‘It’s not your typical day’: 300 Miami schools are without Internet access on Halloween

Thousands of students and teachers arrived in costume at school Halloween morning spooked to discover that they would be learning without the help of the Internet.

Miami-Dade County Public Schools spokeswoman Daisy Gonzalez-Diego said a fiber optic cable feeding into the district’s main data center was cut by a construction crew at SW107th Avenue and Coral Way around 6:30 a.m. Wednesday.

About 300 schools lost Internet access, she said. She did not know which schools were affected because it depends on which circuit each school is on.

The school district has been in contact with AT&T, which has prioritized the work call, Gonzalez-Diego said, adding that other customers have been affected. She said repairs should be made by Wednesday evening.

A spokeswoman for AT&T wrote in an email that technicians are on site working to restore service for some wireline customers in the area.

Schools around the district had multiple celebrations for Halloween, including a character day parade. Teachers took manual attendance and made due, teaching lessons without the Internet and using other resources available.

“Of all days, today is a good day,” Gonzalez-Diego said. “It’s not your typical day.”

“We haven’t always had Internet,” she added. “Instruction continues, and if it has to continue the old fashioned way, it will.”

This story was originally published October 31, 2018 at 2:10 PM.