Parents and OCTO spar over school Wi‑Fi reliability and who should manage device inventories

At the committee hearing, Grace Hu of the Digital Equity and DC Education parent group told members that DCPS lacks sufficient human resources to manage IT assets at schools and that persistent school Wi‑Fi problems remain a daily barrier for students and teachers. "Wi Fi is often unstable and slow," Hu said, describing teacher reports that connectivity is "untrustworthy" and that families and staff sometimes rely on personal hotspots.

Hu urged the committee to push DCPS and OCTO to clarify whether existing OCTO technicians in schools could take on asset-management tasks rather than DCPS creating a separate workforce. She cited prior cost estimates for such a program and noted that inventory accuracy affects device allocation at the start of the school year.

OCTO Director Stephen Miller said OCTO and DCPS are planning a unified asset-management project and that OCTO already deploys technicians in schools — about 70 technicians with roughly 23 FTEs embedded in high schools and roving staff for elementary and middle schools. Miller told the committee the total DCPS program spend "is about 17.86" million and said the figure includes personnel, services, licenses and other technology support; he offered to provide a full breakdown to council staff.

The committee asked OCTO to provide site‑survey methodology, technician staffing lists, and a clearer scope for any asset-management pilot so members can evaluate whether technician time and licensing arrangements could be redirected to inventory and device-management work.