Clayton’s recent WiFi troubles have raised questions regarding where these issues originated. The cause for the decline is unclear, but according to staff, the firewall utilized for security purposes may be slowing down the WiFi.
“We try to make sure our firewall is locking down all the private information that we have,” Technology Education Specialist Dawn Weber said. “Our data is very secure, so sometimes it may seem a little slower because we’re used to things being at our fingertips on our phones, but I can tell you, I feel like it’s still going very fast compared to when I’m at home and my husband’s on his corporate computer. A lot of the slow connectivity stems from just trying to get through those filters.”
However, CFO John Brazeal contradicted Weber’s sentiment, saying that Clayton’s firewall is very secure but likely does not contribute to slow connection speeds.
“Firewalls are pretty dang efficient these days,” Brazeal said. “They don’t really slow down traffic that much, but by law, we have to filter content out to our users. If you’re on our WiFi network and you compare it to yours at home, there’s some things you may not be able to see while on our network. The firewall is responsible for that. But as far as degrading speed, not really on most days.”
Observed fluctuations in WiFi performance suggest a need for network analysis to identify and address bottlenecks. The proximity of cell phone towers and the school’s below-grade areas seem to be prominent contributors.
Gutchewsky notes the importance of balancing restrictions for security purposes and student freedom.
“How much do you lock down your net? Anytime you lock down your network or make it more restrictive, it impacts some of the things you want to do, or the ease with which you can do them,” Gutchewsky said.
When cell service declined after the switch to the new service provider, the tech team looked for solutions to improve calling and texting abilities. They found a setting that could be changed to re-link how calls and texts are sent out. However, the success was short-lived after the solution’s reliability slowly plummeted.
“My cell phone gets really poor reception in the building, so the solution was to go to WiFi calling in settings and to enable WiFi calling, which I’ve noticed is inconsistent or spotty at best,” Gutchewsky said. “It’s frustrating and also concerning in the sense that if I needed to use it in an emergency, I’m limited.”
Weber explored other solutions and found that resetting Chromebooks that are being overworked can fix the problem within minutes.
“If students are having problems on their Chromebooks, the quick reset is a good solution. It usually connects instantaneously,” she said. “If a teacher’s device is having issues, typically, just restarting your laptop will reconnect it because most teachers are like me and are horrible about leaving 10 million tabs open. I call them my emotional support tabs.”
However, Meyers highlights the inconvenience of restarting a Chromebook school so often.
“When I had my Chromebook, I brought it to the tech department to get it fixed,” Meyers said. “What they do is pretty much wipe it, which would close out all of my tabs, which is really frustrating, because I have 20-30 very specific tabs that are open, and it got to the point where after I wiped it three times and it still wasn’t working, I would just have to go home during my free period.”
Clayton is conducting a study to determine which carriers work best with the district’s buildings, actively seeking a solution that can support an improved learning environment in the future.
“To my knowledge, as of this school year, we’re up for a new contract, so that is why I believe they’re doing a study to figure out if it’s the actual WiFi carrier,” Hutson said. “When we sign on with another contract, we’re doing it with the hopes and the knowledge that things are gonna work. We were told a few months ago that there’s a study going on that looks at different carriers, and who has the strongest system for our building.”
Brazeal spearheaded the study. He has been investigating the weak points throughout the district’s buildings and finding which carriers can best solve the issues. He found few solutions that were within reason to be implemented.
“Our options are to continue as we are or put cell towers almost in our building for cell purposes,” Brazeal said. “Our WiFi tests out extremely well across all of our buildings. And so that’s true with most of our buildings. But if you’re below grade, you’re having a hard time getting a cell signal.”
He also discovered that the brand of the cell phone matters when it comes to connection speeds within the buildings. While Android devices easily switch to WiFi, Apple iPhones resist the switch and search for any cell signal, no matter how strong. iPhones also do not respond to WiFi calling as fluidly as Androids do.
“[The information from the study] is good information for us,” Brazeal said. “But the challenges of what solutions are available in today’s technology and the cost of putting effective cell antennas in each building, which even then, won’t fully solve some of the problems, are a massive cost.”
Brazeal defends the high school’s choice of Chromebooks rather than a different computer, arguing that Clayton’s decision was based on the fact that Chromebooks can do what we need.
“Our tech department was charged with finding a device that would meet the educational needs of our curriculum, and a Chromebook does that,” Brazeal said. “Can a MacBook do it? Oh sure. It has greater capabilities than a Chromebook. But at this point, we haven’t made that decision to jump from Chromebooks to MacBooks. I mean, it’s a worthy discussion. But as far as a device that does what is needed is what is expected of our curriculums, the Chromebook meets that objective. It’s like a four-cylinder car vs an eight-cylinder car. One of them is going to get you there faster, but they’re both gonna get you there.”
Brazeal recognizes that other schools have taken different approaches and that it is likely to be discussed in the future, but for now, the decision remains Chromebooks.
Weber emphasized that students with issues should talk to her, as she cannot solve any problems without first being made aware of them.
“The biggest thing people can do is let me know the issues when they happen, so we can keep collecting the data of where issues are happening in the buildings,” Weber said. “Let us know about it so that we can actually try to fix it. We can’t fix the long-term problem if we don’t know about something.”
Meyers believes that the best method of finding an answer to connectivity issues is to communicate with students, teachers, and staff who experience these troubles weekly.
“The biggest solution is utilizing student and teacher voices in the discussion with Clayton tech because these are the people that are actually being affected by the problems, and can vocalize how the problems are being manifested during instructional time and school hours,” Meyers said.
