast and reliable the network was in those four schools and their students,” Wes says.

How building automation systems drive cost efficiency

Wes continues to apply lessons from his facilities management background to the district’s approach to building automation. Integrating building systems with network infrastructure creates opportunities for operational improvements and cost reduction.

“Building automation has become a major part of how we think about smart infrastructure. From my operation days, it allowed us to keep lean staffing with better tools, so that they could respond to multiple problems from one location and would be able to get a heads-up on something that’s going wrong in the environment, a lot of times before the people in a classroom or in a facility even know that they have a problem,” Wes says.

The integration of IT and facilities management systems enables predictive maintenance and faster response times. By connecting environmental controls, security systems and network infrastructure, Wes and his team can identify issues before they impact teaching and learning.

“By integrating those building systems with our network backbone, we can optimise energy use, identify anomalies faster, and extend the life of our critical equipment. It’s the intersection of IT and Operations,” he says.

The technology department’s relationship with classroom instruction operates through tech coaches who work directly with teachers. These coaches identify needs, test solutions and provide feedback that shapes technology decisions, with the infrastructure team then handling implementation details.

“We have tech coaches that are in the classrooms every day, working shoulder to shoulder with teachers on how to implement the technology that the teachers have at their disposal to make engaging lessons for the students. Tech coaches actually drive a lot of the innovation in the classroom,” Wes says. “My biggest goal is to have an infrastructure that is future-focused and sustainable in a way that it can handle whatever new technologies come along.”