The Lafayette Parish School System has issued some rules for testing this year, hoping to minimize technical issues.
One of the rules is that teachers can’t use microwaves during testing hours, and another asks Kindergarten and other younger classes, who aren’t testing, to refrain from streaming movies during testing time.
CAO Joe Craig explains that there were some technical issues last year, and the system is trying to do everything possible to avoid any this year.
"We had some technicians come in to do some trouble-shooting, and one of the things they said was to stop using microwaves during testing," Craig said. "We don’t think it’s a huge issue, but they told us not to do it."
Craig said it’s a small thing, and it might prevent a student from getting frustrated during testing if they can’t log in to take their test.
"Anything we can do to diminish electrical interference, we want to do it," he said. "We don’t want a kid to have a hard time. We just want to make it as easy as possible on the kids to take the test."
Craig said the system has verified that there is enough bandwidth for testing, but they don’t want to take any chances.
For instance, some of the wiring for internet is close to electrical conduit, which means there can be interference, he said.
"We just want to be on the safe side," he said.
