GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Internet issues hampered learning this week at Green Bay Area Public Schools.
With more students connecting than ever to online coursework, technical staff had to struggle to keep up.
Heather Martinez thinks virtual learning should work for kids.
“You can play video games for four or five hours at a time, like you did all summer, [then] you can sit in front of this computer,” Martinez said.
Well, atleast when the computer is working.
“First you thought, well maybe it’s just our internet at home. But then you talk to other people, people start texting you and reaching out to you… you find out they’re having the same issues,” parent Donald DeGroot said.
Josh Patchak is the director of technology and information for Green Bay Area Public Schools… and Thursday was a tough day.
“There were some technical issues,” Patchak said. “We had 20,000 devices connecting from home networks.”
Heather Martinez explained, “They would be on with their teacher and they would get booted out, or there were times when you couldn’t hear… it was like a lagging.”
“In the morning, you hope it [loads] and then it just starts churning and churning. And then you finally got joined in to the virtual meeting for [the] first class and then [in] less than five seconds he got kicked out,” DeGroot added.
Each student’s device has filtered internet browsing.
“A filter for eliminating access to things like pornography, gambling, you know, harmful websites for children,” Patchak said.
He says the system was unable to keep up with the demand of so many users. The school says it fixed the issue by Thursday afternoon, by adding more hardware.
“We’re going to be able to look to see if there are other issues that families might be experiencing now that they can connect reliably,” Patchak said.
It all makes for a hectic start to a school year where students, teachers and parents are all learning together.
Green Bay school district leaders say 12,000 devices have been sent to families since March. The district is still behind on getting about 300 more devices to students who need them. It says some parents were late to request them.
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