A portion of Whitehall District Schools’ bus fleet is parked by the transportation garage. The district is updating the fleet through purchases using funds from the 2010 bond issue. The purchase of two 2011 buses was approved Monday. It is the final purc

The school board approved a purchase of a computer network system for just over a half million dollars and the purchase of two used 2011 school buses for $119,000.

The computer network, according to Eric Tanner, the district’s technology director, will provide 10-fold the capacity of the current 10-year-old system, which he says, is at full capacity.

“This (new system) will have better coverage and a larger band width for wireless,” he added, when presenting the purchase proposal to the school board.

The board approved the low bid of $514,453.39 from Netech. That bid includes a salvage credit of $25,649.23 for current equipment which will be replaced.

Scott Brune, president and CEO of Wright & Hunter, the district’s technology advisor, said there were two bids for the new network. Netech, a regional company which was started in 1996 in Grand Rapids, and eGear USA which had a bid of $605,577.25.