Polk Times

Bartow Senior High School issued the following announcement on  Aug. 25

Polk County Public Schools is working to resolve technical issues being experienced by students participating in our new Campus eSchool learning format.

“Campus eSchool is a new option to allow families more flexibility amid the ongoing pandemic,” said Dr. Tina Barrios, PCPS’ assistant superintendent for information systems and technology.

“There is a huge learning curve involved — for students, teachers and information technology staff members. There have been technical issues, but we are working through these quickly. We are doing everything we can to support our families and provide our students with the very best online learning experience possible.”

Here is a look at the at the most common technical issues the district has experienced since school resumed on Aug. 24:

– One the first day of school, the district’s technology hotline received nearly 9,000 phone calls. Callers experienced long wait times, and in some cases, calls timed out and were disconnected. The district has since extended the amount of time callers can remain on hold and is in the process of changing the menu options to streamline call processing.  By Tuesday afternoon, the hotline had received approximately 1,500 calls and none had been disconnected. The hotline can be reached at 863-733-0331 on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

– One of the most common issues was that some district-issued iPads were not equipped with Zoom and Microsoft Teams. Previously, each school had to install the apps. The district has now made them available under the Self Service icon on the device, allowing parents to install the apps for their children.

– About 1,400 students who had left but then returned to the district experienced password mismatches that resulted in them being unable to log into their devices. That issue has been resolved for all affected students.

– Other students had previously used Schoology, the district’s new learning management system, prior to Schoology being adopted districtwide. In these cases, the old and new accounts were both tied to the student’s PCPS-issued email address, but the accounts had not been merged and they were unable to log in. In some cases, this resulted in the student not being able to see his or her schedule. Barrios said this was on track to be resolved by the end of day on Tuesday.

– In other cases, students had trouble logging in because they weren’t entering their entire email address, or their password was case-sensitive, or their password simply had to be reset. Technology staff members continue to work through these issues on a case-by-case basis.

Some parents have inquired about switching from Campus eSchool to Campus Learning (or vice versa). We understand the first days of school have been frustrating for many eSchool families, but we are asking that they at least complete the first week of school before considering changing their learning format.

PCPS has asked families to make a minimum commitment of nine weeks to either Campus Learning or Campus eSchool. However, if by the end of this week (Aug. 24-28) they decide that they wish to return to campus (or opt for Campus eSchool), they are welcome to contact their school’s administrators to see if they can accommodate a switch.

Original source can be found here.