In the past few weeks, Lakota West and other schools in the district experienced internet disruptions. Students and teachers have reported that the lack of internet disrupted their classes because they couldn’t carry out their planned lessons which would have required internet access. These disruptions have frustrated students and teachers alike, and the lack of communication surrounding these disruptions caused further ire. 

Mr. Todd Wesley, the chief technology officer of Lakota, offered more information on the matter. He said that the network issues were caused by three main factors. First, Lakota’s extensive network is supported by two separate vendors. The way that the vendors set up the systems conflicted, which made a detrimental effect on the internet. Another problem was that “one of Lakota’s network vendors was providing maintenance on equipment used for Lakota’s internet services.” Although there was a backup system “put in place to maintain services in the event of an equipment failure,” the backup system was faulty “and did not perform as designed.”

Currently, Mr. Wesley has stated that the “technology team has been working with several providers around the clock. All have reported that they believe the issues have been resolved.” He also stated, “We fully understand the importance of this access to our students, staff and guests and take any service disruptions that impacts our student learning very seriously.”