Written by August Pulaski |

With a new school building,  students hoped there would be improvements to already existing problems at The Morgan School. Unfortunately, that is not the case for something specific: the school’s guest wi-fi.

The Morgan School’s guest wi-fi has always been troublesome for  both the students and the staff of The Morgan School. Some people can not even connect to the network. Others complain that the internet speed is very slow so refreshing timelines on social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc. is difficult and sometimes even impossible.

Last year, David LaRiviere and I wrote an article about the state of the wi-fi at the old school entitled “Our School’s Wi-Fi: Is The Net Working?” The article addressed wifi in general, not the guest wifi  specifically.  In the article,  The PawPrint reported that IT Director Frank Rossi “stated that the wi-fi is not for personal electronics, such as phones. It is more for devices in the classroom such as computers and iPads.” He did promise that the wifi for classroom use would be better in the new school.  This year all students have Chromebooks at The Morgan School.  The wifi at the new school is working well for the Chromebooks.  However,  the school wifi does not support personal electronics such as phones and other devices which students use to check social media and send text messages.

Checking social media and text messages is not the only reason students in The Morgan School need the wi-fi.  Sometimes students use their phones for school – related work. Some classes use Kahoot. Many students use Quizlet, a study tool, in order to study for upcoming exams.  Others use homework apps such as  Notes or their calendars to keep track of assignments.  In Journalism, students use their phones to record interviews and to take pictures.  To get the pictures from the phone to the website takes data when there is no wireless connection.

Some students are frustrated.  “Every time I try to connect to the school’s wi-fi it always kicks me off,” sophomore Mike Gionfriddo stated. “I just use data now because the wi-fi doesn’t even work anymore.” Many students have settled and come to the conclusion that the wi-fi is unusable, and there is not much they can do about it.

“It’s whatever,” reports sophomore Jack Bergeron. “I just use data to watch videos and go on social media during lunch so it is not that big of a deal for me to use my data.” Sophomore Mike Gionfrido claimed that he gets the best service on the second floor in English teacher Heather O’Brien’s room which is quite strange especially because she considers her room to be a “dead zone,” or a section of the building where the wi-fi performs at its weakest. Sophomore Jack Bergeron answered that he gets the best reception throughout the building and that there is not one specific area of the building where the data is better for him. It appears that some students are content with the obstacle that the wi-fi presents, and others are outraged by its inconvenience and demand a change in its performance, myself included.

The school’s guest wi-fi was never  great, and now in the new building embraced by new technology, the guest wi-fi is worse. It is sad that many students must resort to using data which can be quite costly especially in a place where they must remain for a majority of the day. It would be nice to have the ability to check social media, text messages, homework, calendars, and to transfer photos in our free time such as at lunch or passing times without using our data. Perhaps if the technology staff understood why having access to a reliable guest wifi is important , they would do something about it.