Recently, Mayfield High School has accepted the challenge of offering Public WiFi to students and teachers in the commons areas and LMC.

Jarrod Muhleman, assistant principal for curriculum and staff development at the High School thinks that the WiFi will be helpful for students. He said, “It has expanded access for the kids; it’s a good instructional tool. It’s easier to access things and most students have a phone so they have access to educational apps, responding and communicating.”

“[The Wi-Fi] allows for easier access to information,  collaboration, feedback from teachers so they can assess what students are understanding and not understanding quickly,” Muhleman said.

Brent Kallay is a computer technician and is a member of the Technology Department at the High School. He has played a part of the working process of Wi-Fi at the High School. He believes the Wi-Fi is an impactful resource for students to use.

He said, “The public Wi-Fi will allow teachers and students to connect their personal device to the Wi-Fi. It will still be filtered but “Mayfield Device Wi-Fi” has seen improvements in infrastructure to allow more devices to connect at one time. this was done in advance with the 1:1 device rollout.”

The 1:1 device rollout refers to issuing each student with an electronic device in order to access the Internet. Mayfield plans to do this within the next year by providing students with Chromebooks.

Kallay believes monitoring the Wi-Fi is a big undertaking in a high school, especially with having a filter for web content.

He said, “Both the Public Wi-Fi  and Mayfield Device Wi-Fi use web filters which are also on all the district computers. The web filters are in place to prevent any inappropriate web browsing as well as insure optimum bandwidth,” Kallay said.

Bandwidth describes the maximum data transfer rate of a internet connection. It measures how much data and information can be sent over a specific wireless connection in a given amount of time.

“If everybody wanted to stream Netflix on the Wi-Fi it would come to a screeching halt because we don’t have the bandwidth to do that. The Tech Department doesn’t sit around and watch what you guys are doing all the time, but everything that is affecting the Wi-Fi does show up,” said Kallay.

Sophomore Lizzie Valenti has used the Wi-Fi for her English and Digital Media Classes. She said, “I love that technology is going in that direction, but I still enjoy writing some math problems down and working them out. I think that schools should slowly ease into the use of technology but be friendly to students who still rely on paper and pen.”

Sophomore John Razzante agrees with Valenti. He said, “I am excited for what is in store for us. I feel like the world is moving [toward a better future] and if we were to stay with paper and pencil we would not be prepared.”