Board also approves new visitor safety protocol to be launched this fall
Akron Public Schools has a plan to lower costs due to lost and damaged Chromebooks. The plan could curtail some students’ access to the computers at home during the school year and over summer breaks.
Zach Hanshaw, executive director of information technology, told members of the Akron Board of Education at their Feb. 26 meeting that Chromebook losses over the past six years cost the district $2.3 million. Information collected by Hanshaw’s department shows that in that time period, 9,835 computers were lost.
“Some kids have had three and four Chromebooks issued and they never paid any fines,” said Superintendent Michael Robinsion during the presentation. “We just give them another one … broken, lost, stolen, ‘I don’t know where it is’ – we just gave them another one.”
Hanshaw said the district works with Akron police to track down lost computers, which are locked and become unusable once they are reported missing.
This is not “solely an Akron Public Schools issue, it’s a nationwide issue, and it’s our responsibility to make sure that we’re adjusting processes and procedures to combat this moving forward,” Hanshaw said. He recommended moving back to pre-pandemic procedures with some modifications and stressed each student would still receive a computer.
Changes mean some students will keep Chromebooks at school
Two main changes would limit access to students’ ability to take home computers.
- All K-5 students would leave their computers in the classroom on computer carts. They would not take them home every day.
- K-8 students would not be able to take computers home over the summer.
In FY23, lost and damaged computers cost APS $324,000 for the K-5 group. New computer carts would cost $343,000. If there were zero lost or damaged computers in the next four years, Hanshaw estimated the district could save $952,000 over four years just with the K-5 changes.
In addition to the cost savings, Hanshaw said this new procedure will create efficiencies in managing the devices.
“A lot of this loss and damage occurs during the summertime,” he said. “So whenever we start the beginning of a school year there is sometimes an unknown number of devices being broken, lost and it’s very difficult to start a school year as such.”
Data suggests summer usage may not be educational
Hanshaw shared a “snapshot” of data that showed YouTube had 5.3 million visits and was the most-visited website during a one-month period in summer 2023 by students using APS Chromebooks. The next four sites – Google, Twitter, Pinterest and Spotify – combined for 814,000 visits during the same time period.
“Data shows a majority of Chromebook usage during the summer is non-instructional and non-educational,” Hanshaw said while citing reasons for needed change.
Board Member Rene Molenaur saw the need for finding savings but also pushed back against discounting the benefit of students having computers during summer months.
“I also have a couple kids who take Chromebooks home every day,” she said. “Not everything you do on YouTube is non-instructional. There are many important things you can learn. I learned how to refinish hardwood floors.”
She also said students can be introduced to Chromebooks during the summer and be more prepared when school starts.
Chromebook policy and usage guidelines under development
Hanshaw said officials are still developing guidelines and are discussing procedures for students who may need a computer at home for a project over the summer.
“We have to weigh [access] against what we are able to do for them,” Robinson said. “They are not getting denied, there will be procedures.… We need stiffer accountability around what that looks like when it goes home and making sure that it comes back.”
Robinson said the district will help students and parents through the challenges presented by the new plan.
“We’ll work through it with our families and our kids,” Robinson said. “Hopefully we’re able to come back from some of this, the loss we’ve incurred over the last couple of years.”
The board unanimously approved the proposed plan to manage the Chromebooks and will start the new procedures in June, after communicating with district families.
APS to introduce visitor self-serve kiosk to increase security
In addition to bullet-resistant glass, X-ray bag scanners and door alarms, Akron schools may soon have an “additional layer of support” for security when dealing with school visitors.
Hanshaw, along with Don Zesiger, the director of safety and security, and Debra Foulk, executive director of business affairs, presented to the board a visitor management system provided by Raptor Technologies.
“We’re interested in transforming the paper to the digital,” Zesiger said. “The goal is enhancing safety” while being more efficient and effective.
With the system, visitors would approach a kiosk in a school building’s vestibule or near the office and scan their identification. They can also manually enter information. The system checks the visitor, registers them, takes a photo and prints a badge for their visit that day. The visitor would pick up the badge with the building’s secretary before proceeding into the school.
Initial costs covered by grants
First-year costs of $124,000 would be covered by state grants. Estimated yearly costs after that are nearly $40,000.
Houston-based Raptor Technologies works with more than 5,000 school districts in the United States, including Cleveland Metropolitan School District, Toledo Public Schools and Westerville City School District. Hanshaw said during his presentation that Raptor Technologies screens 500,000 visitors per day across all their client sites.
The system provides real-time monitoring so school officials know who is visiting the school, why they are visiting and what times they enter and exit the building. It also provides automatic sex-offender checks.
“We want to make sure if someone’s coming to pick up that child that they are authorized to do that,” Zesiger said.
The system does not do several things, like background checks, and does not provide a substitute for other safety measures.
“It’s not a replacement for vigilance,” Zesiger said. “It doesn’t replace the need for human vigilance and security personnel. It complements existing security measures.”
The board unanimously approved the plan, and APS officials will install the system this summer. Rollout of the procedures will start with elementary schools in the fall and spread to other buildings next spring.