Miami-Area Children Face Technical Glitch On First Day Of School

MIAMI, FL — Classes resumed Monday for Miami-Dade County Public School children following an extended summer break but a technical glitch prevented a number of students from logging into their online classes to start the school year.

"District's data center is experiencing external connectivity issues with the Internet," the nation's fourth largest school district reported on Monday morning. "The problem has been identified and staff is working diligently to resolve it. We thank you for your patience."

Miami-Dade Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho told reporters he hoped the first day of school would have gone more smoothly.

"We would hope that a massive endeavor of this scale would go up flawlessly, but technology is something we're all dealing with these days," Carvalho said at the Bob Graham Education Center. "For the parents, I continue to urge you to be patient with us. This is an implementation that ordinarily would take probably five to six months. We rolled it out in about six to seven weeks."

Miami Teachers of Dade, which represents Miami-area school teachers, posted a computer-generated photo of a terrier in the lotus position.

The social media post counseled teachers: "Don’t worry. Everyone is having issues. It’s the first day. Just take it with stride. Everything will work itself out ... not like we planned, but nevertheless."

School officials told Patch the district is working on the issue. Miami-Dade County Public Schools includes 392 schools, 345,000 students and more than 40,000 employees.

Carvalho also visited some teachers on Monday as they led their virtual classrooms.

Concerns over the coronavirus forced Florida's largest school district to start school entirely online but recent improvements with respect to the Miami-area positivity rate and a decline in virus-related hospitalizations has raised expectations that regular classrooms instruction might be able to resume later this fall.

One dad told Patch his young daughter experienced a different kind of technical glitch.

"She's like the cat unplugged the router," he shared. "My seven-year-old daughter is like 'Yes. School is busted.'"

A number of parents and students took to social media on Monday to share their frustration over the technical glitch, some in language inappropriate for publication.

"This us ridiculous! This is my only day off to help my kids," said one mother. "This is beyond frustrating and overwhelming."

A student penned: "So much for having everything under control." The student went on to accuse district officials of ruining his first day of school.

A female student seemed pleased by the technical glitch.

"Best first day of school ever," she declared on social media. "As if this wasn’t expected?"