We have a lot of trust in Meridian. They not only understand where we are as an organization, but also where we want to go. They help us reach our goals within the limits of our school budget.
Bob Valdez
Assistant Director of Technology, Brewster Central School District
About Brewster Central School District
The Brewster Central School District serves approximately 3,000 students, employs 450 staff members, and holds classes and activities in four different school buildings with varying grade levels from elementary school through high school. Brewster has earned a reputation as a high-performing school system with students who consistently perform at or above the levels of districts with similar demographic and economic profiles.
Technology plays a large role in every aspect of Brewster Central School District as educators leverage IT as a tool to enhance the curriculum and instruction they deliver to their students. Brewster Central School District provides Chromebooks for students K-12 and supports a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) network for instructional flexibility.
- 3,000 Students
- 450 Staff Members
- 4 Instructional Buildings
Industry: Education
The Challenge: Modernizing a School Network Without Disruption
With thousands of devices relying on the network daily, Brewster Central School District began hitting limits on its Palo Alto firewalls, causing access issues and slowing traffic for staff and students. Education at Brewster is highly technology-driven, so any network failure was unacceptable.
A former employee had originally set up the firewalls, leaving a knowledge gap when they left. The IT team also needed guidance to add redundancy to their network to prevent potential downtime.
Brewster needed a partner who could:
- Fill critical knowledge gaps
- Expand firewall capacity to support thousands of devices
- Implement redundancy and automated failover
- Ensure maximum network security and performance
How Meridian IT Strengthened Brewster’s Network
Brewster Central School District turned to Meridian to support them through this growth and transition. Meridian stepped in to act as an expansion of their team and fill the Palo Alto technology expert gap. In addition, the Meridian team analyzed their current environment to uncover how policies were structured, assessed the current configuration, and made recommendations on what needed to change for maximum security and performance for today and for tomorrow.
Once the proposed strategy was discussed and approved to ensure it met all of the tactical and strategic needs of the Brewster team, Meridian adjusted where the ARP table was stored, moving it from their firewall to their core switch. This created a significantly larger table, thus eliminating the firewall limitations that were crippling their network. Meridian also worked with the Brewster Central School District to add a second Palo Alto firewall for redundancy, a DMZ, and an automated failover to prevent any disruption to the network.
Results: Seamless Technology for Students and Staff
Meridian IT’s partnership transformed Brewster’s network into a resilient, secure, and high-performing system:
Results at a glance:
- Expanded Network Capacity — Firewall upgrades eliminated device limits and improved speed.
- Redundancy & Failover — Automated failover ensures continuous uptime across the network.
- Reduced IT Burden — Staff can focus on strategic projects, including new state security compliance and ransomware prevention.
- Enhanced Classroom Experience — Students access devices and online resources without disruption, enabling collaboration and progress tracking.
“Meridian is like a security blanket filling in our knowledge gaps. They help us bring technology to the classroom without disruption.”
— Bob Valdez, Assistant Director of Technology, Brewster Central School District
