A high school in Massachusetts had lost control over their lighting system for a year and a half before it was finally fixed. The staff and administrators were not able to turn the lights off and the entire school, which has 7,000 lights, was lit 24/7 for over a year causing issues within classrooms and disrupting the students’ learning. Teachers were not able to control the lights in their classes. They could not dim or turn off the lights to use PowerPoint presentations or play movies for their students. It cost taxpayers a lot of money in energy bills because of their failed lighting control system due to a software issue. The school district reported that it had cost thousands of dollars a month because of the issue. Some teachers resorted to removing some of the bulbs from the fixtures when they needed to lower the lighting, staffers have even shut off breakers that were not connected to the main system to shut off some of the exterior lighting.

Administrators had to track down the owner of the company in charge of their lighting since it changed owners a few times since the lights were installed nearly ten years ago when the school was built. An added supply chain issue due to the pandemic extended the time frame of when their lights would finally be fixed, plus finding contractors familiar with the system was a challenge. When the lighting was finally fixed, they ensured there was a manual shut off switch to be sure this type of incident does not happen again.

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Click here to read the full article, originally published January 19, 2023 by NBC News.