The Jefferson Township Board of Education awarded the bid for new fire alarms at Milton, Cozy Lake and White Rock Schools to Alarm & Communication Technologies in Wharton. The $217,890 cost will cover new systems for all three schools, and will allow the district to own the rites to the software for the system.

“The old contractor had proprietary software, meaning that they were the only ones who could repair the system,” said Dora Zeno, Jefferson schools’ business administrator. “Now, since we own the rites to the software, we will have the security code. We can have any vendor we choose come in and do maintenance on or repair the system.”

Work on the alarm systems is scheduled to begin shortly, with the majority of it to be completed before school begins on Sept. 5.

“Whatever work is left to be done in September will be done after school hours,” Zeno said. “And the old system won’t be turned off until the new one is completely operational. It will be a seamless transition.”