The process of collecting school-issued tech doesn’t start in the spring, but on day one of the school year, says one expert. Here’s why.
“The end-of-year [process] actually starts at the beginning of the year,” says Emily Stapf, customer success manager at Incident IQ and former IT asset specialist at Knox County Schools in Tennessee. “We want to make sure that we are keeping track of all of those devices and instructional materials through the year so we know who has them, where they are and what condition they’re in.”
It all starts with the IT team establishing ongoing collaboration with the school’s administrators and educators, she adds. For instance, everyone needs to be on the same page by the end of the year to streamline the collection process.
“You want to make sure that everyone isn’t coming at the same time to return their devices,” she says. “You want to make sure you have a good plan in place, stagger return times, greet people at the door, etc.”
In addition to implementing a clear action plan, there are a few things to take care of ahead of time. When she worked for Knox County Schools, she and her team would ask teachers to conduct a device verification before collecting students’ devices. This would allow them to ensure there are no serious damages to address.
“Doing a full sweep and getting those tickets in before collections are just one less thing we have to do in the collection process, and it’s all about making sure people are well aware of their responsibilities,” she says.
Most importantly, success comes down to having an effective asset management system to improve ticket accuracy and categorization, she adds.
Addressing damaged school-issued tech
It’s not uncommon for students to return Chromebooks with broken screens or missing keys. Stapf says there are plenty of strategies to mitigate these risks.
She says leaders can use school-issued tech as an opportunity to teach kids how to take care of their possessions. For instance, students don’t understand they’re not supposed to place water bottles and bananas in their backpacks along with their laptops.
“I think for us, it’s more about understanding that this is a learning process that lasts the whole school year,” she says. “We must teach them while they’re young and then continue that education all through their time in school so that when they’re in middle school, hopefully they already understand.”
When she worked at the district level, she and her team also utilized an insurance plan for students who accidentally damage their devices throughout the year.
“I think those kinds of things just help keep things rolling throughout the school year,” she says.
How to establish communication between teams
Many schools are experiencing IT manpower challenges but should still consider creating an asset management team outside the technology department, similar to what Stapf experienced during her time at Knox County.
She says her district’s asset management department consisted of three people in a system of nearly 62,000 students and each individual was assigned to a school. Through collaboration with the asset management team, administrators and district-level IT leaders, they were able to create a unified plan across each school to streamline the device collection process.
“We saw that we got better consistency,” she says. “You have to make sure you have a really good plan so that everyone is prepared for the fall, because that’s really what’s important, is making sure we get devices back in the hands of kiddos.”
