Technology returns to Rochester Public Schools after cyber attack

(ABC 6 News) – Technology is slowly being reintegrated into Rochester Public Schools following a cyber attack last weekend.

At John Marshall High School the adjustments to no technology took a day to get used to. But after one day, students and staff found benefits in their learning without the screens.

“It was a tough transition I think,” said band instructor Jonathan Soderberg-Chase. “It depends on the class if there was a bunch of reliance on technology like Google Classroom. You know, things that just exist. But I think in general but the kids, I think the feedback has been fairly positive in terms of going back to paper and conversing and group work.”

John Marshall principal Matt Ruzek says the absence of technology has also been a reminder of the balance both students and teachers need in their educational experiences.

“It’s a balance and I think we need those reminders. Because as soon as we figured out, oh my gosh we can create a Google classroom and we can put all this material and we can put links that take us to the next thing,” Ruzek said. “Sometimes because we can doesn’t mean we should.

This has helped us balance it to where we can see the health impact. The mental health impact of both of our adults who are instructing and our students who are learning.”

Rochester Public Schools are slowly integrating more technology into their classrooms each day, but there is no exact time frame on when technology use will be back to its levels before the cyber attack.

Until then, students and teachers will make the most of their time without the screens taking up the majority of time in the classroom.