Update, 5:20 p.m.: The Clarksville-Montgomery County School System has identified the problem that was causing widespread connectivity issues for remote learning throughout the day.

The following message will be sent out to CMCSS parents Monday night, according to Anthony Johnson, chief communications officer for CMCSS:

This is David Holman, Chief Technology Officer for CMCSS. I want to thank our students, parents, guardians, teachers, and staff for your patience today as the Technology Department worked to resolve the connectivity issues. I want to share what happened today and what we are doing to resolve the situation. This morning, the district experienced latency on the internal network. When an upgrade was implemented to resolve the initial latency issue, it resulted in another unforeseen issue with our VPN service. We have been in contact with the vendor and will be implementing a solution tonight that will alleviate both the latency and the VPN service issues.

Previously:

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – Students and teachers in the Clarksville-Montgomery School System began the pre-planned, remote learning period Monday, but not without widespread connectivity issues.

There is a silver lining: The problems are allowing the school district’s Technology Department to sort out some problems, according to Anthony Johnson, chief communications officer for CMCSS.

“Today is a pre-planned remote learning day that is allowing our Technology Department to evaluate and repair any issues that could arise for students in the event that multiple schools or the entire district needed to transition to remote learning due to the circumstances of the pandemic,” Johnson said.

“We thank our students, parents, guardians, teachers and staff for their patience this morning as our Technology Department worked to resolve the issue as quickly as possible,” he continued.

CMCSS sent this message out to all parents Monday afternoon: “We apologize for the inconvenience; however, district-wide connectivity issues will continue through this evening. The Technology Department is working on a solution, and classes will resume tomorrow.”

Students and parents frustrated

Many parents and their children were feeling frustrated. Amber Gamiño has three elementary-age children in CMCSS schools, and they were unable to access their learning platforms and assignments for Monday.

“Their laptops are connected to our internet at home, yet the Google Classroom is connected to the school system, and that keeps going down,” Gamiño said.

She told Clarksville Now on Monday that every time her children have tried to log into Zoom or complete their assignments, they’ve been met with connectivity issues.

All three of her kids have been learning virtually throughout the year.

“I’d rather my kids and I not end up with having a stress disorder over this. Nobody is truly falling behind. What’s there to fall behind on? All over the world, this is going on pretty much,” Gamiño said.

CMCSS says that students who were unable to access assignments and coursework due to connectivity issues Monday should communicate with their teachers, and they won’t be penalized for technical difficulties.

Remote learning to continue

All CMCSS students, including those enrolled in traditional learning, are remote through Wednesday, Nov. 23.

The three-day period of districtwide, remote learning was announced in October after families expressed concern over the shortening of the Thanksgiving break to make up for the delayed opening of the school year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The next districtwide remote day for CMCSS will be Dec. 21, the day before winter break begins.

Traditional students are expected to return to in-person learning next Monday, Nov. 30.