Amnesty for damage to students’ laptops

Fulton County students who have avoided turning in damaged, school-issued laptops can do so this week without fear of fines.

Students usually have to pay a penalty of up to $250 for broken laptops, which makes some reluctant to return the equipment. To address that, Fulton County Schools is holding its first device amnesty week through Friday.

want to allow some grace in a very difficult year,” chief information officer Emily Bell said.

Officials don’t know how many computers might have broken keyboards or cracked screens. If the returned computers are repairable, the district will fix them and put them back into circulation.

They’re also hoping to get back 479 bricked devices, or devices that the technology team has disabled and rendered useless because they have been compromised or were not returned.

“We think it’s really important to protect the taxpayers’ investment and get

the device back,” Superintendent Mike Looney said at Thursday’s school board meeting.

“We believe, that especially for the students in the upper grades, that having a device is central to their successful learning,” Looney said. “We want to eliminate any barriers that they might perceive in order to get the device back.”

This summer, the district plans to clean and add security updates to more than 64,000 laptops and tablets at an estimated cost of $2.5 million. Schools will start collecting the equipment from students May 16 so that they can be redistributed when classes resume in the fall.

Students attending summer school will turn in their devices after completing their classes.