Phones, Network Outage Updates Shared By Westfield Superintendent, Mayor

WESTFIELD, NJ — As Westfield Public Schools continued to deal with a district-wide phone and network outage, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Raymond Gonzalez and Mayor Jeremy Berman shared some updates.

Westfield Public Schools restored telephone service to all district schools and offices as work continued Tuesday to recover from a network outage, according to an update from

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The district-wide outage had been impacting schools since the first day of school on Sept. 2.

In a message to staff and families sent on Tuesday, Gonzalez said the district restored telephone service to all district schools and offices.

He also said the district also made progress bringing back computer access and building systems.

"Telephone communication into and out of all district schools and offices has been restored and is operational," Gonzalez wrote. "Families may once again use our regular school and district telephone numbers to contact us."

He also wrote that work continued to restore computer access in main offices, administrative offices and health offices at all schools, and that the district anticipates "all office computers will be operational tomorrow morning."

At Westfield High School, the district restored access for the Guidance Department so counselors can resume normal operations, including transcript requests, according to Gonzalez's update.

He also wrote that clocks, bells and the building-wide paging system at the high school are operational.

Work was continuing Tuesday evening at the intermediate schools, followed by the elementary schools, and the district anticipates those systems will be operational district-wide by Wednesday morning.

The district said its investigation into the incident is still in the early stages.

"Our investigation into the cause of the disruption and our assessment of the full nature and scope of any unauthorized activity remains ongoing and in its early stages," Gonzalez wrote. "Because the investigation is not complete, we still cannot speculate about its cause or scope, and we must allow the process to run its course to preserve its integrity and the security of our systems."

Gonzalez told families the district is working with external information technology experts to investigate the incident and safely restore affected systems and services.

He also warned that information circulating outside official district updates "may be inaccurate or unverified," and said confirmed developments would continue to be posted on the district's Community Updates page.

At the Tuesday night Council meeting, Mayor Jeremy Berman also addressed the outage and school safety.

"I do want to reassure parents that our emergency services teams are prepared and that the systems supporting school safety remain in place," Berman said.

He said each Westfield school continued to have "a direct method of communicating with our public safety dispatch center that operates independently of the telephone system" even before phone service was restored.

For now, the district said restoration efforts are continuing and more verified information will be shared "as it becomes available and appropriate for release."

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