North by Northwest School Technology Group
Technology for 21st Century Learners in Northwest Minnesota
POLICIES FOR DAMAGED EQUIPMENT
Hi - a district in our region has a question on the following - responses appreciated!
Are any schools holding students and/or staff monetarily accountable for accidental or intentional damage to computer equipment? The occasional spill of beverage on a $20 keyboard or $15.00 mouse was palatable, but we recently have lost a couple of $1,200 laptops that due to coffee or soda accidently spilled on them. We have a no food
or drink policy in computer labs, but no such rule in classrooms.
Both laptop incidents involve staff members with an uncovered beverage at their teacher desk. We are interested what policy and/or procedures district have in place for staff and students, and even more interested if you have successfully been able to enforce said policy. We also have had students and staff drop laptops and break them beyond repair. In those cases rarely did the district consider disciplinary action (unless horse play involved), but the beverage spills seem to have struck a nerve with administration.
Are any schools holding students and/or staff monetarily accountable for accidental or intentional damage to computer equipment? The occasional spill of beverage on a $20 keyboard or $15.00 mouse was palatable, but we recently have lost a couple of $1,200 laptops that due to coffee or soda accidently spilled on them. We have a no food
or drink policy in computer labs, but no such rule in classrooms.
Both laptop incidents involve staff members with an uncovered beverage at their teacher desk. We are interested what policy and/or procedures district have in place for staff and students, and even more interested if you have successfully been able to enforce said policy. We also have had students and staff drop laptops and break them beyond repair. In those cases rarely did the district consider disciplinary action (unless horse play involved), but the beverage spills seem to have struck a nerve with administration.
Views: 14
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Starky on
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At Kittson Central, we have in our AUP stated that damage caused by a student is the parents responsibility. The AUP is signed by the student and parent. No person has challenged this, and we have collect $ for a few incidents.
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Permalink Reply by Stephen Lien on
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I believe our school policy says that if a staff member is found liable for the breakage of equipment (technology or otherwise), they are billed for the current value of what was lost, but not replacement value.
If the $1,200 laptop was, say, two years old, I would assess its value at $720. (I assume a 20% linear loss in value each year...it's not perfect, but pretty close.) Then, I would consider docking their pay $30 per paycheck for the duration of that year a fair means of being compensated for their loss.
But, alternatively, if I were to assess the value of a laptop at $720, I would make absolutely sure that the there was no way to repair the laptop for less money. In most cases w/ a pop spill, things can be salvageable. Even a replacement motherboard & keyboard wouldn't cost more than about $300 tops for a fairly-new laptop.
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