Internet going away for student phones after spring break

On March 24, the internet connected to student phones will be turned off. This has been a plan talked about for a few months, but the final decision was made recently. Clint Albers, principal, stated that it was a district decision, not a building one.

The amount of internet that people were using up with their phones was causing it to become slower and caused issues in other schools. “Because of the bandwidth that’s being used and the traffic that all the phones being on the network causes, it slowed down and almost crippled the network for times when it’s needed for testing and educational purposes. The district has been monitoring the bandwidth used and it’s been increasing all year long,” Albers stated.

“We were affecting and hurting the internet in all schools, not just ours, but kindergarten through twelfth.” Although some may be annoyed over the removal of the internet, there By: Emily Gray are solutions to accessing the internet for a class. “I think because our building doesn’t have good cell service, some will be frustrated. The good thing is with our laptops they will still have internet connectivity so anything they need to look up or do can be done on the laptops since the laptops are on a different network” Albers stated.

A majority of the student body is against the decision. Sophomore Matthew Tolman says he uses his phone and laptop at the same time in class. “In accounting, I put the workbook on my laptop and watch the video on my phone so I don’t have to keep switching back and forth,” Tolman stated. Other complaints such as the laptops not always connecting to the internet and parents not being able to reach student phones once the Wi-Fi disappears have also been voiced. It is the assumption that students will eventually get used to no internet, but only time will tell.