BEC Fiber Helps Utopia ISD Level the Technological Playing Field

BY DAVID NORRIS

WHEN MICHAEL DERRY graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration in the 1980s, he had his future all planned out: He wanted to be a banker. He worked hard and was on track to land the career of his dreams. That is, until the bank he worked for went under and everything he’d been working for came crashing down.

He thought of it as a temporary setback and began looking for a job that could pay the bills until he got back to doing what he loved, or at least what he thought he loved. When he found a job as a substitute teacher, everything changed. He said this that was when he discovered his true passion.

“I absolutely fell in love with education,” said Derry. “The kids just touch your heart. You walk in and those kids are happy to see you, and they come up and give you a hug. You can make a difference in their lives.”

Derry knew at that moment his future in banking was over. He decided to go back to school to get his teaching certification, and he never looked back. Nearly three decades later, he’s now the superintendent at Utopia ISD. This is his first year in the role, and he said he loves it.

The district wasn’t without problems. One of those problems, Derry said, was internet reliability. Utopia ISD, like most districts, depends on high-speed internet for a good portion of their teaching. “It makes research much more easily available to them,” said Derry. “When I was in school, you went to the library for everything you needed, but now you can do so much more on the internet.”

Michael Derry, Utopia ISD Superintendent; and Jeff Caddell, BEC Fiber manager of products and services.

Samantha Gleason

Derry said the internet gives them access to things they don’t have in Utopia. “Because we are a small school district, we don’t have many teachers who can teach dual credit courses,” he said. “Most of our dual credit is provided by Southwest Texas Junior College via Zoom, which requires a good internet connection. That connection is vital. If our internet goes down in the middle of a lesson or a monitored test, it creates problems for our students.”

Utopia ISD's summer reading program utilizes computers and fiber network access for some of its student activities.

Samantha Gleason

The service they had was good, but Derry said they needed more. Derry knew fiber optics could give them the speed and reliability they needed, so he called Bandera Electric Cooperative. In no time, Derry said he was talking with BEC CEO Bill Hetherington. “He said, 'Absolutely. School districts are one of our top priorities, and we want to get you guys hooked up,' ” said Derry. Derry said Jeff Caddell, BEC Fiber manager of products and services and his crew out of Boerne got right to work installing an entirely new fiber network for the district. It’s a big project with a lot of moving parts, but Derry said he knew he was in good hands. Caddell was never more than a phone call away and sometimes spent hours at the school helping the district’s technology director, David Carter.

“I called them a few times and they get in the car and come straight over here,” said Derry. “They spent half a day with us to track down a problem and talked with us about how we were going to install our new hardware. They even volunteered to come back to help us pull wires and get things set up.”

The fiber project was completed at the end of June, but Caddell said this is just the beginning of what they hope will be a very good relationship.

“BEC is pleased to partner with Utopia ISD to provide a stateof-the- art fiber optic network that meets all their data needs,” said Caddell. “We take great pride in our communities and believe students deserve the best technology that will empower them to achieve greatness.”

Caddell said that Utopia ISD is an exceptional school district that serves the community with the highest standards. He said BEC works hard to level the technological playing field for all students. “Students who live in a rural community should have access to the same technological advancements as those living in urban areas,” he said.

For people like Derry, this new relationship with BEC is a welcome development. “We appreciate Bandera Electric Cooperative,” said Derry. “I have never had a better experience with a company. That just tells me that this truly is a community electric cooperative. They are concerned about this community, and that means the world to an educational institution like Utopia.”