Benefits stemming from a $2.5 million technology levy are beginning to take shape in the Mount Vernon School District.

School Board members last week received an update from Assistant Superintendent Cathey Frederick, as well as members of the network firm responsible for the upgrades, as to what’s being done in the district.

Frederick and employees from Foundry Networks Inc., a California-based company whose clients include Comcast, Microsoft and Google, showed the board the business plan to upgrade the district’s servers, infrastructure and network design throughout the district.

The best part about Foundry’s plan, Frederick said, is its efficiency and that equipment provided to the district would be up to standard for years, even if the district does not decide to run another technology levy in the future.

“We need to have a plan for 10 years,” she said. “We’re going to be putting a lot of pressure on the network for 10 years, not just a year or two.”

Frederick said the district has not entered into a contract with Foundry, but said the company has worked with Mount Vernon in the past and is familiar with its existing technology.

“They were primed to jump right in,” Frederick said. “They didn’t have to do a lot of poking around in closets.”

Other perks of working with the network company is that it places emphasis on green energy, she said.

Erica Ayala, a Foundry employee, said that the current trend in technology is energy efficiency.

“It’s going to be slightly more expensive, but it will be made up for in lower electricity bills,” Ayala said.

Foundry has worked with more than a dozen school districts in Washington state, including Bellingham.

Board member Laura Cailloux was curious as to how much of the costs would go toward infrastructure, and Board President Charlie Guildner expressed concern for the district receiving less support from the company since its clients include a number of big companies.

Ayala said roughly 25 percent of the costs from the levy would go toward infrastructure. Even though Foundry has a large base of customers, she said the company has an education team and places a big focus on schools.

The next step is getting school staff involved in the process and creating an oversight committee to monitor the progress of the technology, Frederick said.

“We’re thoughtfully planning it in advance,” Guildner said. “We’re showing the taxpayers that (the levy) is being used correctly.”

Voters approved Mount Vernon’s technology levy in February.