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District grapples with rising Chromebook damage and $35 insurance policy; officials consider policy and pricing changes
Summary
Technology directors reported thousands of Chromebook help-desk tickets and rising repair costs; insurance currently costs $35 per student per year with one covered accidental claim and roughly 60–65% participation.
Jason Lerno, director of educational technology, and Craig Hollander, director of information technology, briefed the board on district technology needs and a year-to-year increase in costs tied primarily to device damage and refreshes.
Lerno said the contracted-services line rose by about $175,000 for inflation and contract renewals; Hollander flagged a $285,500 increase under property accounts primarily to cover Chromebook damage and replacement bridge funding and special-education iPad refreshes. "We do have $175,000 increase there... Number 1, inflation," Lerno said, and Hollander described the property increase as "primarily for Chromebook damage, bridge funding." (paraphrased from presentation.)
District staff reported roughly 3,000 Chromebook help-desk tickets during a single school year; about half of those tickets are related to student damage, and about half of those damaged devices are too severely damaged to be reused. The presenters gave a grade-level breakdown of reported damage: roughly 46% of elementary-level tickets, 64% of middle-school tickets, and 57% of high-school tickets were recorded as student-damage incidents in the current school year.
The district—s self-administered Chromebook insurance program is currently $35 per student per year, with about 60–65% of families choosing to participate, staff said. Under the current rules described at the meeting, the insurance covers accidental damage (one "strike" per year) and allows swift replacement for learning continuity; willful vandalism is not covered and leads to a charge for replacement. Administrators said unpaid replacement charges remain the family—s responsibility and can follow the student while enrolled; the district—s only clear enforcement for outstanding fees is withholding certain graduation privileges.
Staff described a pilot at Chaffee Elementary (expanded to additional grades) to keep devices at school to reduce out-of-school damage; that pilot requires classroom charging infrastructure. District staff said they are also exploring messaging/education campaigns, potential rate changes to the insurance premium, and policy tweaks such as stronger claim conditions for students who do not use district-issued protective cases.
Board members asked the technology team to provide comparative data from peer districts on insurance rates and participation, unpaid balances or write-offs, and the budget impact of raising the premium (for example, from $35 to $50). The technology directors agreed to survey other districts and to return with an analysis for possible policy changes next budget cycle.
Ending: Administrators said they will continue to refine replacement policy language, monitor damage trends, and provide the board with participation, write-off and peer-district comparisons.
