First-day virtual learning issues in Orange County should subside, superintendent says

ORLANDO, Fla. — Despite acknowledging some district-wide technology issues soon after the first wave of Orange County students logged onto virtual learning Monday, the superintendent said everyone should have less issues on Tuesday.

The district said more than 110,000 people were logged onto one of its Launch Ed@Home apps Monday morning.

Parents and the district reported some connection issues, which the district worked to fix as the day progressed.

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At the ACE school in Parramore, some teachers were teaching from their classrooms and seeing their kids virtually for the first time.

I think having that calm reassurance from her favorite teacher really helped.

—  T’kea Le Grande, mother

David Grimm said there were a number of times where his child was locked out of the entire system.

His wife is also a high school teacher, and said “there was one period where the students couldn’t her.”

“I think it’s expected for the first day, especially with so many students all trying to connect simultaneously, and teachers.”

Superintendent Dr. Barbara Jenkins said the volume of log-ons was to blame.

She said the district turned on back-up servers first thing Monday morning to support high school students, then more servers by 10 a.m. to support when middle school students logged on.

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She said the district also had an audio issue with their video conferencing program when 4,000 people were on it at the same time. But Jenkins said the district has learned from those issues, and be better prepared for it Tuesday.

If you’re still having issues, Jenkins said, try restarting your device, or contact your service provider to see if it’s something on their end.

“You can contact the school to say ‘I’m having this issue’ -- call the front office so they can log it,” Jenkins said. “We have IT resource people at each of our schools and so they may be able to work through it as well.”

Seventh grader Sa’naa Brahimi saw her classmates Monday for the first time in several months.

Her mom, T’kea Le Grande, said the first day of school had its hiccups. One class ended early because of connection issues on the teacher’s end, and there were some login issues.

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“We had some challenges getting into her second period, which is her theater class, but since then everything has been smooth,” Le Grande said.

She appreciated a teacher giving kids and parents a pep talk about rolling with the challenges.

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“I think having that calm reassurance from her favorite teacher really helped,” Le Grande said.

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Still, Jenkins said the first day “went phenomenally well.”

Orange County Public Schools turned on backup servers to support Launchpad for high school classes. Canvas experienced some slowdown when 110,000 people were logged on at once.

Cox Media Group