The teacher tells you that you are allowed to be on your phone. You start to listen to music on an app that you need to be online for. Another student goes to text his friend a reminder about a club meeting they have. Both of you are unable to complete your tasks because you don’t have service. You are bored and annoyed because you can’t listen to music. The student next to you forgets about the meeting and misses it, so does his friend. Both of these situations are likely to happen with the poor cell phone service at Central Hardin 

Most students and teachers agree that it’s almost impossible to get decent cell phone service in the school, no matter where you are or what time it is. 

Sophomore Connor Paragon has described the service here as “garbage,” and many students and teachers have agreed with him. Along with noticing the problem, students have come to question why. 

Media Specialist Becky Rawlings thinks the problem is understandable. There are around two thousand people in this school trying to use their cellular devices and use what little service is available. This may be one of the reasons that students have noticed they are unable to use their phone in the school.

 “I just don’t see how you can sustain 1900-2000 people in one location without it having some issues,” Rawlings said.

The students aren’t the only ones complaining about, or noticing, these service issues. Not only can principal Tim Issacs not receive service in his office, which is in the center of the building, he also has to make the trek outside in order to text his daughter.

“Anytime you’re in a building that’s more (cinder) block, the more solid the building, the less signal you’re gonna get,”  Issacs said. “I guarantee you my reception is worse than yours because my office is a cave. And it does frustrate the crud out of me.I have to go outside and usually 27 steps out that door in this heat to text a daughter because she has to have a Samsung. Yeah, that’s frustrating, but there’s not a thing I can do about that.”

There’s a partial solution to this problem, however. The school offers Wi-Fi to its students if they so choose to use it. Students are able to connect their phones, or other devices of their choosing, to the Wi-Fi just by simply filling out a paper and parent permission. 

According to Rawlings, about two-thirds of students use the school Wi-Fi. Some students have commented on using the school Wi-Fi as well. Jenna Grey and Mathew Crum, both freshmen, have both said they are not on the wifi yet, but they plan to be. 

Juniors Jenasys Mullen and Isabella Brindle and sophomores Michael Grey and Connor Paragon have all said they are not, and do not plan to be on the school’s Wi-Fi. 

“No. ‘Cause you know the school can go through your phone, like they can literally go through it,” M. Grey said.

Many students have the same concern when talking about the school Wi-Fi. They are unsure if their device will be searched without their knowledge. According to senior principal Dan Corley, the only things the school can see is what your internet provider can see. Your text messages cannot be accessed, only something that you are doing that passes through the server. If you are abiding by the policies and regulations that are mentioned in the Terms and Conditions, you shouldn’t have anything to worry about. Corley points out that only Issacs can request to access this information, and he will only do so if there is a very probable cause.