Gavin Newsom’s announcement that all Californians must “stay at home” bothered me more than I cared to admit to myself.
It followed on the heels of an announcement from my school district that all buildings will close and no staff will report. My principal sent an email assigning us an hour to come in and get what we needed. I’d brought home most of what I needed so I didn’t go in. Later in the day I wish I had.
The day before, after an email from our tech person about District Help Desk availability, I emailed her back about my password, set to expire before we are scheduled to return to work. I didn’t hear back until she sent an all staff e-mail on the day people could go in. She told us that the district had added 120 days to our passwords, but, if we wanted to update it we should do so when we come in. My assigned time had passed, and I was waiting for my grocery order. She gave us some options if we weren’t going in.
If you do need to change your password before we return to school, please make sure to keep track of your new & old passwords so we can get you all synced up when we are back in school (you will need both your district password to get you into your mail, etc, but the old one will get you into your laptop).
If you aren’t coming into the building, you can also drive close to any BSD location to connect to the network and do the same thing.
I worried about not doing things correctly and then, if and when we decide to roll out an online learning program, I wouldn’t be able to access the files on my laptop. I squelched my concerns and carried on with my day.
I went to bed trying not to think of the terrible times in which we are living.
Sleep serves many functions. One thing it does is help us process information and then make decisions about what to do next. Clearly my brain was working overtime because I awoke at 1 in the morning, thinking of 15 character phrases I could use for my new password.
As I lay on my back counting off letters a brilliant idea occurred to me: I could go to the school nearest my house as soon as I got up and change my password. I got out of bed to write some of my ideas down so I wouldn’t forget them in the morning.
Lucy got me up at 4:30. I took her for a potty walk, drank some coffee and was out of the house just after 5:30.
The streets and highway were dark and quiet as I drove the 20 minutes to my school of choice. Please work, please work, I chanted as I pulled into the dark parking lot. I decided that right in front of the office might be the best place for me to connect. As I sat on the cold cement in front of the office, I prayed a police car wouldn’t prowl the neighborhood and see me.I lifted the laptop and saw a strong Wifi icon. My password was changed within a few minutes and I now had 149 days before my next change.
I was home just after six. My street was still dark and it didn’t look as though any of my neighbors were up yet. I felt a little foolish, but my sense of relief was greater.
booksandbassets 
Your slice is so honest and one I can connect to. Getting problem-solving solutions as one awakes and then you implement it shows what a take-charge person you are despite the news which is pushing you down. Congrats on being bigger that this virus!!
This is the reality of the worries that we are faced with now. Thanks for capturing them so well for us.
Desperate times, desperate measures. Glad you figured out a solution that led to greater peace of mind.
As previous readers say, vivid and specific, your worry goes to the universal. Did you see this article? Disheartening, “ten years behind.”
Sorry, link failed. Let’s try again: Oregon not Online
Yes, I saw that. The last email from our district implied that they were trying to get something set up for us, though we won’t know about it until late next week. They have sent a survey to k-5 parents to let them check out a device (iPad, Chromebook) if they need one.Middle & HS students all have one. It is a wait and see game at this point. My teaching partner and I have been talking about what we can do, but have only made basic plans until we see what the admins expect of us. Fingers crossed.
Glad you figured out a solution and that you are good for the next 149 days. Sometimes our brains just don’t shut down when our bodies do.
It has been quite interesting to watch the various global responses to the pandemic. In Ontario, Canada, we knew on Match 13 that effective March 13th we would be away from school for at least three weeks. The UK delayed, other provinces in Canada delayed, but eventually, we all joined this global effort. I’m sure those in the beach shots in Florida will reflect on their own delays.
Many of us share the panic so evident in this writing. Thank for sharing what is happening in your part of the world.
Technology just adds another layer of stress to an already stressful time. Hopefully, having this checked off your list will allow to you sleep a little better tonight!
UGH! Passwords.
I actually have to do this later today because I want to download Minecraft EDU onto my work device. This can’t be done unless I am on the school network. #solidarity 🙂
That was my situation too. Fortunately I got a strong WiFi signal right next to the building.