Say goodbye to the days of slow, spotty wifi.

After winter break, a whole new WiFi system will be installed and will be much faster, seamless, and efficient, according to Tom Marble, Director of Information Services.

In each classroom and meeting room there will be access points installed to ensure WiFi connection stays strong as you switch rooms and roam the hallways. On the other hand, the current wireless system does not keep up its performance as more devices use the WiFi, while lacking speed.

“The wireless network will be able to have a capacity to handle all traffic and be more usable to you as a user…[as of] december first, where they make sure everything is connected and working then we have to do some configuration and testing,” Marble said.

Most students seem to present a positive outlook for the wireless system, including Junior India Rounds.

“It’s really smart, it makes things so much easier and it shows our High School’s is modern and up to date,” Rounds said.

The bring your own device system allows a student to register one WiFi enabling device to use in a class when the teacher allows.

“The bring your own device policy was really more of a pilot program to really see what the interest was,” Marble said. “It is to get a gage on how many devices we would see coming onto our networks on any given day so that we could figure out how we needed to build a wireless network that would handle all of this.”

The improved wireless connection could distract learning but George believes it will be a beneficial learning tool.

“We will have to expect that students are responsible about using the resources we have,” George said. “It is going to be a bonus for digial learning in the district.”

The devices are used for learning tools to be integrated into the curriculum of classrooms Marble said, if students do not adhere to the policies, they will disciplined as they would be before the new WiFi’s installation.

“We put technology tools out there for you and the staff to use as part of their curriculum and their teaching and your learning,” Marble said.

On the other hand, librarian Danya Castro said she believes the new system will interfere with learning.

“One thing I’m interested in is if are more students are paying attention in class with new wifi access rather than chatting on facebook with their friends,” Castro said.

Connection issues rose in classrooms with use of iPads and wireless laptop carts because the wireless system cannot handle that many devices at once, George said.

“From experience in classes, [wifi] hasn’t been as good as it needs to be” said George, “…there should be wireless access points in each classroom so that up to forty devices at a time can connect seamlessly.”

The four-hundred and fifty thousand dollar project arose during the annual levy vote, where St. Louis Park votes on which technology issues need to be addressed the most, which thereafter are provided funding.

“One of the top items we were talking to voters about is putting in the WiFi network, so that was our top priority once the voters approved that for us last year.” Marble said. “…we will  hopefully be getting the technology out of the way so that you don’t even think about it anymore, you come in and its just there for you to use.”