HISD troubleshoots
Technology problems crash first day of class, but the Houston district provides a solution.
This has been a 504 ERROR kind of year.
As such, it shouldn’t have surprised too many parents and students when their computer screens flashed the dreaded server distress call Tuesday morning while trying to log into the Houston ISD HUB on the first day of virtual school.
A crashed server blocking the district’s main portal for classwork for 209,000 students? How apropos.
Stressed parents had a few options. A: Dissolve into a puddle of rage tears in a corner of the nearest locked bathroom. B: Seize the teachable moment and model the virtues of grit and critical thinking by patiently attempting to troubleshoot while adoring kid watches in awe. C. Enlist the assistance of Auntie Netflix. D. All of the above.
No judgment here on such personal choices. But the episode is a helpful reminder that for every 504 ERROR we can’t control in our new pandemic reality, there’s a response we can.
Many parents of schoolaged kids have been pushed to the brink by the stress, worry and isolation over the past five months as we’ve attempted to keep our families safe from the novel coronavirus, the bills paid and our sanity intact.
So despite the inevitably bumpy start, for families across some 10 school districts in the Houston area, including Cy-Fair, Katy, Klein and Conroe, the start of classes this week seemed to be dry land after months adrift. A welcome rhythm in the cacophony of the spring and summer. Some structure in this abstract expressionist doom-scroll pop-up ad. Insert your preferred metaphor here. All our experiences are different.
Case in point: while some families had a menacing error message to contend with Tuesday morning, others had none of the technology they needed to participate in online learning. Some expressed outrage that those students were asked to log on at virtual learning centers across the district until they could be issued the promised computer devices. Certainly a hassle for students and their parents, but again, grasping for a silver lining here, the district estimated that only 12,000 students out of 209,000 lacked devices, which were expected to arrive soon. And how about a word of appreciation for the churches and other organizations that stepped in with temporary launch pads for school kids in need?
No doubt that for all of Texas’ more than 5 million public school children, 2020-2021 is a school year like no other.
The first day didn’t have the same squeaky linoleum newness. While some kids no doubt successfully lobbied their way into a new pair of Back-To-School sneakers, a gleaming new backpack to ferry books all of 37 inches from the bed to the desk was a harder sell. First day pics featured pajama pants rather than uniform Polos.
Even for those students who showed up in person, an apple for the teacher was more likely to mean a slender schoolissued computer device than a shiny piece of fruit susceptible to virus transmittal.
But still, the new school year offered what the return of classes always offers. Bored kids had hope of some kind of mental stimulation. They had new friends to make, maybe not on the playground but certainly in the chat column of their classroom’s video conferencing platform. They had reason for first-day jitters, for nervous anticipation of meeting the teacher.
For the first time in months, they had reason to shower and to reacquaint themselves with their toothbrushes.
Virtual First Day was a far cry from in-the-flesh First Days of yore. It wasn’t fresh-paint-and-disinfectant-smelling real. But it’s something. It’s a new year. A new chance. A whisper, however faint, of normalcy.
When that pseudo-normalcy was snatched from the clutches of chaos by the 504 ERROR Tuesday morning, parents flocked to social media to express disappointment and frustration.
All was not lost along with the server connection, though. Perhaps pandemic karma had some compassion for a school district whose smart, cautious approach to reopening — virtually first, in-person later — set an example for other districts.
Turned out that while the web host provider was experiencing grave issues at a number of districts, Houston ISD had a Plan B.
Acting Superintendent Grenita Lathan announced that the district’s HUB was actually still up and running. Though it took a little longer than some parents would have liked, HISD’s robocalling system began notifying parents of an alternative URL allowing direct access to the HUB.
“I can’t be angry over something that I can’t control,” Lathan said, responding to a reporter’s question at a press conference. But she added: “We were prepared. Like I said, we found a fix.”
An apt lesson in the age of coronavirus. When life gives you an error message, find an alternative URL.