In the working world, technology has become a necessity in order to function in the workplace. Although the use of technology and internet can be an aid in the performance of everyday tasks, it has also become a crutch when it does not perform up to its standard.

“Between mid-December and Feb. 16, the school experienced eight events that caused the multitude of technological problems that we have been experiencing lately,” technology director Kevin Powers said. “Five of these events are what we call ‘denial of service attacks.’”

Denial of service attacks occur when an external source hacks into the internet provider, the Genesee Intermediate School district’s system. The remaining three issues were fluke hardware events that the district is learning how to stop.

“Along with this, on January 25, teachers were having trouble opening gradebook in Powerschool,” Powers said. “After getting in touch with Powerschool’s hosting center in California, they continued to insist that it was a problem with our network.”

Until Feb. 16, Powers worked to eliminate variables that could have been the source of the problem. One of the factors that had to be eliminated was the school’s free wifi that was offered to students.

“Eliminating the guest wifi was just another way for us to find out if the problem with Powerschool was on our end, which it was,” Powers said. “The issues with technology these past few months were completely out of our control.”

Due to the efforts of Powers and other members of the technology department, the student wifi is up and running again. The issues with the school’s internet is believed to have been resolved, and even more upgrades are coming.

“Next year, the school’s technology capability will be increasing,” Powers said. “We will have a wireless expansion, higher internet speeds, and wifi routers available in every classroom.”

Currently, Fenton Area Public Schools has some of the newest technology in the county. The school’s bond, passed in 2014, allows for technology upgrades continuously over the course of 12 years, and these upgrades for the next school year are part of what is to come.