Technology Director Casey Fisher wrote in his report on March 20 that the Gasconade County R-2 School District could be looking at a loss of one-on-one technology due to defective equipment causing off-schedule purchasing.

Fisher, who has already announced his resignation in May to become a Washington Blue Jay, told the board of education in his report, “We have had major issues with the Lenovo 100 2nd Gen Chromebook.”

The Lenovo 2nd Gen Chromebook has documented issues where the motherboard short circuits and causes various keys to not function.

“It can also cause power issues that make the device unusable or cause the wifi to not work,” Fisher wrote. “This was not a known issue when they were purchased as it was the first year for this model. We are around 15 percent of the fleet that has had to be replaced.”

Around 40 of the devices were replaced under warranty, but the remainder were beyond replacement or repair. While the remainder of the Lenovo models has been solid, Fisher said they are moving toward the HP-branded Chromebooks based on reviews and research.

The second reason for the decrease in Chromebook supplies is the damage caused by students.

“This is our first year of students taking home devices every day at both OMS and OHS,” Fisher began. “Although I believe it has been successful, we are seeing a major increase in the amount of damage being caused to chromebooks.”

Only about 30 percent of damaged devices were covered with the Protection Plan that was offered to all families. The other 70 percent will receive invoices for the total amount of the repairs — if they haven’t already.

“Collecting that money has proven to be difficult,” Fisher said. “Damage is particularly high at the middle school level, and mostly from the eighth-grade students. Damaged devices from OHS have been very minimal.”

Speaking with other districts that take devices home, Fisher said they also report higher levels of damage from their middle school students. “We log every repair in our inventory system by device and student so we can better track this information,” Fisher said. “We also log it in SIS to keep a record of fines owed by students.”

The district began alternating Chromebook purchases after the 2015 bond issue to better maintain supplies and not have to buy new Chromebooks district-wide every four or five years. However, dysfunctional Chromebooks might throw off the rotation.

“We can expect to have to purchase around 470 Chromebooks and cases to supply first grade, fifth grade, and ninth grade,” Fisher said. “We plan to expand our television project to at least 30 more classrooms. This would complete the project.”

He estimates the purchase completion dates to take place this summer. Student computers aren’t the only technology update needed.

“The district will soon need to have a computer overhaul,” he said. “New desktops will need to be purchased in all locations. We are exploring options to make desktops more permanent in classrooms to avoid constantly moving them in and out in the summers. This is what I know at this point, but the list will likely grow as we begin to evaluate equipment throughout the school year.”