Throughout the school year at Skyline High School, teachers and students have been dealing with the constant battle with Chromebooks and the school Wi-Fi. Both teachers and students rely on the Wi-Fi daily to teach lessons, submit assignments, insert grades, submit tests, take quizzes, and learn in the classroom. The Wi-Fi is constantly crashing, leaving both students and teachers extremely frustrated.
Chromebooks run on Wi-Fi; without it, students don’t have a device to do all the necessary things for school. Ian Mounteer, an English teacher at Skyline, said, “I find myself having to revert to a lot more paper copy assignments, which is the opposite direction of what [the school] want[s] us doing, and so it creates challenges.” Mounteer added that, even with two Wi-Fi s, both are not very useful or easy to use. Mounteer is just one of the teachers at Skyline who constantly struggles with the Wi-Fi.
The school and Granite School District is powered by two different Wi-Fis. They have guest Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi for more permitted use. Sadly the Wi-Fi issues are a district-wide problem. Even with two different Wi-Fis, students, teachers, and guests struggle to run any technological devices, as Mounteer described. Students constantly have to switch between the two Wi-Fis throughout the day because of how often they crash.
Often, neither Wi-Fi works, leaving students and teachers to try and figure out different learning solutions. “Advocate for yourself and talk to your teachers. Be willing to have conversations with your teachers and see if they will be willing to help you,” Robert McDaniel, Skyline’s principal, advised. “For teachers, I would say if you have everything online or things that aren’t working online, then try and extend the amount of time [students] have to work on things and try and work with them.” McDaniel understands the frustration with students and teachers having to deal with Wi-Fi going out and agrees that is very “problematic.” McDaniel also stated that the district is working on fully functional Wi-Fi; hopefully, Skyline will soon have smooth learning.
Students try their best to continue learning during school even with difficulties throughout the day, but they are still frustrated, like teachers, with how it’s going. Many students said that they do not like navigating school without Wi-Fi and that it is hard to get work done. One student, Lydia Bartholomew, shared her personal views about the Wi-Fi. She explained, “Sometimes in the middle of tests or assignments, it will stop and break, and it’s annoying because I can’t finish what I need to finish.” Bartholomew also mentioned that it is hard when teachers aren’t able to make tests online, so they instead have to be on paper. This causes scores to come late rather than instantly.
Other students throughout the school have struggled just getting onto the Wi-Fi in general, as it requires a password (including the guest Wi-Fi). The Wi-Fi is becoming a constant struggle for everyone at Skyline and is presenting new problems for the school. Students who need to contact a parent or guardian cannot contact anyone when the internet crashes. It’s hard to communicate outside of the school, and it becomes a problem when students and teachers are dealing with emergencies or other problems. As Skyline progresses through the year, everyone at the school hopes that the Wi-Fi will stay alive, as it is causing problems throughout the school that need to be fixed.
