Rocky View Schools without internet, phone access after fibre optic cable cut

A school division that serves students to the west, north, and east of Calgary is without internet and phone access Thursday after a fibre optic cable was cut the day before.

In an email to parents, Rocky View Schools (RVS) said around 4:45 p.m. on Wednesday, schools in the division started to experience technical issues.

It was determined the problem was a result of a fibre optic cable being cut near Calgary.

The division says the telecommunications company doesn’t have a firm timeframe for when the issue will be fixed.

RVS schools will remain open and classes will continue without Internet access for the time being.

For urgent messages, parents and guardians can contact the school principal and/or assistant principal through email which will be received on their phones. The division asks this only be used for urgent matters.

To access your principal’s email address, go to your school’s website and select ‘Contact Us’ on the top right-hand corner of the main page, then select ‘Staff Directory’ on the lower left of the page.

Attendance will be recorded on paper and entered into the school’s database when it can be accessed again, the school division says. Families won’t be notified of late arrivals or absences until the outage is fixed.

Teachers and other staff don’t have access to email from their school devices so emails can’t be received or sent until the problem is resolved.

Parents are asked to hold off on sending non-urgent messages until the system is restored.

Updates on the situation will be provided on the pop-up alert window of school and division websites as well as through RVS’ social media pages.