WANRack, Columbia County Schools, and UDT Launch District Fiber Network

LAKE CITY, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 18, 2025--

Gateway Fiber’s E-Rate division WANRack, a leading provider of custom fiber networks for K‑12 school districts nationwide, joined Columbia County School District and United Data Technologies on December 2 to break ground on a dedicated private fiber Wide Area Network (WAN) that will connect every school in the district. The new infrastructure is designed to deliver scalable bandwidth, robust security, and rock-solid reliability to classrooms across Columbia County.

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“What a great day for Columbia County Schools,” said CCSD Superintendent Keith Couey in a district press release. “This network will ensure our teachers and students have the connectivity to empower excellence in the classroom. I want to thank UDT, WANRack, and the State of Florida for delivering the future of education for our district. We are now at the forefront of innovation in the connectivity space, and I know our students will feel the positive effects.”

Transforming Connectivity for CCSD

The private fiber WAN will ensure that students in Columbia County’s rural and more densely populated areas have the same high-speed, low-latency access to digital learning tools, virtual classrooms, and cloud-based resources.

“Today marks the day we start building a multi-lane superhighway for learning,” said Patrick Mitchell, Director of Technology Infrastructure and Networking, CCSD. “This dedicated, private fiber network is one of the most important infrastructure decisions this district will make for a generation. Columbia County is diverse, and true equity means ensuring that a student in our most rural school has the exact same access and latency as a student in the most populated area.”

By moving to a purpose-built network, the district is improving uptime, reducing congestion, and creating a platform that can support growing bandwidth needs for years to come. Leveraging federal funding and state construction support, the project also positions CCSD to reduce long-term connectivity costs while expanding educational opportunity.

WANRack’s Role and Perspective

As the project’s engineering and construction partner, WANRack is designing and building a custom, high-capacity fiber architecture tailored to CCSD’s instructional and operational priorities. The network will follow WANRack’s dedicated “homerun” fiber design, delivering resilient, scalable connectivity from each school site back to the district hub to support advanced applications, security systems, and future technology initiatives.

“For more than a decade, we’ve been building custom, high-capacity fiber networks for schools, municipalities, and businesses nationwide,” said Denice Weybrew, Director of Business Development at WANRack. “We’re excited to bring that experience to Columbia County and help its teachers and students succeed. This new fiber network will give the district’s schools the reliable connectivity and security they need to thrive for years to come.”

WANRack’s long track record of building private fiber WANs for school districts nationwide helps ensure the Columbia County project is both future-proof and cost-effective.

Partnership and Community Impact

The groundbreaking marks a major milestone in a public‑private partnership among CCSD, UDT, and WANRack, aligning district leadership, technology experts, and community stakeholders around a shared vision for equity and innovation. District leaders have emphasized that the private fiber network will permanently close internal connectivity gaps, ensuring that location within the county no longer limits a student’s access to digital tools or learning opportunities. Beyond classrooms, the upgraded network will also bolster workforce development initiatives and community programs that depend on robust, secure connectivity.

About WANRack

Gateway Fiber’s E-Rate division, WANRack, specializes in providing private fiber optic WAN solutions for K-12 school districts across the United States, offering lit and dark fiber as well as special construction options that align with E-Rate and other funding programs. Headquartered in Lenexa, Kansas, WANRack’s engineering-led approach focuses on secure, scalable, and cost‑effective networks that provide school districts with long-term control over their connectivity. Since its founding in 2013, WANRack has installed over 230 fiber WANs (private and open access networks) across 26 states. For more information, visit wanrack.com.

On December 2, representatives from WANRack, UDT, and Columbia County School District broke ground on construction of a new fiber internet infrastructure to link all of the district schools on a private high-speed network.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration will appeal a federal judge's order reversing billions of dollars in funding cuts to Harvard University, extending a standoff over the White House's demands for reforms at the Ivy League school.

The Justice Department filed a notice of appeal late on Thursday in a pair of consolidated lawsuits brought by Harvard and the American Association of University Professors. The case has tested the government's power to sway the nation's oldest and wealthiest university, which has resisted a pressure campaign targeting elite colleges around the country.

U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs ruled in September that the Trump administration's sweeping funding cuts violated Harvard's First Amendment rights. The judge said the government put unconstitutional conditions on Harvard's federal funding and failed to follow federal procedures allowing the government to sanction universities for civil rights violations.

The Trump administration cut more than $2.6 billion from Harvard over allegations that it had been slow to deal with anti-Jewish bias on campus. Burroughs rejected that notion, saying the government was using antisemitism “as a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically-motivated assault on this country’s premier universities.”

The notice of appeal is a first step in the government's effort to have the ruling overturned. It does not provide legal arguments behind the appeal.

A statement from Harvard said university officials “remain confident in our legal position.”

“The federal district court ruled in Harvard’s favor in September, reinstating critical research funding that advances science and life-saving medical breakthroughs, strengthens national security, and enhances our nation’s competitiveness and economic priorities," Harvard said.

Todd Wolfson, president of the AAUP, said the administration's appeal is “just a continuation of their shameless campaign to halt critical research funding in an attempt to chill universities and faculty from engaging in any speech, teaching, and research that Donald Trump disfavors.”

The White House did not immediately comment.

Harvard has been Trump's top target in a campaign to leverage federal control of research funding to push for reforms at elite colleges he has decried as overrun by “woke” ideology. Harvard has put up a fight against the government's wide-reaching demands, even as others like Columbia, Brown and Cornell universities reach deals with the government.

Harvard and the White House have continued negotiations amid the legal battle, and Trump has multiple times indicated a resolution was imminent. In September, he said officials were close to a deal that would require a $500 million payment from Harvard to create a “giant trade school” to produce workers for American plants.

The deal never materialized and Trump has been quiet on the issue since then.

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FILE - The gates of Harvard Yard at Harvard University, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)