ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Thousands of Orange County students will log on to the district’s virtual platform for a second day of learning. This comes after a rocky first day of technical glitches and frustration for some parents and students.   

The Orange County school superintendent recommends a few troubleshooting tips if students have technical issues.

Check with your service provider to make sure the problem is not on your end. 

Also, if you are having issues connecting, turn the device off for around, then try to reconnect.  

Superintendent Dr. Barbara Jenkins said it is important for students to know they will not be disciplined if they have technical problems with the online platform.   

“We want to encourage students not to be anxious. No penalty, no problem if they have problems logging on. We will certainly accommodate that with compassion and understanding,” Jenkins said. 

Parents express frustration

Georgina Martin del Campo said the first day for her children back at school was terrible. All four of her children attend school at Orange County Public Schools.

“We logged in at 8:45, but we couldn’t enter the classroom,” Del Campo said. “We were told the system was down and things would be better in an hour, but nothing changed at 9:45 a.m. or 10:45 a.m.”

Martin Del Campo said, ever since her youngest daughter, Keila, began distance learning, she believes she took a step back on learning. She said her daughter was behind on English comprehension, reading, writing, and math skills.

“As a parent I try the best I can to help, but I’m not good with technology. And if the Internet goes out like yesterday?” Martin Del Campo said. “I didn’t study to be a teacher.”​

“We have no access to the camera, no access to the microphone," said Willie Youtz, who struggled to get his 7-year-old son, Adam, connected to his second grade class. “Constantly getting kicked off and constantly having to re-log in, you’re missing huge gaps of whatever’s being taught.”

District working to reassure parents

The OCPS Senior Director of Digital Learning said he’s been fielding emails and calls since 4:30 a.m., steadily working through issues.

“We’ve seen less calls specifically related to issues we had (Monday). Now what we’re seeing is more calls related to, not that 'I can’t access the system at all,' but that, 'I’m inside and maybe my audio’s not working or video’s not working,'" said Maurice Draggon.

And while the district led non-stop training with teachers since March and made strides with LaunchEd@Home, there's still a lot of work to be done.

“I want parents to know that we really have their backs, that we’re working really, really hard to make sure the experience gets better every single day," Draggon said.

If problems are persistent, Draggon advised contacting the student's teacher first, then the school's principal.

You can also write an IT ticket for problems related to equipment at StudentTechRequest.ocps.net.

The superintendent calls this first nine days of online learning a “dress rehearsal” in case the coronavirus forces them to close a school or even the entire district.   

About one-third of Orange County students will be heading back for face-to-face instruction on August 21.