On April 29, school-managed devices at New Trier High School started to switch over to the “NTHS” network, as the student and next week the staff networks were retired to improve internet security and user experience. 

Chief Technology Officer Dr. Michael Marassa said that whenever New Trier examines the internet, they want to ensure students and staff are provided robust performance, a reliable experience, and secure connections. 

Part of working towards that involves putting student and staff school-managed devices on the same network and placing personal devices onto the guest network, which was made possible by free internet access provided by the state.  

“We wanted to prioritize the tools that are used for teaching and learning,” Marassa said. 

Marassa said that school-managed devices on the “NTHS” network have access to printers and projectors in classrooms, whereas teachers can access any files within New Trier’s network. Personal devices cannot do that. 

“It’s a cleaner and faster environment,” Marassa said. 

Marassa expects that with fewer devices on the “NTHS” network, users should see increased performance on their school-managed devices. 

This change, however, keeps personal devices operational. 

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“When your device joins the guest network, it is completely isolated from everyone else’s device,” Marassa said. “You’re just getting internet access.” 

When using the “NTHS_Guest” network, users may see a message that reads “Unsecured Network.” In a Canvas message, New Trier assured students that the guest network is secure and managed by New Trier security equipment. 

The main reason for the change was to secure New Trier’s internet.

“If you had somebody who had nefarious ideas and they wanted to go in and maybe do something, [the “NTHS” network] knows that only these devices [school-managed laptops, iPads, etcetera] are the ones that can get onto that network,” Marassa said. 

Marassa said that New Trier does not know how updated personal devices are, as opposed to school-managed devices, which they know are up to their security expectations. As such, by putting personal devices on the guest network, each device essentially can create its own network and not impact other devices. 

These internet improvements ensure that whatever students and staff need to accomplish can be done without disruption. 

“We’re trying to protect and make sure that school operations can continue [and] that people have a good experience on their school devices,” Marassa said.