Building a COVID-resistent Academic Environment Through a Cloud-Forward Strategy
- Client: Kolbe Academy, Diocese of Allentown
- Location: Hanover Township, Northampton County, PA
Having opened for its first class in the Fall of 2019, Kolbe Academy is the newest high school in the school system of the Diocese of Allentown, and the first ever faith-based recovery high school in the United States.
While coming in with mere weeks until the start of the school year, HLV’s team knew they had to move fast. They needed a lot of tech, and they needed it fast. A volunteer technical advisor set a great framework in place for the network to be built, and their preceding telephone vendor put in a considerable amount of wired and wireless network equipment. All in all, a very good start.
With the school year imminent, HLV’s team was able to provide and configure Lenovo ThinkPad T-series notebook computers for the staff, Lenovo Chromebook two-in-one notebooks for the students, and Lexmark multi-function printers for their media room and main office.
With all this new gear coming, we got to work on building out their Microsoft 365 for Business environment for staff, and a G Suite for Education environment for students. In addition, we had to ensure regulatory compliance with the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) and the Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act (COPPA). Security is at the forefront of the network design, which helped us address these regulatory requirements.
When COVID-19 struck and displaced all in-person activities, schools were left scrambling for solutions for online learning. HLV’s team was at the forefront in ensuring that the new normal was as seamless as possible for the staff and students to adopt. Students were able to take their Chromebooks home, if needed, to access their school resources, and teachers began using Google Classroom for assignments.
Since Pennsylvania was able to successfully “bend the curve” downward in the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, they were able to go back to an on-premises environment by simply bringing their computers back to school with them, sitting down, and powering them on.
HLV Technologies also provides day-to-day support for Kolbe Academy, serving as the first line of support with all desktop PCs and laptops, fielding inquiries and support for Microsoft 365 and G Suite for Education. Our vendor relationships allow us to provide white-glove level service to Kolbe’s team.
