Georgia students petition over school Wi-Fi removal

By Jasmina Alston

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    ATLANTA (WGCL) — Gwinnett County students and parents are speaking out against the removal of Wi-Fi in some of the schools citing safety concerns.

According to Gwinnett County Public Schools, they disabled the Wi-Fi network in part because it caused a distraction with social media use, etc.

Archer High School senior Amerie Triplett started the petition to bring back school Wi-Fi and has collected over 11,000 signatures so far.

Triplett told CBS46 that a lack of phone signals in the schools makes it difficult to text with parents, so they relied on the internet.

“It’s scary because a lot of stuff is happening in schools and kids just want to be able to contact their parents,” she said.

The school district told CBS46 in a statement that their “Bring Your Own Device” policy, along with the Wi-Fi network, was going to be removed next year.

Instead, many schools wanted it removed this year because phones caused a distraction.

According to school officials, students will get a Chromebook with regulated internet access.

They continued to say that disabling Wi-Fi while still allowing student devices is reasonable.

Triplett said students and parents see it differently.

“I want to fix it for my class of 2023 and all classes behind me,” she said.

Gwinnett County school officials told CBS46 that families were notified of this change at the end of last year and in the handbook this year.

They also said phones can still be used at appropriate times.

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