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Pullman proposes keeping middle‑school Chromebooks in classrooms and blocking YouTube by default
Summary
District IT staff told the board about high Chromebook damage rates at Lincoln Middle School and proposed shifting from student‑assigned 1:1 devices to classroom carts; the update also proposed blocking YouTube for student accounts by default using Linewize, with teacher exceptions.
Pullman Public Schools technology staff presented an update on device damage and network filtering and proposed several changes for middle‑school operations: revert from a student 1:1 Chromebook program to classroom‑assigned carts at Lincoln Middle School and implement a Linewize filter that would block YouTube by default for student accounts.
Why it matters: Device breakage is generating significant repair costs and operational burden; filtering changes would alter students’ access to YouTube and shift classroom device supervision and homework practices.
Device damage and costs Tyler Kraggy, district technology staff, reported that Lincoln Middle School produced 701 total support tickets, 394 related to Chromebooks and 99 for damaged devices (screens, keyboards, cracked housing). He estimated replacement cost for the 99 devices would be about $56,000 if unrepaired; in‑house repairs using spare parts are expected to cost roughly $8,800. To date, fines collected for damage totaled about $2,600, leaving a gap between repair costs and collections.
Proposed change: classroom carts Kraggy proposed moving middle‑school devices to classroom carts assigned to rooms rather than to individual students. The district would collect devices at the end of the year, refresh and reassign devices to classrooms over the summer, and keep Chromebooks in supervised classrooms to reduce damage and off‑task use. The district would still offer an optional protection plan (reported as a small up‑front fee covering two incidents) and intends to make surplus devices available to qualifying low‑income families at low cost so students without home devices can retain access where needed. Staff said high school students would remain in a 1:1 assignment model, citing lower breakage rates among older students.
Filtering and YouTube policy Kraggy also described the Linewize rollout and an upgraded network filter that could block YouTube by default for student accounts while allowing teachers to grant temporary classroom access through the learning management/Classwise portal. He argued blocking by default would reduce exposure to unregulated or distracting content and help align device use with instructional goals; the proposed change would apply to student accounts on district devices and network access, not to staff accounts.
Implementation notes The technology team aims to complete the Chromebook reconfiguration over the summer so classrooms are ready for the next school year and to deploy an inline network filter to coincide with a planned firewall upgrade (target date July 1). Staff said some teachers in pilot deployments reported positive results; Windows‑device deployment issues remain under troubleshooting.
Outcome The items were presented as updates and proposals; no policy vote was recorded at the meeting. Board members asked clarifying questions about checkout options for homework, equity for students who need home access, and the protection plan revenue shortfall.
