Superior High School: Where Efficiency Meets Accuracy
As the largest inland shipping port in the world, it’s not surprising Superior, Wisc., touts “where rail meets sail.”
Superior High School is a round, brick structure built in 1965. An additional wing was added in 1996. The original school was wired for clocks and bells, while the wing was only wired for bells. Jeff Soderlund and Steve Stupak have been dealing with battery wall clocks (and the complaints about clocks) in that portion of the building for the last 14 years.
“Synchronization between the clocks and the bells is huge. Bus drivers complain when they can’t get from one school to the next before the bells ring. You wouldn’t think a few minutes off would make a big difference, but it’s an accordion affect if the clocks are different at each school. Everyone (parents, bus drivers, teachers, students) has expectations about the clocks. Teachers expect to start class on time. Students expect school to end on time. Parents expect their children to get off the bus at a certain time” said Soderlund.
Soderlund attended Clock School, a free one-day training session at American Time & Signal in June 2010 and immediately wanted a wireless clock system. “It was my only alternative to get the entire high school to follow the bell schedule instead of the battery clocks. I needed something efficient and accurate and the SiteSync IQ Wireless Clock System was an obvious answer. We’ve reduced complaints and now we have more time to work on other projects”
Superior High School installed a rack-mounted SiteSync IQ system controller with Ethernet in their computer room to control the wireless clocks and a wireless controller in their main office to control their bell system and wired clocks. “Our entire system is synchronized through the Ethernet to the school district computer clocks. We entered our bell schedule (including gym shower bells) using the Remote Connect program. “It’s great to be able to make any changes at our computer in the maintenance shop instead of at the master clock” Soderlund explained.
Stupak especially liked the battery booster pack ordered with the clocks and the fact that batteries were included with the purchase. “The battery pack equals a 75% reduction in clock maintenance at the high school over the next four years or more. And we expect to save at least two hours labor at Daylight Saving Time. We have all but eliminated a safety concern with the huge reduction of ‘ladder time’ after the Daylight Saving Time change. The wireless clock system is efficient and accurate all the way around.”