In Chicago Public Schools (CPS), a staggering number of electronic devices, including laptops and iPads, have reportedly vanished. The district’s Inspector General’s annual report for fiscal year 2023 discloses that about 77,505 devices, valued at approximately $23 million, were either lost or stolen during the 2021-22 school year. This alarming figure was revealed following the first inventory count since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The report emphasizes that the magnitude of missing technology is “unacceptably high,” signaling a pressing need for a substantial overhaul in the management of these assets. Alarmingly, at about three dozen schools, every single tech device assigned to students was reported as lost or stolen.
The lost items encompass a range of technological equipment, such as laptops, iPads, WiFi hotspots, printers, document cameras, and interactive whiteboards. These were initially distributed to assist students in their learning process. During the same fiscal year, CPS invested an unprecedented $124 million in technology assets, the highest amount in five years.
Further scrutiny of the situation revealed instances of multiple losses per student. In one case, five devices assigned to a fifth-grade student and four to their first-grade sibling were all marked lost. Another instance at the same school involved three siblings each losing three tech devices.
CPS’s current system for tracking and managing these devices has proven to be ineffective. In response to this crisis, the district plans to revise its approach to lending out technology to students. The proposed changes aim to enforce accountability for these assets, ensuring adherence to the asset management policy.
This situation not only reflects the challenges faced by educational institutions in managing resources but also underscores the importance of robust asset management systems to safeguard valuable school property.
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