By Austin Wymore, Vilma Roldan Lazo, Arela Varela Arroyo
On December 18, 2024 school computers were distributed at the Riverside media center after great delay.
Hundreds of students stood confused in lines organized by last names, wondering if they’d be able to keep their computers for the remainder of the year this time, and if they were even safe to use.
“The whole computer process was chaotic and disorderly,” said senior Maria Mullaney. “The lines were so unnecessary and long.”
Students, teachers, and families didn’t find out until the day the computer distribution took place. When the school day started, students who had end-of-course exams (EOCs) were called in first to receive computers with chargers.
“I was among the few students who received a charger when I got my computer,” said junior Ana Coreas Vargas. “I’ll need it for when I take my Math 3 EOC.”
After the students who had EOC’s got their computers, the remaining students were called on the by birth month to the media center to pick up their computers.
“I put it in the trunk of my car,” said senior Donna Soriano Sandoval. “I limited touching the computer due to rumors of bed bugs living inside of it. I don’t plan on using it since I have my own.”
Like Soriano Sandoval, many students had already begun bringing their home laptops to school to replace the missing chromebooks for doing schoolwork.
“I didn’t get a computer because I already have one where I do all of my school work and assignments,” said senior Franklin Rivas Prudencio. “I don’t feel like carrying two computers around.”
As the Chromebook distribution went on, Riverside ran out of computer chargers. Numerous students were left with a dead laptop and no way to charge it.
“We had to talk to the district,” said media coordinator Tara Gold. “They did not have [additional] chargers for us.”
Students were confused and frustrated by the lack of information.
“Why would you give out computers that wont turn on, and without chargers to students who actually need functioning computers to complete assignments?” said senior Karina Velazquez.
The school is still working through the charger shortage. If students were more aware of the distribution situation, the school may have been able to avoid unnecessary strife.
Communication Channels and Chromebooks
Schools require strong, multifaceted communication. Without it, students, families, faculty and staff can miss out on important information, updates, and context. It can also lead to confusion, frustration, and rumors among students.
Riverside’s communication system involves a variety of channels online and off. The daily announcements cover information regarding student opportunities, celebrating accomplishments, and important daily information like testing info.
“On Mondays we send out information, like cell phone reminders, what teachers need to be doing, their hall duties, what they need to be doing when grades are due, when report cards need to go out, so they’re getting frequent reminders, even at the beginning of the week,” said assistant principal Tammy Patterson.
Administrators also contact parents via email or phone call for personal information about their students.
Teachers receive emails with relevant information to them and their students about school events.
“I listen to the announcements during second period,” said Coreas Vargas. “I also listen to the phone calls Woods-Weeks sends out.”
“I find out important school events and announcements by emails, students, and other teachers,” said social studies teacher Gabrielle Minnick.
“I find out about important events through the school announcements during second period and on the RHS website,” said Mullaney.
“Any and everything you need to know about Riverside, is updated on our web page,” Patterson said. “We take pride in that.”
Chromebook distribution tested each channel repeatedly.
Jenna Wine and Gold are Riverside’s media coordinators. They were among the first people who found bedbugs in Chromebooks when the school year started.
“We found bedbugs on August 21 when we were going to count to see how many chromebooks we didn’t have,” said Wine. “That’s when we noticed they were crawling around.”
“We opened up the back of the computers and found bedbugs and roaches,” said Gold. “We found the computer which had the nest of bugs we think the outbreak had originated from.”
On Wednesday, Sept. 4, students picked up their school-issued laptops in the media center. Around 4 p.m., an announcement broadcast over the intercom asked all students to return them at the end of the school day, as they exited the building. Principal Gloria Woods-Weeks later sent out a voice message to parents, assuring them that the school was taking every precaution to handle the situation and followed up with emails with similar information.
After multiple rounds of fumigation and cleaning, the media center staff, with the help of district IT professionals, distributed clean chromebooks to students after months without them.
Even after they were deemed clean, the school’s leadership team was hesitant to redistribute chromebooks to students.
“We wanted to wait, because we had all voted to do Chromebook carts,” said Wine. “[Then] we found out that we couldn’t do carts.”
Wine and Gold believe the decision to give them back to students wasn’t the most ideal considering the school’s circumstances, especially since there aren’t enough chargers for every student.
“IT is going to the district to request money for chargers for Chromebooks because every school doesn’t have enough stuff,” said Wine. “We’re just, of course, in the worst situation.”
Riverside communicated to teachers by sending out an email mentioning that there would be a chromebook distribution for students on Dec. 18. Teachers got emails on Dec. 16. and 17. However, most students and parents didn’t find out until the day-of.
“I had no clue about the distribution until I heard the first announcement made publicly about Chromebook distribution,” said Rivas Prudencio. “It was for people who had tests at the end of the semester.”
School Transport
Communicating information to the school community is one of the many parts of a school administrator’s job. Assistant principal Jasmine McKoy is one of Riverside’s four assistant principals who, along with Woods-Weeks, make sure important information reaches faculty, staff, students and families.
McKoy is in charge of communicating transportation changes or delays, along with various other responsibilities like dealing with students’ concerns and attending important meetings.
“I make sure students are where they need to be during school hours,” she said. “I am also the person who shares bilingual information to the Riverside community about bus transportation.”
