Wednesday, parents and students in Madison County Schools had their first encounter with the district's virtual program, called SchoolsPLP. It was the first day for students, and for some of them, they had issues logging on.
The district sent us a statement saying if any families are experiencing issues with logging in or with internet connection, they should reach out to their child's school so they can figure out a solution.
WAAY 31's Casey Albritton spoke to parents who said they understand it's going to take some time to get everything worked out.
School is back in session, but some students can't get started just yet.
"It just said they were having technical difficulties with the launch and that they were working on it and that we would receive an email when they got it up and running," said parent, Danielle Wingate.
When it comes to logging onto SchoolsPLP, parents are having some issues.
"We experienced not being able to get on to do any of the classwork," said parent, Chrissie Cusmir.
Parents Danielle Wingate and Chrissie Cusmir say although their students can't start the online program, there's a back-up plan.
"My child's teacher said to not even worry about it for the rest of the week," said Cusmir.
"The teachers are emailing the lessons to the students to the school email address and so they will have those to do and turn them in that way for now," said Wingate.
Parents in Madison County Schools aren't the only ones having trouble getting the school year started. Both Huntsville and Madison City School districts are also experiencing some problems. Wednesday morning, their learning program, called Schoology, crashed nationwide.
These three school districts are the only ones in North Alabama starting off their school years entirely with remote learning.
"If it's happening to everybody, everybody will be on the same page. If something shuts down and the kids can't turn something in, they will just turn it in when the system gets back up," said Wingate.
Although the school year is starting off a little rocky, both Wingate and Cusmir say they are trying to stay positive.
"Don't stress it. The teachers know what is going on and know how many issues there are," said Cusmir.
"I think the teachers are going to be very mindful of what's happening with the technical issues. I think the kids are pretty resilient and they will get through it," said Wingate.
Madison County Schools is asking parents to reach out to their child's teachers first with any issues. Madison City Schools is providing a link so parents can submit service tickets. That link can be found here.
