After two days, Internet access is restored at 300 Miami schools

After two days offline, Internet access has been restored to 300 Miami-Dade County schools “in the University Park and surrounding areas” as of 3:30 p.m. Thursday, an AT&T spokeswoman confirmed.

Thousands of students and staff arrived at school in costume Halloween morning spooked to find that there was a widespread Internet outage. School district spokeswoman Daisy Gonzalez-Diego said a construction crew at SW 107th Ave and Coral Way cut a fiber optic cable feeding the district’s main data center early Wednesday morning.

She said AT&T prioritized the work call and service was expected to be restored by Wednesday night, but schools opened Thursday still without Internet access.

Kelly Starling, an AT&T spokeswoman, said the damage was “extensive” and required technicians to dig up roadway to access the cables for repairs.

Gonzalez-Diego said teaching and learning carried on without the help of the Internet.

“Teachers are professional educators and rely on a myriad of resources to execute their craft,” she said. “The internet is a great tool but not the only one in their toolbox to develop and deliver engaging lessons.”

This story was originally published November 1, 2018 at 10:49 AM.