Thousands of chromebooks being prepared for Wake County students

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- The traditional school year is approaching in Wake County and thousands of Chromebooks are being tagged, labeled and prepared to assign to students.

Classes for the new year start on Tuesday, August 27.

"We take them and fully test them, wipe them, make sure that they are ready to go for new students, make sure they're functioning and have a new case on them," director of inventory Kevin Harvey said.

Twenty-five thousand new Chromebooks and 6,000 refurbished ones were available for schools to take, however, Harvey said there are not enough extras.

"Over time, we do lose some devices either because they wear out ... or sometimes things happen," Harvey said. "So we do continuously need more devices to keep our students using them."

The Chromebooks are protected against distractions such as social media, unlike personal cell phones. In July, a group of parents asked the school board to ban cell phones in schools across the Wake County Public Schools district.

"We have software in place that helps protect students from going to dangerous websites or inappropriate websites," Harvey said. "We have a team of people that monitors the filter to make sure that we've got the strongest filter we can."

The Wake County Public School System said personal cell phones and school-issued devices, such as a Chromebook, are two separate policies, but if there were a ban on cell phones, the district would have to figure out the implications.

The Wake County Board of Education Chair has expressed support for limiting cell phone use in schools, but they expect to discuss the topic this Fall.

"I would think that a Chromebook is only for tracking, like let's say a teacher gives homework. You can come home and check and finish it," Tharupathi Singireddy said. "I would probably give (a cell phone) in high school. Not in the middle. That disturbs the kids. They play and don't study."

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