In some suburban districts, hundreds of thousands of dollars in school-owned electronics went missing amid remote learning
SCHAUMBURG, Ill. (CBS) -- Hundreds of thousands of dollars in school resources – and the taxpayer dollars that bought them – went down the drain in multiple suburban districts at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
For months, we have been filing public records requests and pouring over data to determine just how much went missing – and which three suburban districts lost the most money.
As CBS 2's Tara Molina reported, the schools call this an issue of "lost property." It is considered lost because it was never returned.
The property in question includes hundreds of thousands of dollars in computers, Chromebooks, tablets, and other valuable items that were school district property. It was unaccounted for after schools transitioned into remote learning during the height of the pandemic.
We wanted to know exactly how much went missing and what it cost to replace it, so CBS 2 filed public records requests with school districts across the Chicago area. The requests focused in on the 2018-2019 school year through the 2020-2021 school year – when many returned to some kind of in-classroom learning.
One of the affected districts is in Schaumburg, where the losses total more than $30,000. But at least one district we know of lost more than $500,000.
Of the 10 largest suburban districts in the Chicago area, three are at the top of the list, In order, they are Elgin, Plainfield, and Schaumburg.
In Elgin, $269,000 of school property went missing - more than a quarter million dollars. The property lost included 819 Chromebooks, 54 iPads, three laptops, and 11 mobile hotspots.
A spokesperson for Elgin Area School District U-46 told us they're in the middle of auditing all of their equipment, and then they'll review and recover as much as possible:
"Please note that these records do date back to 2018, and cover more than three complete school years, including the early days of the pandemic, during which we distributed thousands of Chromebooks and iPads, almost overnight, to students to allow for remote learning.
"School District U-46 is currently in the midst of a physical audit of all our equipment, expected to take about two more months. Once that is completed, we will review the results and create a plan to recover as much of this equipment as possible.
"Regarding the fitness trackers, they have been assigned to high school students in physical education classes for several reasons, including during remote learning when the data was reported back to teachers for grading. We also have high school students who use them to track their activity for their independent physical education course."
In Plainfield, the district lost $101,000 in the form of 202 laptops and 185 mobile hotspots.
A Plainfield School District 202 spokesperson said the district has implemented changes since then, with a fee system for students so they are responsible if a laptop is damaged or not returned.
"We have instituted a student fee system, so students are responsible if the laptop is damaged or not returned.
"Staff have always been responsible for the cost of their laptops if they go missing or are damaged.
"We are also looking at our processes for being able to follow and find families if/when they leave the district. This is complicated by laws which limit the amount of type of info we can collect about our students and families. And like everything else, made even more difficult by our size.
"As another example of the impact of the pandemic, think about how many people chose to disenroll from public education and go to private school or to home school. We have no access to them, generally speaking."
In Schaumburg, 50 iPads and 43 Chromebooks were lost, totaling $30,029. Schaumburg Community Consolidated School District 54 had not issued a comment late Friday.
