Good Longhorn News

Students and staff of Holcomb High School have recently been struggling with the problem of needed resources being blocked on school Chromebooks. In past years, this hasn’t been an issue, but recently, these problems have skyrocketed. Many students as well as teachers have expressed their frustrations in the form of mental breakdowns in the middle class, furious emails, and sometimes even going directly to the source.

Jade Ardery, junior, said, “When I get on my Chromebook and see that something I need for an assignment blocked, it gets me mad and sad at the same time. I just want to punch my computer.”

The seniors seem to be complaining the most. With the absence of work due to easy classes, they are left with nothing to do during the day. Since they are no longer allowed to have their phones, YouTube and games are their only options left.

Not only students are struggling with their assignments being blocked. Teachers are also feeling this frustration when they assign something and the next day its blocked. Ms. Kleeman, English teacher, said, “I feel a little irritated, especially if I checked it the day before and it wasn’t blocked.”

Ms. Kleeman also asked the question, “We didn’t see this problem as much as last year so what changed from this year to last year?”

The new IT guy, Mr. Schartz, is trying to address the problem. Schartz said, “If something is blocked that shouldn’t be, email me.” He also added that when something gets unblocked it takes 20-30 minutes to go through the system, so be patient.

When he heard about the students’ frustrations, he responded with, “It’s not always me who blocks things, sometimes it’s the teachers who choose to block things.”

Mr. Shartz brought up the website Github, which is an online website that you can access almost anything through, from games to explicit videos and pictures. Many students were trying to access this website and were acquiring viruses.

Just remember, if something is blocked, it’s probably for a reason, even if it is frustrating. If you are having problems, just email Mr. Schartz and he will be more than willing to look into it and unblock it for you.

Before you ask yourself, is it unblocked or is someone getting socked? Email Mr. Schartz