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Historic Massachusetts School Enhances Safety With Cellular Repeater System
December 6, 2019
Westford Academy in Westford, Massachusetts is one of the oldest public high schools in the United States. Established in 1793 as a private institution, the school opened enrollment for grades 9-12 to the general public in 1928. It maintained the “Academy” moniker because it retained the Westford Academy board of trustees, which would allow students to continue being eligible to receive scholarships.In 1928 students and administrators couldn’t have imagined the hyper-connected world in which we’d live almost a century later. Nowadays, Westford is a tech leader, with businesses including IBM Network Services and Red Hat having major presences in the town.For Westford Academy, however, ubiquitous cellular connectivity had eluded the historical institution. That was a problem for students, and concerned parents, who wanted to be able to contact their children during the school day, and to ensure that they’d be safe in the event of an emergency.“Although we had flooded the building with WiFi, the cell coverage was very poor,” said Mike Wells, director of technology.In fact, Westford even established a dedicated Wi-Fi network for students, but that still did not improve the cell signal and connectivity issues that plagued the historical building. The lack of coverage was an issue for the school but also for the larger district in terms of school safety.“We got pushback from parents that couldn’t contact children during school hours,” Wells explained.