SUFFOLK, Va. — Public schools across Hampton Roads passed out thousands of laptops and Chromebooks to make sure students can continue learning from home.
That added another job for school divisions: keeping track of all of them.
Suffolk Public Schools got an early start in February, with distributing Chromebooks to every student in 6th through 12th grades.
That's 7,800 Chromebooks, $250 each, or nearly $2 million in all. That’s a lot of money that school officials don't want to disappear.
John Littlefield is the Director of Technology for the district. He said their reassurance in getting the Chromebooks back begins with the software.
“If it's lost and they are not sure, we do a little bit of research on the device, because we can track the login user on the device,” said Littlefield.
We're talking about a Google console, that forces a user to log in. That lets the IT experts track who used it, when that person used it, and with what I.P. address.
Even if a stranger takes it, there's a system for that too.
“First thing we do is 'brick' the device. We make it unusable,” said Littlefield, and a worst-case scenario is "we have a pretty good success rate of working with our local police authorities in recovery devices."
Before you even get to that point, Service Support Specialists created an app to prevent mistakes during the check-out process.
"Students just log into the Chromebook, launch the app, hit the button, and then I see the green checkmark and it's assigned to them,” said Server Support Specialist, John Bowman.
The app generates the Chromebook's correct serial number. Bowman said, "That eliminates any kind of clerical error that can occur."
If students don't return the Chromebook, parents signed a form agreeing to pay a fine, and Littlefield said graduating seniors who don't return the devices will not get their diploma until they return the device or pay the fine.