With summer right around the corner, some questions have been raised about what happens to our laptops. Many students and even some staff do not have a clear idea about what happens to the laptops.
“Honestly, I have not heard much. I mean I’ve heard we might not get to keep them but that is about it,” said sophomore Alec Hartert.
What Alec has heard is correct. Students will be returning their school-issued laptops on June 5 and 6.
“They will be checked back into the system, and if there is any software that has to be taken off or added on, that will also be done,” said Jenkins.
Why do we have to give up our computers? One reason is they are not our personal laptops. They are for educational use and students are not going to use them for educational purposes over the summer. Another reason we have to return them is so they can be checked over, updated and have any other problems fixed. Systems Support Specialist Ben Woof explained what he will be doing to the computers over the summer.
“We will be wiping the computers over the summer. We generally do it because there are software updates and it helps to clean up the system. Over time they can get bogged down. Every time Java updates that adds files to the system that clutter the system up. We also will be wiping the computers in case we have software updates. Instead of uninstalling a program and installing a new one, we just wipe everything and start fresh,” said Woof.
Because all personal data on these laptops will be erased, Jenkins advises that students save any files they’d like to keep to Google Drive or a flash drive.
“Go over your computers and clean them up a bit if you can, too. If students have stickers on their laptop, they can leave them on. Except for deniors. Seniors have to take all of their stickers off and clean their computers up a bit,” said Jenkins.
