This thread is from last year. The kid has graduated by now.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let me guess, he is headed to college where you'll pay a couple of hundred thousand but you are wasting time over $150 to the school district? You signed a contract when they issued it to him. He got to use it for free unless he broke it. Which he probably did. Nowhere else would he have gotten a $150 computer. Cheap people, I swear!

My kid is in high school. I have declined to ever sign a single technology use contract. They still issue the devices

The OP's DC has a principal who will decline to sign his diploma unless the $150 is paid.

Anonymous wrote:Let me guess, he is headed to college where you'll pay a couple of hundred thousand but you are wasting time over $150 to the school district? You signed a contract when they issued it to him. He got to use it for free unless he broke it. Which he probably did. Nowhere else would he have gotten a $150 computer. Cheap people, I swear!

My kid is in high school. I have declined to ever sign a single technology use contract. They still issue the devices

Offer fair market value- probably about $20 for a used Chromebook

Let me guess, he is headed to college where you'll pay a couple of hundred thousand but you are wasting time over $150 to the school district? You signed a contract when they issued it to him. He got to use it for free unless he broke it. Which he probably did. Nowhere else would he have gotten a $150 computer. Cheap people, I swear!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you considered just not paying.

They are holding his High School Diploma hostage over this

Just pay it. Other recourse worth your time and additional money?

Anonymous wrote:He did something, OP, he's lying to you.

Yes, he used it. He didn't damage it. You've never had a laptop/tablet/phone that stopped working after a few years?

He did something, OP, he's lying to you.

I am a media specialist and I will tell you that schools have the discretion to charge for what they view as intentional damage. We are not obligated to charge for anything.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you considered just not paying.

They are holding his High School Diploma hostage over this

That is not legal.

The principal wants the cash for his slush fund.

This is the in the ransom email

Students are expected to return all MCPS textbooks, library materials, Chromebooks, uniforms, and other instructional materials, supplies, and equipment, in good condition.

Students with outstanding obligations must clear them before receiving their Maryland High School Diploma.

I would look up any kind of serial number and/or operating system on the chrome book and then Google to see if you can get info about how old the chrome book is and what it would cost to buy the same
model used.

Then, I would take the "ransom" email you got and put your side of the story in writing - that there was no accident or misuse and describe the kind of failure (stopped turning on).

Put a paragraph in that says that the school did no technological assessment of the cause of failure such as replacing battery or cord or checking power supply. Refer to this article https://thermtide.com/19276/news/mcps-chromebooks-short-lifespans-pose-issues-for-students/. which details how chromebooks have many technical problems.

Then put in a paragraph about how new Chromebooks cost $150, and it's a basic principle that people should only be held responsible for the depreciated value of an item, not the replacement value. In addition, MCPS has a legal obligation to provide a free public education and asking students to pay full replacement without any evidence of damage or fault is inconsistent with the principle of public education and the obligation to provide items necessary to participate in school free of charge.

Close by saying that for all those reasons, the sum of $150 is completely inappropriate, and that you are asking (fill in the blank, principal or higher) to waive the replacement fee and release the graduation hold. Say you look forward to resolving this matter without having to resort to due process options.

See what happens. If principal continues to refuse, forward refusal to Superintendant, head of the tech department (whom you could ask how old the device was and what MCPS purchased that model wholesale for)

Depreciated. Not deprecated. Two different words. My mistake! :p

The other issue is that these chromebooks have very little value, unless the district sells them overseas, after their end of life, for ten or twenty bucks a piece. You can also get them secondhand on eBay for not much more, either. (I was able to buy several large boxes of Acer 720s for practically pennies.) My point is that the units have already deprecated sharply since their purchase, so it really isn't worth chasing down students over basic wear and tear.

Our middle school daughter had some of her chromebook keys turn out sticky and gummy after another student accidentally poured juice on it. The media specialist gladly switched it out for another, no questions asked. So I think some schools didn't get the message, about only charging for intentional damages. Keys, well, the underlying switches, do wear out and I would not expect a child to be responsible for that.