As the Clark County School District continues with its virtual school year, there’s some adjusting to do for everyone. With Google Meets as the leading mode communication, Teacher Kyle Yasso thinks CCSD should go back to having Zoom as its platform. On Aug. 13, she created a petition on change.org to roll back its ban from early April.
As of September, Yasso has gained over 150 signatures toward her petition. She wants Google Meets to make modifications to be better equipped to handle school meetings.
“I felt like my efforts as an educator were being hamstrung by inferior technology, and that not using Zoom was a disservice to our students,” Yasso said.
Though what caused the ban?
“I believe CCSD restricted access to Zoom conferences just a couple of weeks into the shutdown in March 2020,” principal Tam Larnerd said. “Evidently, a Zoom conference that a teacher from another high school was hosting got hacked, and the hacker posted pornographic images on the screen.”
Yasso believes that Zoom has made advancements in their security and outperforms others. The petition asserts that Zoom has upped its security measures. She goes on to say how there’s no debate about how Zoom is the better choice.
“I think [Yasso] has definitely sparked a conversation to be had, and [it’s] definitely a valid point that should be heard out at the very least,” sophomore Jonas Schersei said.
But there’s more to her argument than mere security options. Yasso thinks Zoom is better for peer-based interaction online.
“We’re talking about tech that’s been around for a while but isn’t cutting edge and, more importantly, isn’t suited to the user … in other words, our students,” Yasso said.
You can look at examples such as Webex. Webex, much like Zoom, is another company that sells video chatting applications. But when you look at it, it’s meant for enterprises and not for schools and their students.
“Sometimes it is difficult to find the correct link or code to join the meet, and my own personal WiFi issues have been making Google Meets even more challenging,” sophomore Peneople Thomas said. “I don’t think I’m the only person having these problems.”
Dorene Leath agrees with Yasso, and made a comment on the petition.
“With things being so different for our kids, why not let them use Zoom? That’s how many have been communicating with family through this whole pandemic, and [they] are already familiar with how to use it. Why add more stress of learning a new platform on top of everything else that will be new to them?”
All these requests and opinions are in the best interest of the students, but how are they reflected in students?
“We don’t need to use Zoom,” junior Ashley Carmona said. “I think we have all adapted well to Google Meets, so it would just be more work to switch to Zoom. It’s stressful because you have to take it upon yourself to make sure you get all your work done…”
As for why Yasso created a petition, she explained that an issue brought to them by a union or by popular demand is more effective. A petition is a good example of uniting people under a common opinion.
Personal issues, like the idea of personal comfort, is often ignored by staff. Students who aren’t very content with the space they have at home must now turn their cameras on for school.
Some students have cameras off for many reasons during class, and one of the shared experiences is feeling weird about having their backgrounds shared when they have cameras on.
“To me, I feel like Google Meets is kind of stressful for some students because they’re not used to it, or it’s out of their comfort zone,” freshman Niracha Seangsumat said. “And sometimes we have to have our cameras on, but sometimes it’s uncomfortable.”
While no large result came from Yasso and her petition, she still was able to change some students’ minds about Zoom. After some undecided students read what Yasso had to say, they were swayed.
“Based off of [the petition] I’d think Zoom may be the better option,” Thomas evaluated. “The fact that… Zoom is supposedly more advanced… makes it seem like the better service.”
