Committee forwards Chromebook lease refresh; staff report tracking device damage trend

The Germantown School District finance committee voted to recommend the board approve a four‑year lease purchase for Chromebooks for the 2025–26 school year, not to exceed $195,055.40, financed through a four‑year lease with annual payments noted.

Technology staff said the lease will provide 650 11‑inch Chromebooks for fifth and ninth graders and 13–14‑inch units for staff and reading aides who require larger screens. The larger screens are intended to support software used by reading aides that is difficult to view on smaller devices.

During the discussion, committee members raised a recent issue: a national social media trend that damages device charging ports and internal components using graphite/lead pencils. Technology staff said the new Asus Chromebooks come with a standard one‑year accidental damage policy; district practice has been to repair parts as needed rather than buying extended accidental‑damage coverage. Staff said vendors may deny warranty coverage for malicious damage, and that the district has been documenting suspected malicious incidents and creating discipline reports when appropriate. "We log every repair we do," one technology staff member said, noting the district is tracking incidents to monitor for potential long‑term failures.

Motion and next steps: The committee approved forwarding the lease item to the full board. Staff will proceed with vendor arrangements and continue documenting device repairs and related student discipline as necessary.

Endnote: Staff reported the number of problematic incidents has declined after principal communications to families but emphasized continued tracking and repair logging to identify longer‑term device reliability issues.