DSUSD hopes day 2 of school goes better than day 1 after tech connection issues reported
Desert Sands Unified School District started the new school year on Wednesday, August 19 at a distance.
Some technical connection issues were reported by the district. A message to students reported problems with StudentVue and restricted access to documents and assignments. StudentVue links for Zoom meetings were also having issues.
The school district's technology department was said to be conducting maintenance overnight into Thursday to resolve any lingering "iBoss issues" which blocked some students from online access Wednesday. If you receive a message Thursday that a site is blocked or restricted please remove your user profile from the Chromebook and sign on again.
Here are the steps:
- Sign out of the Chromebook (don't just close the lid).
- On the sign-in screen, click the profile you want to remove.
- In the lower-right corner of the profile picture, click on the down arrow.
- Click Remove this user.
- In the box that appears, click Remove this user.
- You will be prompted to login after these steps have been completed.
- When you remove an account, it’s only removed from the Chromebook, your Google account information is saved to the cloud.
The district said, if you are still having an issue, please call 760-238-9815.
Parents were told to email teachers if their students had challenges so they could be accounted for during attendance. Teachers also said they knew there would be some technical issues and they would be accommodating.
"The words for today are patience and understanding," Mary Perry, Public Information Officer for DSUSD told News Channel 3. "We're all learning together. We are all working together to make sure this is going to be the best possible method of distance learning for all of our students."
Perry said there was a server issue that had been resolved by about 11:00 a.m. She also noted a power outage in the valley impacted some district students. "All of that is sort of coming together, and we will work through it together."
"Right at the 8 o’clock hour everything went to cyber gridlock," parent, Beth Valentine said.
Another parent described logging in as a hectic process.
"My son had to use my laptop and my daughter had to use my phone while I wast trying to speak to the district and calling the schools and after that they gave me the troubleshooting steps," parent, Aries Rojas said.
Technological issues happened across the board as hundreds of parents and students attempted to log into virtual classrooms.
"I went to the school district on Dune Palms, called them, same thing-- completely disconnected," Valentine said.
Some parents reached out to News Channel 3 reporting disconnected phone lines as they tried calling schools and the district.
Many conducted a test run the day before.
"I’m not sure what exactly happened. So the kids didn’t get to start the first day of school as they were thinking, so it was very disappointing," Valentine said.
Meanwhile educators were having to work with their technology departments to troubleshoot the issues.
"Turning off the computer and allowing the full reboot- we’ve seen a lot of success with that," Dr. Reynaldo J. Carreon Jr. Academy Principal, Tiffany Norton said.
Norton was in and out of classroom Zoom calls as she checked into see how everything was running. Despite having to troubleshoot lots of issues, Norton said everyone involved pulled through to take on the new year at a distance.
"I’ve seen a lot of smiles. The amount of support from our students to our families to our staff- everyone has stepped up," Norton said.
Second grade teacher at Dr. Carreon Academy, Kari Sutherland, opted to teach from her classroom on the first day.
"I had these students last year which was a blessing. Just seeing them again, they were excited for school to start," Sutherland said.
For Sutherland it was all about keeping things as normal as possible.
"I think my biggest goal today was because I’m in the classroom, to make them feel like they’re in the classroom. I took them on a tour, showed them their desks," Sutherland said.
She also emphasized making sure kids knew to sit up, stay focused, have a space to work, and take 'brain breaks.'
"It’s not an ideal situation at all, but it’s the situation that we’re in and we’re trying to make the best of it, all of us are. I know it’s not easy but it’ll be worth it," Norton said.
