Audits of 20 school districts across New York state found that more than 20 percent of their information technology assets were not properly accounted for, according to .
For the audit period of July 1, 2019, to March 31, 2022, auditors selected 1,155 pieces of district-owned IT equipment鈥攕uch as laptops, tablets, and monitors鈥攖o confirm if school districts had properly inventoried them in their records. The auditors then selected 945 of these to see if districts could locate them.
Districts did not properly account for 22 percent of the assets, worth nearly $280,000, according to the report. Only three districts were able to locate all equipment.
The auditors also found that eight districts didn鈥檛 have adequate protections in place to keep equipment from being lost or damaged.
School districts across the United States made significant investments in technology devices in recent years, especially when they moved to remote and hybrid learning early in the pandemic. This also meant districts鈥� technology departments have had more devices to track and protect.
鈥淚t鈥檚 fair to say that the pandemic created this major problem,鈥� said Louis McDonald, the director of technology for Fauquier County Public Schools in Virginia. 鈥淲e were not a division of 1-to-1 computing for students, and the pandemic forced us into it.鈥�
With or without the possibility of an audit, all districts should be tracking and safeguarding their technology assets, McDonald said.
鈥淥ur superintendent has to have an inventory of what鈥檚 out there. Our constituents, the school board have to have transparency in how much we have invested in technology. If you don鈥檛 track it, you don鈥檛 really know what you have, or better yet, what you don鈥檛 have anymore,鈥� McDonald said.
If districts don鈥檛 know what devices they have, it will also be difficult to plan and budget for replacement of those devices, said Sarah Radcliffe, the director of future-ready learning for the School District of Altoona in Wisconsin.
How districts keep track of their tech equipment
When Fauquier schools began 1-to-1 computing, McDonald said he knew his technology department would need to invest in asset management software because it would be too difficult to keep track of thousands of devices manually.
Every device given to students and staff has a barcode, and in the asset management system, each barcode is associated with the student or staff member who has that device, according to McDonald. The district also tracks its networking equipment, such as wireless access points and routers.
When a device needs a repair, that is also entered into the asset management system so the technology department has a history of the device, McDonald said.
In Wisconsin鈥檚 School District of Altoona, Radcliffe said she and her staff are also using an asset management system to inventory their technology devices and repairs.
鈥極ur assets are marching around with children鈥�
But even with the management system, there are still many challenges to keeping track of the devices after they are handed to students and staff, according to district technology leaders.
鈥淭he other thing is that we鈥檙e a school, so our assets are marching around with children. That makes it complicated sometimes to track what鈥檚 happening with devices and where they are,鈥� Radcliffe said.
It鈥檚 easy to assign a device to a staff member or a student, but it鈥檚 trickier to know whether they always have that device and whether it鈥檚 still functioning properly, McDonald said.
Tracking devices handed out to staff members is easier, McDonald said. It鈥檚 more challenging with students because they are more apt to lose or damage technology, they can change schools or districts and forget to return a device, or those in the same family can end up with their sibling鈥檚 device.
鈥淲e haven鈥檛 been able to come up with a way to validate continuously that the students have the devices we gave them,鈥� McDonald said.
One solution to check if the device is still in use is to find out the last time it connected to the district鈥檚 network. If it hasn鈥檛 connected for months, the IT department could check in with the student to figure out what鈥檚 going on, McDonald said.
Another solution could be a periodic check-in, but that would require having dedicated inventory staff, McDonald said.
Another challenge is figuring out who is responsible for paying for repairs. In Fauquier and Altoona, families are responsible for paying for part of the cost, but McDonald said that his district has probably only collected 10 percent of those fees.
In Altoona, students get the same device every year, which helps 鈥減rolong the life of the device,鈥� Radcliffe said. 鈥淚t helps them know that 鈥榯his is mine to take care of.鈥欌��
More resources are needed
Another challenge is the fact that most school districts have relatively small IT departments, according to district technology leaders.
McDonald鈥檚 wish list includes a staff member whose job is just inventory. Districts added thousands of new devices without an increase in staff, so now inventory is 鈥渆verybody鈥檚 job,鈥� he said. It鈥檚 a 鈥渞esource-intensive process.鈥�
When it comes to advocating for those resources, Radcliffe said it鈥檚 important for district tech leaders to 鈥減romote and reiterate that everything that we do relies on technology, so we can鈥檛 just say we could probably do without it, because we actually can鈥檛.鈥�
Schools need these devices 鈥渢o be highly functioning and effective in order to do the business of instruction,鈥� she added.
