IPS: Problems from damage fiber-optic cable resolved
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indianapolis Public Schools says damage to the fiber-optic cables of the district’s internet provider caused the cancellation of remote learning on Tuesday.
The district said in a tweet about 7 p.m. that the technology problem is resolved. Wednesday is scheduled for parent-teacher meetings, so district classes will resume Thursday.
The technical issues also led to the postponement of Monday night’s Parent Institute, which was to be done through videoconference. The purpose of that event, which is now set for 6 p.m. Sept. 28, was for parents to learn details of the return to in-person learning.
The statement said the outage Tuesday did not affect the entire district but was widespread enough that it warranted the cancelation of remote learning.
“IPS is working internally to share with families how students can make up today’s lessons,” the statement said. ” Teachers are also working to ensure lessons are available for the remainder of the week if the internet outage persists.”
The district first issued a two-hour delay Tuesday due to technical issues, then later called off the remote school day.
Christamore House, a remote learning site on the west side of Indianapolis, was among those affected. Sydney Brigewaters told News 8 a third of students at Christamore are IPS students. “We still tried to go ahead and see if we can get some of the kids on just in case some kids had better service than others,” Brigewaters said.
The Reset Center has about a dozen IPS students. The outage was a hassle for staff members there, too. “We started off with what’s the problem? Why can’t kids get on? What’s the deal?” Pam Leeper said. “Then we found out from parents that the server is down.”
Both locations say students particularly with electronic tablets had trouble logging onto remote learning.
Not all parents picked up their kids from remote learning sites after being notified so staff members at remote learning sites were forced to get creative to keep kids busy.
Leeper said, “I just got online and got some grade appropriate sheets and primarily focusing on the math, reading and vocabulary that the kids can do so at least they’re learning something every day.”
However, Leeper and Brigewater mentioned, most of the younger kids had trouble learning without their teacher.
Brigewater said, “It definitely changes my roll because I have to realize that I’m no longer just watching I’m making sure, ‘are they getting their work done, are they understanding it?’”