Pittsburgh Public Schools Open Tech Support Centers For Families
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - It's probably happened to most of us, at least once: you have a new electronic device -- a laptop, computer, maybe a phone or a tablet -- and you can't get it to work properly.
Starting today, Pittsburgh Public Schools will be offering in-person tech support for students and parents who are experiencing problems using district-issued devices.
Mother-of-three Scharisse Witherspoon stopped by the tech support center at Pittsburgh Obama Wednesday morning to get help with computers for two of her children in Pittsburgh Public Schools.
"He dropped it in his book bag and the screen went black, so I had to switch it out, and then I have a sixth grader, that, he couldn't sign in on his computer," said Witherspoon.
Students in the Pittsburgh Public School district are on remote learning for the first nine weeks of the school year. The school board made that decision and then provided laptops to all students for remote learning.
RELATED STORIES:
- Online Classes In Pittsburgh Public Schools And Trinity Area School District Interrupted By Inappropriate Videos And Messages
- Network Glitches Highlight First Day Of Remote Learning In Pittsburgh-Area School Districts
- Pittsburgh Public Schools Deal With Internet Issues On First Day Of Virtual Learning
- Pittsburgh Public Schools Still Waiting For One-Third Of The Computers It Ordered
- Start Of Classes Delayed For Pittsburgh Public Schools After District Runs Out Of Devices For All Students
- High Demand For Computer Devices Quickly Exhausts Pittsburgh Public Schools' Supply Hours Into Distribution
- Pittsburgh Public Schools Board Votes For Online-Only Classes During First 9 Weeks
- 'It Didn't Go Well For Our First Time': Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Anthony Hamlet Speaks About Remote Learning On District's Last Day Of School
Interim technology officer Mark Stuckey says the district first learned of some of the issues parents and students were having with the district-issued devices shortly after they began distributing them for remote learning.
"That's where we learned some of the frustrations, to create these," he said of the tech support centers. "Most of them were log-on issues and logging on to the device, some connectivity issues, some rebooting issues and most of those we believe we have a solution for," Stuckey told KDKA's Lisa Washington.
For those that have been experiencing tech issues, the district has set up tech support at five schools across the city for the next two-and-a-half weeks.
Those seeking help will need to bring the district-issued device, charger and the student log-in. They are asking for students and families to make a reservation ahead of time, but they will accept walk-ins.
The district is now supporting all 23,000 Pittsburgh Public students and 3,000 staff. Most are using district devices, others are using their personal devices.
"Typically the technicians would go to the schools, but now that we have all those families out there, we needed to devise a plan for them to come to us," Stuckey said.
The support will be available each day from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. through Oct. 2 at these following locations:
- Pittsburgh CAPA - 111 9th Street
- Pittsburgh Carrick - 125 Parkfield Street
- Pittsburgh King - 50 Montgomery Place
- Pittsburgh Langley - 2940 Sheraden Boulevard
- Pittsburgh Obama - 515 N. Highland Avenue