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Date: 10/18/2023
Massachusetts Inspector General Jeffrey Shapiro recently penned a letter to the Massachusetts School Building Authority Executive Director Mary Pichetti and Treasurer/Receiver General Deborah Goldberg urging the elimination of proprietary technology in schools. The move came after Minnechaug Regional High School in Wilbraham was forced to keep its lights on day and night for 18 months due to a software malfunction.
The state’s website, Mass.gov, defines the Office of the Inspector General’s role as one that “prevents and detects fraud, waste and abuse of public funds and public property and promotes transparency and efficiency in government.”
Shapiro acknowledged in the letter that “smart” technology has “the potential to reduce energy use, promote safety and security, and enhance learning environments.” He told Reminder Publishing they can have a role in meeting the “lofty [energy] goals across Massachusetts … with goals for 2030 and 2050,” referring to the state’s Clean Energy Plan, through which the state aims to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. However, he said the possibility of such systems malfunctioning comes with a risk.
When Minnechaug was rebuilt in 2012 as part of the MSBA’s model school program, it included a proprietary lighting system that was designed to be run by software and sensors. In 2021, the software was corrupted by malware and the lights went into the default “on” position. At the time, Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District Assistant Superintendent for Finance, Operations and Human Resources Aaron Osborne explained that the if the school shut off the system’s numerous electrical breakers each night, there was no guarantee they would be able to turn them on the next morning without the software operating properly.
Further complicating the issue was the fact that Fifth Light Technologies, which created the system, had been bought out in the years since the installation. Because the system was proprietary, the district was forced to wait until the new owner’s vendor could upgrade the system. Supply chain issues contributed to the increasingly delayed time frame for repairs. Shapiro referenced the district’s estimates that by February 2023, when the software and hardware had been updated, the district had spent $150,000 on excess energy consumption.
HWRSD Superintendent John Provost commented at an Oct. 5 School Committee meeting that the district was the “exemplar” of caution regarding the use proprietary systems in schools. He also told the committee that the Office of the Inspector General is not pursuing “civil recovery,” a legal method of recouping monetary loss, on behalf of the district.
Shapiro cited “the desire to introduce new technology as an energy conservation measure without controls in place to protect the district from the dangers of proprietary technology and its underlying software,” as the main reason for the situation, which was picked up by national news outlets and was even played for laughs in an episode of the sketch comedy show, “Saturday Night Live.”
“While not aware of other instances of this scale,” Shapiro said Minnechaug is “the symptom, rather than the disease.”
Shapiro said he disagreed that issues such as the one at Minnechaug are the price for state-of-the-art schools. “I think we can push technology and I agree that public buildings have a longer lifespan” than private construction, however, he said there are ways to mitigate the risks of software running amuck.
“This was proprietary,” he said of Minnechaug’s lighting system. “I believe it should be open-source technology. If the only technology is proprietary, that might not be the right answer for us.” Smart systems are open to glitches and bugs as well as cyber-attacks, he said. Meanwhile the cost associated with such systems may not be worth it as rapid changes in technology can make what is state-of-the art one year, obsolete the next.
Shapiro said school district’s staff need an understanding of the technology so maintenance can be done regularly. He said patches and updates are required for all software-based tools. “As the technology is smart, so should the users be smart.”
In future projects, Shapiro said the decision-making will be critical. “It’s always important to have a collaboration, I think. It’s a combination of local stakeholders and local officials and there’s reliance on professionals that are hired in the process,” he said. “We need to have people who know what the right questions are. We need to truly look under the hood” and “make sure we understand how to use it.”
The MSBA has a regulatory role to play in limiting issues in the future, Shapiro said. “There’s vetted vendors they use,” he said. “We as the leaders in government need to help” municipalities find the best solutions. He suggested the MSBA adopt several practices, including requiring prospective vendors provide proof of prior work and references, require agreements on technical support and upgrades and utilize open source software, and only consider proprietary software “with a clear, written administrative, maintenance and end-of-life plan, along with administrative controls retained by the school district.”
Shapiro suggested establishing incident response plans, including manual overrides, administrative access to servers and personnel training from the vendor. He also wanted enhanced warranty protections from vendors that match the complexity of the systems.
School buildings are not the only facilities in which technology has become ubiquitous. “It could have been a town hall; it could have been a municipal building,” Shapiro said. Smart systems are not just used in lighting, but also in HVAC and security systems. He said that there can be far-reaching impacts as technology becomes more deeply embedded in all aspects of life.
The MSBA did not respond to a request for comment as of press time.