A smooth transition to a new school year turned chaotic as Wi-Fi issues affected student Chromebooks to start the year. Students experienced difficulty connecting, which led to students being unable to complete assignments.
Wifi issues occurred due to a districtwide update on all school Chrome books. The Barron Perspective spoke to school tech liaison Mr. Rotella to get his thoughts on the issue.
“I think some kind of update was done over the summer at the high schools because this was a problem at JFK and Colonia too,” said Rotella, one of the many tech liaisons who work at the school. “The policies didn’t go over in the update but they do have a new update coming out right now so we’re trying our best.”
Mr.Rotella works with Mr.Toczynski, Mr. Hein, and Mr. Chittum who cited at least 200 students submitting tickets for wifi issues causing headaches for the whole team.
“It was very overwhelming [during the] first week, [but] it slowed down a lot. If we can give a solution it will be fast. If I’m able to I’ll switch them right out and move them on,” said Rotella. “Teachers sometimes are harder because they have to put tickets in for stuff but we try to respond quickly.”
Despite the issues, the tech in the building has gotten better as the school year has gone on. The liaisons are getting fewer tickets, and students are back online.
Student Wi-Fi Struggles
Students have been extremely affected by this surge of Chromebook wifi issues. Going through a long process just to finish a classwork assignment.
“My working ability has been extremely affected,” said Briana Monte De Oca, a student struggling. “I was angry because I couldn’t get my work done the first couple weeks of school.”
Briana had to reset her Chromebook every day and continue to attempt to connect to the Wi-Fi until it ultimately works. A lot of students are in the same situation. Most don’t bother too much about it as they have gotten used to the issues.
Students not updating their Chromebooks at home when first received as they were told to played a part but shortly after problems still persisted. Despite the rocky start, Mr. Rotella says the issues have mostly been resolved. He expects students should be fine from here on out.
“I think the wifi issues have gotten tremendously better, a lot more students are connected,” said Rotella. “Still some people are disconnected so put a ticket in the Google form so we can rectify the issue”
