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Hampton County IT director: thousands of school devices are at end of life; district estimates $1.6M refresh
Summary
The districtIT director reported multiple damaged and end-of-life student devices across schools and estimated a student-device refresh and related district laptop/desktop purchases at about $1,602,239; trustees were told the cost is not currently in this yearbudget and will be discussed during a capital-projects workshop.
Aosia Henson, the Hampton County School Districtdirector of information technology, told the board on April 21 that the district has dozens of damaged or end-of-life devices and is preparing to support state testing with loaner units while repairs and replacements are arranged. "We will have a device for every child," Henson said, describing a plan to stage 15–20 extra testing devices at each school during the testing window.
Henson presented a school-by-school inventory of damaged and end-of-life devices: 30 damaged at the high school; 22 at North District; 23 at Esther Middle; 47 at Barnville Elementary; 29 at Hampton Intermediate; smaller counts at other campuses. She said many devices have been sent for repair, some are covered by warranty disputes the district has since resolved, and a portion are irreparable because they are at end of life.
For a partial device refresh (the presentation used an estimate equal to half the student population) and replacement of district and school desktops/laptops, Henson provided an estimated total of $1,602,239. Trustees asked how inventory categories (damaged, warranty, irreparable, misplaced) are being tracked; Henson said the categories were separated to make clear which items are repairable, covered by warranty, or beyond repair.
Trustee Vice Chair Foy asked whether the proposed cost had been included in the current fiscal year budget; the chair responded that the $1.6 million figure "is not allocated in this year's budget" and will be part of a capital-project discussion at an upcoming special workshop. District staff said they will continue repairing devices, staging extras for testing, and bringing finance scenarios for replacements to the board for consideration.
The board did not take immediate action on procurement; members asked staff to provide clearer inventory tracking and year-over-year repair-cost trends during the upcoming budget and capital discussions.
