As the Patriot students and teachers get into the swing of things this school year technology is becoming more and more critical in their learning. But so far this year students are learning that the wifi works great in some areas of the building, but not so great in other areas.  

Senior Sam Taylor said he often has struggled to get the wifi to work at school.

“I struggle at least every other day because I can’t do some assignments,” he said. 

Taylor went on to say “I have lots of problems with Wi-Fi on my Chromebook. The combination of bad Wi-Fi and the Chromebooks.

Sophomore Andrew Rebholz said “The Wi-FI is pretty bad in many areas. It does not load in lunch, History, or my English class. When my teachers tell me to go on Schoology or Google Classroom and get on specific documents or complete assignments, I can’t because they often don’t load.” 

History teacher Steve Ehrstein said a bad internet connection affects his class. 

“It slows things down during class. I couldn’t do Kahoot during class,” he said.

Librarian Dawn Murray said that students definitely need good Wi-Fi in order to get through their days at South. 

“It is a barrier for students when they have a bad connection,” she said. 

Murray continues by saying the school is definitely aware of the wifi connection issues in the building and trying to make it right. 

“I know they’re trying to make improvements; Our tech is trying her best to fix the problems that occur on a daily basis,” she said. 

South’s technology specialist Kim Harting said two reasons for the Wi-Fi slowdown are the district’s content filter and old wiring.

“Every time a student opens a tab our system checks the page to make sure there are no content restrictions. This can make things very slow when you are using our technology. We have had the same fiber optic system in place since 1996 but are getting new fiber software next school year,” she said. 

Harting continued to say that she has plans to improve the Internet soon. She is going to work with the district over the summer to fix the content restrictions that slow the connection problems. She also plans to replace the fiber optic system for the first time since 1996. 

Students and teachers hope that these changes will come soon. These changes could help make learning easier and more efficient at South.