On at least three different occasions this year the campus has been hit by internet failures that have lasted up to several hours each time. The failures have shut down all campus based online access as well as the phones in at least one instance.

“There’s not one specific reason the internet outages have happened,” tech specialist Merry Moch said. “It’s a combination of outside issues with AT&T that have caused the lack of service. They have cut a fiber, which affected parts of Frisco and McKinney, and also a card went out and had to be replaced.”

For some classes, the lack of internet service is easy to overcome, but other classes such as Chinese and computer science are left to find alternative lesson plans.

“Unsurprisingly, there is actually not too much we can do in computer science without computers,” CTE teacher Bryan Bunn said. “We generally review concepts on the board or we will discuss current trends in computing such as online safety.”

While AT&T is to blame for some of the internet issues, another problem could be the community growth, as well as the construction on-going in the neighborhoods around the school as the community is growing so fast that the internet is not able to keep up.

“When all of this stuff was put in how ever long ago that was it was put in for a smaller community,” campus digital learning coach Jeff Wiseman said. “I think we’re growing really fast and sometimes it’s because the infrastructure can’t keep up.”

The problems are trying to be resolved but because it is not directly the district’s problem, there are limits on what can be done locally.

“There is a solution in place the guys that are trying to fix it our working on it right now,” Wiseman said. “The students and teachers rely on the internet, but until the connection comes back then the teachers have to teach old school with paper and pencil.”