Chicago Public Schools (CPS) has come under scrutiny following an annual report from the Inspector General that revealed an alarming number of tech devices, valued at millions of dollars, were reported lost or stolen without sufficient search and recovery efforts.
The report, released on Tuesday, disclosed that during the 2021-22 school year, CPS schools reported 77,505 tech devices as lost or stolen, amounting to over $23 million in original purchase price. The missing items ranged from laptops and iPads to Wi-Fi hotspots, printers, document cameras, and interactive whiteboards.
The report, which was the result of the district's first inventory check post-COVID-19, described the figures as "unacceptably high" and called for a "serious overhaul" of the oversight process. It was revealed that "at three dozen schools, 100 percent of tech devices assigned specifically to students were marked lost or stolen," according to the district report.
The same school year saw CPS spend more than $124 million on "technology assets," the highest expenditure in the last five school years.
CPS responded to the findings in a statement, acknowledging the need for improvement. "In a District of our size, some device loss is expected, but we remain concerned about the loss of any public asset," CPS stated, as reported by WGN-TV. The statement further outlined plans to streamline the system for tracking resources, including devices, and enforce compliance with Board policy.
The district also emphasized its commitment to holding school leaders accountable to the asset management policy and enhancing systems. "In a district where more than 72 percent of students are from economically disadvantaged families, it is crucial that we are sensitive to our families as we conduct any device recovery efforts," the statement read.
CPS also noted that due to depreciation, the devices referred to in the OIG report are likely currently valued at $2.5 million, with the majority being "well over five years old." As of Monday, more than 12,000 of the 77,000 devices cited had been recovered.
CPS Inspector General Will Fletcher expressed his concern over the wastage. "Our work uncovered an incident where there were a pair of siblings, a brother and sister at school who between them lost 9-10 devices, (and) theres no record or indication that the district reached out to the family mentioned this was an issue try to figure out what happened," he told WGN-TV.
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