Network Instability: The impact of recent network outages on the East community and the solutions to address disruptions in classrooms

Since late September, East has experienced intermittent network outages that have prevented students and faculty from accessing the internet during various periods of the day. The district Information and Communication Technology department has been troubleshooting the issue within the network system.

With the help of the Apple team, the ICT department was able to deploy a temporary dispatch system on Monday night to help connectivity function better than in previous months, according to Associate Principal Dr. Anna Thiele.

Thiele has kept logs of when the outages occur and helps report issues to the ICT department.

“From what I have seen, certain parts of the school are worse [than others],” Thiele said. “The middle of the fifth floor is notoriously bad, as well as the third floor.”

The frequent outages have interrupted teachers’ daily lesson plans and their ability to provide students with learning material, especially for fifth-floor English teacher Jordan Dombrowski.

“It’s difficult when the internet goes out, especially if I haven’t had a paper copy of the assignment because then I can’t go print something,” Dombrowski said. “A lot of students see the internet out and think that they don’t have to work anymore.”

As Dr. Thiele and the ICT department are working on finding a permanent fix to the network outages, teachers and students can send WebHelpDesk tickets to help identify repeated network problems and when they happen throughout the day.

Seminars have become recurring times for outages, leaving students without access to their computers. This makes traveling to see teachers and completing schoolwork challenging during the school day.

Travel during seminar has become increasingly difficult as SecurelyPass can’t send passes from teacher to teacher without Wi-Fi, restricting students from taking tests and getting help from their teachers during the designated travel time.

“When the WiFi goes out I can’t really do any of my work,” sophomore Anne Bowser said. “Every time I see ‘No internet’ on my computer, it just means more homework when I get home, and it’s just gotten really frustrating.”

Teachers have begun planning for the network issues to prepare for unexpected problems that may arise.

“I’ve been having to make paper copies and digital copies, so sometimes those paper copies don’t get used, and then I feel wasteful,” Dombrowski said.

The effects of the outages are still felt by teachers and students as the temporary system helps combat the network issues.

“I still have to use my phone to finish a few of my class assignments because of the WiFi,” Bowser said. “Hopefully, it will get to a point where I don’t have to worry about whether I can use my computer or not.”