Communicating student transportation has been more difficult this year than in the past. Due to driver shortages, bus routes have not run consistently. It’s forced the district and individual schools to share information daily with students and families about cancelled and delayed routes.
DPS sent out a message in November that informed families about rotational bus services. It was originally supposed to last from Dec. 2 to Dec. 20, 2024 but was later extended to Jan. 17.
“With rotational bus service, bus routes operate on a staggered schedule with students assigned to ride,” ,” the DPS website stated. “Families will be responsible for transporting their students to and from school one day each week. This temporary change will help ensure routes are covered equitably across the district.”
Rotational bus service was designed to simplify the communication to families about late and cancelled transportation to and from school. It also changed how bus information is communicated by introducing the idea of bus schedules that change each day.
One of the most important tools DPS uses to communicate transportation updates with the community is Edulog, a mobile app that allows students and parents to track their respective school bus in real time.
The app shares alerts about arrival and drop off times. It’s free, and most Riverside bus-riders use it.
In addition to the traditional communication channels, McKoy also posts daily bus information on a large white board outside the front office so students know which buses are running, delayed or not available.
Lockdown
At the beginning of fourth period on Sept. 30, immediately after a scheduled fire drill, Woods-Weeks announced over the loudspeaker that the campus was on lockdown.
Students huddled in classroom corners, wondering what was going on as police officers searched the school room by room. 20 minutes later, parents, students, and teachers found out all at once that it was real.
Woods-Weeks sent out an email to parents, informing them that the school was under lockdown while law enforcement investigated “a report of someone who may be in possession of a firearm on campus.”
After the lockdown, which was Riverside’s first since 2019, many students and teachers were confused and wanted more information.
“We didn’t know if it was a drill or if it was real,” said civics teacher Kayla Beckett. “Whatever the case may be, we were very confused about what exactly happened in the first place.”
“There were teachers still teaching…some teachers didn’t know during the lockdown because their intercom didn’t work. Some teachers don’t have keys to their classrooms. That’s not the teacher’s fault,” said orchestra teacher Sara Moore.
“A lot of the time I don’t hear about something that happened at Riverside until a few days later.” said senior Deja Thompson.
Since Sept. 30, lockdown announcements have been handled more seriously by faculty and students alike. Loudspeaker announcements in the leave less ambiguity to whether or not students should treat it as a real threat.
“My french teacher (Mr. B) moved the whole tv in front of the window, he took it seriously,” said Junior Honesty Jones.
Another part of McKoy’s job is to review safety protocols and discuss it at important staff meetings.
“If an unwanted incident happens, we call our SRO’s to review the situation and monitor campus while we investigate the issue,” she said. “When there is an incident like this, we send a message to Riverside families explaining the situation.”
“We can’t let anybody in during a lockdown,” said Patterson. “They’re not always happy with that, but it’s for the safety of the school community.”
Potential Improvements
McKoy believes the current methods Riverside uses to share information with students and families are adequate.
“I think the effectiveness of communication is pretty good,” she said. “It is only a downfall when we have incorrect demographics or incorrect contact information from parents.”
However, many students disagree. In a survey conducted by The Hook on Instagram in December, 84% of 64 student responders said that they feel that information and announcements fail to reach students and parents effectively.
“We use email, Canvas, and Google Voice, as well as all social media platforms,” McKoy said. “We use those forms of communication when needed to inform people in our community.”
“I think that communication is as effective and inclusive as it can be,” said English teacher Emily Ericson.
“I really like the messaging app that is used to let families know about bus information. It lets people know about the bus schedules and when buses weren’t running.”
But students and teachers did identify ways it could be improved.
Students expressed frustration that campus safety updates are shared with teachers and parents, but not the kids in the building.
“When we have lockdowns or fights, I feel that keeping them a secret when we have suspicions about them isn’t the best thing to do.” said Thompson. “Communicating with the school about the situation as soon as possible is a good idea. It will allow us to be more vigilant.”
Including languages other than Spanish in verbal and written translations would also help more people get important information.
Riverside is one of Durham’s most diverse schools. Many of its 1,900 students come from other countries and are still learning English. Most of the students in the school’s English as a Second Language (ESL) program come from families from Hispanic and Latino countries, but not all.
“There are 786 students at Riverside who are english-second-language (ESL) students now or were in the past,” ESL teacher Julie Farkas wrote in an email to The Pirates’ Hook. “My own records include about 30 different languages that are spoken at home from students who are currently identified as English Language Learners.”
Spanish, Arabic, French, Punjabi, Tagalog, and Russian are common languages spoken by students at Riverside who are currently learning English.
“The [school] communications are originally sent out in English,” said McKoy. “The same communications are also translated in Spanish.”
While the district can assist with translation, Riverside often relies on bilingual staff members to share information in a timely manner.
“[ESL graduation coach Karen] Keim and [front office assistant Nancy] Sosa handle translation and communicate with Spanish speaking families,” said assistant principal Will Okun. “Ms. Keim translates the announcements over the weekend before they’re sent out.”
“Some improvements would be to have good communication between students and AP’s so the students don’t feel left out,” said Coreas Vargas. “An example would be translating important messages in different languages and making interactive videos in their native language.”
“We put a lot of time into trying to share information with students, stuff that’s happening in the school that’s not necessarily happening within the classroom,” said Okun. “We’re always open to ideas on how to improve, so if students have ideas on how we can better share opportunities, information, and celebrations, we want to know about it.”
