Chromebooks. In modern day education, they are now considered a necessity for teaching. So what happens when there’s not enough for every student? Chromebooks were introduced to BHS around 7 years ago. Since then, many teachers have become dependent on them and rely on having them to teach their students. They are considered important tools to both students and faculty. Most teachers prepare their lessons ahead of time. This school year, on the first day of school, some teachers realized they were not provided chromebooks for their classroom. This created frustration among many.
I spoke to a teacher who was affected by this. Although they would like to remain anonymous, they were happy to voice their frustrations concerning this inconvenience. “It sucked, if I’m being honest. Most of my assignments are online, and I didn’t have any Chromebooks for any of my students.” So, what caused this shortage? The previous school year, students & teachers were forced to do distance learning online. Many students were allowed to check out a chromebook from the school to do their work. Many never returned them. I spoke to a handful of peers who checked out a chromebook, and none of them said they have returned theirs yet. “It’s kind of like with textbooks, they just took my lunch number and never told me when, how, or if I needed to return it,” a student said.
So was there anything the school could have done to prevent this chromebook shortage? Maybe reaching out to students reminding them to return their chromebooks, or sending out a notice through mail. Perhaps better communication with teachers, giving them more time to prepare with the knowledge of knowing they won’t have chromebooks to start out the year.
This issue seems to be something that could have been easily prevented.
