FACT History
The Five Area Community Telecommunications Consortium, FACT, was formed in June 1996 in response to the need for local schools to take a more proactive role in determining the direction and management of technologies and telecommunication integration. This partnership of six small, rural school districts on the western edge of the South Plains of Texas is bringing the best in telecommunications-oriented learning and training to its schools and communities.
The concept of this unique partnership was initiated my Mr. Bill Moore, Muleshoe ISD Superintendent, in 1995. Mr. Moore believed that telecommunications had an important role in education and that small schools needed to work together to effectively and economically incorporate telecommunications into their programs.
Two other important events also led to the formation of FACT. In 1995, Five Area Telephone Cooperative purchased the Sudan, Muleshoe, Springlake-Earth, and Olton exchanges from GTE and changed its name to West Plains Telecommunications. Then Five Area/West Plains telecommunications laid fiber optic cable to all school districts in its service area in 1996. Thos events directly led to the formation of FACT in June 1996.
FACT serves schools and communities centered around Muleshoe, Texas. The districts server 3180 students in a three county area which covers 1800square miles. It consists of five rural school districts and partners from higher education and telecommunications industry. Original FACT members included Lazbuddie ISD, Muleshoe ISD, Olton ISD, Springlake-Earth ISD, Sudan ISD, Three Way ISD (until 2002), South Plains College in Levelland, Five Area Telephone Cooperative in Muleshoe, and the Educational Service Center 17 in Lubbock.
In 1999, FACT was awarded a TIF Discovery Grant for approximately one million dollars to develop a distance learning classroom network. The proposal for the grant pointed out that students and teachers in these rural districts were challenged to compete in an Information Age, yet they lacked access to the resources to make them competitive. Education Service Center 17 , located in Lubbock, provided the expertise needed to submit the proposal for a grant. Cathy Morton , who was Coordinator of Planning and Development of Education Service Center 17, was responsible for putting together the information needed and submitting the grant proposal to the TIF board. After being approved for the TIF Grant, FACT began work on establishing their ITV classrooms. The first classrooms were installed in the summer of 1999. The first classes taught to students in FACT were in College Algebra taught by South Plains College faculty in the Falls of 1999.
At its inception, the FACT members were concerned about yearly sustainability. Expenditures for repairs, replacement of equipment, and upgrades in equipment and software would be a necessity. To address this need, Texas House Speaker Pete Laney was instrumental in getting Senate Bill 1873 passed SB 1873 allows Chapter 41 school districts (property wealthy school districts) to partner with Chapter 42 school districts to help fund technology consortiums. Sudan ISD is a Chapter 41 school district. This bill has assured FACT's ability to not only survive but also to keep up with the constant advances in the telecommunications industry.
FACT held an open house in April 2000 to demonstrate its ITV network. All the school districts, South Plains College, and Education Service Center 17 participated. The purpose of the open house was to introduce the communicates and schools to the opportunities and possibilities that interactive television provides. All of the school districts, South Plains College, and Educational Service Center 17 participated. The purpose of the open house was to introduce the communities and schools to the opportunities and possibilities that interactive television provides. People from throughout the South Plains were invited to meet at one of the schools to see demonstrations of the new equipment. Dignitaries present included Speaker of the Texas House Pete Laney, Representative Tell Bivins, and Trish Conradt, Pete Laney's education liaison.
FACT continued to operate with the original members until the end of the 2001-2002 school year. At that time due to the decline in student population, Three Way ISD chose to consolidate with Sudan ISD.
Because of the proliferation of technology in schools, technology coordinators have become an important part of all school faculties. FACT depends heavily on the technology coordinators from each school. Johnathan Robertson, technology coordinator from Sudan, and Don McElroy, technology coordinator from Muleshoe, were important in the development of the network. Mr. Robertson continues to be involved in helping the network to be and active part of the school districts. Linda Lewis, the technology coordinator from Muleshoe, plays a vital role in keeping the network up and running. Mrs. Lewis does the scheduling for the classes and is vital in writing grants for FACT. Although Mrs. Lewis is an employee of Muleshoe ISD, she spends much of her time working on problems and planning improvement for FACT. Her expertise is invaluable.
There have been many individuals and organizations who helped make FACT a reality. Without Pete Laney and Cathy Morton, FACT would not exist. But also very important is Five Area Telephone Cooperative/West Plains Telecommunications whose continued commitment and desire to work with FACT has enabled us to be where we area today. The person at Five Area/West Plains responsible for the dedication is Hubert Kidd. Mr. Kidd had the forethought and vision to see what was needed to usher FACT into the Information Age.