Technology has made education more convenient by allowing students and teachers to integrate a major component of their daily lives into their schooling. Over the past decade, as the popularity of smart devices has skyrocketed, the presence of electronics in the classroom has become increasingly common. Computer carts and smart boards can now be found in classrooms and some students even bring their own laptops to school.
With this increase, email has grown especially popular in terms of school communication as it allows teachers and students to interact in a professional manner.
As long as students aren’t still using the emails they created in middle school, Dixon noted, with addresses such as “[email protected]” and “[email protected],” students can utilize emails which allow them to maintain correspondence with teachers regardless of the domain.
Previously, the Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) funded the purchase and creation of the coopercityhigh.net website. The school was able to create Gmail accounts for all students with the coopercityhigh.net domain.
As of August 11, however, due to the fact that the Cooper City High School (CCHS) website changed and the old domain was terminated, the coopercityhigh.net emails could no longer function. At the time, administration confirmed that these emails would be replaced with a Microsoft Outlook email provided by the district.
Students have yet to receive these emails and, according to Teacher-Student Specialist Melissa Megna, the district is still ironing things out in regards to the Outlook student emails.
The primary difference between the old emails and the emails that will be provided through the district is the switch from Gmail to Outlook.
“[The school email] was helpful for sure, but I didn’t really utilize it until five months after they gave them to us,” senior Alex Brower said. “And some people didn’t even know they had school emails to begin with.”
Despite the fact that these emails have been inactive since the beginning of the 2018-2019 school year, students and teachers have responded differently to the absence of the school emails. The majority seem to think that the emails’ disappearance is an issue not worth noting.
“I don’t think it matters either way [whether the school provides emails or not],” U.S. History teacher Dwayne Dixon said. “Just have an email. I’ve seen how kids are resistant [to utilizing their coopercityhigh.net emails] or are refusing to use it … my thought is all we need to do is be able to contact kids.”
As long as students aren’t still using the emails they created in middle school, Dixon noted, with addresses such as “[email protected]” and “[email protected],” students can utilize emails which allow them to maintain correspondence with teachers regardless of the domain.
Students also share this same mentality, that the emails— though a nice additional resource— were ultimately unused. When the emails stopped working, it was only aggravating for a few individuals.
“[The school email] was helpful for sure, but I didn’t really utilize it until five months after they gave them to us,” senior Alex Brower said. “And some people didn’t even know they had school emails to begin with.”
She also advises that students make sure any accounts associated with the coopercityhigh.net emails be switched to a personal email.
Senior Amanda Mulvaney also commented on the incident, recalling that she had been using her school email for scholarships and college applications.
“It was really just a mild inconvenience,” Mulvaney said.
As for BRACE Adviser Christine Siwek, she believes that it is an unfortunate situation but that administration can’t do anything else during this waiting period. She also advises that students make sure any accounts associated with the coopercityhigh.net emails be switched to a personal email.
Despite the fact that students appeared to be outraged when the emails first became inactive in August, it seems that the ruckus has quieted down as students, teachers and administration have grown accustomed to the change.
Once again, students who do not possess an email and want to maintain correspondence with teachers, continue the college application process or pursue a job opportunity should consider making an account using one of the following credible email services: Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Outlook or AOL Mail.
Photo by The Lariat Photography
