Chromebooks

Chromebooks operate on Google’s operating system; the Chrome operating system is built for (1) the web, (2) security and (3) Chromebooks.

Chromebook Video

Grades 9-12

Students should expect to receive their Chromebook within the first week of school.

Students will be receiving a Chromebook, and a charger. All items issued will be assigned to each student and will need to be returned at the end of the school year or upon transfer from the school. Failure to return any of these items would result in the student being charged.

Yes, the Harrisonville School District will be following the practice of collecting a mobile device insurance fee each school year. This practice is followed by other one-to-one districts in the State of Missouri and across the nation. The fees are applied to the accidental damage costs. The annual fee amount will be $10, and will be collected at the time of registration or prior to students receiving the device. The district will have a process for families qualifying for free or reduced lunch to reduce the amount of the fee. The mobile device insurance fee will not be reimbursed to students at the end of the year. This is an annual fee and provides insurance coverage on an annual basis.

A student whose family chooses not to pay the mobile device insurance fee will have access to a Chromebook during the day but will not be allowed to take the Chromebook home. These students would then check a Chromebook out at the Library Media Center each time the Chromebook is needed and check it back in at the end of the school day. If the device is lost or damaged the student would be responsible for the actual costs to repair or replace the device.

All families are required to annually pay the mobile device insurance fee. As a result, each device is protected at no cost for one incident annually. For example, if a student cracked the screen, the screen would be replaced one time per year at no additional cost to the child. If a child has a second accident during a school year, the student would be required to pay an additional $50 for the damage on the second and each subsequent incident.

If the damage is considered intentional damage, a meeting with the parent/guardian will be required and the full price for the repair will be charged to the student.

The cost is $150 for lost or stolen device and a parent/guardian meeting with principal is required. Devices reported as stolen outside of school require an official police report to the school administration. If the fully functional device is later found or returned, this fee will be returned to the family.

Note – If the child reports a second lost or stolen device in the same school year, the full price for lost or stolen device and a parent/guardian meeting with principal is required. Devices reported as stolen outside of school require an official police report to the school administration. If the fully functional device is later found or returned, this fee will be returned to the family.

The HP Chromebook  was built for education.  It has rubberized corners to help with drops and a rugged case. However, if parents or students want to get a personal case or cover for the Chromebook, the district does not object. We also remind parents that many backpacks today come with a padded laptop case inside the backpack which will provide extra protection while in the backpack.

All the Chromebooks are the same make and model, so they look alike. However, each Chromebook  will be tagged with a sticker with the student’s name on it. Additionally, district asset tags with bar codes will be on each device and each device has a serial number. The district keeps all that data, so if a Chromebook is misplaced, we can determine who it is assigned to get it back to the student. Any ID stickers that are on the Chromebook when issued must stay on the Chromebook. No additional permanent markings of any kind (stickers, engraving, permanent ink pen, tape, etc.) shall be placed on the Chromebook. While the devices are issued to students, they are still district-owned property.

The Chromebook is the required device chosen by Harrisonville School District. It will allow the school system to monitor student use at school and push out applications that students can use for classwork. While many other devices exist, Harrisonville School District selected the Chromebook for numerous factors including its instructional use and versatility, long battery life, integration with Google Apps for Education, security, management tools, and cost. Harrisonville Schools issued Chromebooks will contain additional services and filters that non-district purchased Chromebooks will not. Laptops or tablets not owned by Harrisonville Schools will not be allowed.

The district-owned Chromebook is the required device chosen by Harrisonville School District.  Each district owned Chromebook also has a Google Apps for Education license which can only be purchased for district owned units. This allows the district to enroll the device into the district administrative Google console. Through the console the district provides security of the user and device, access to the network, instructional app selection specific to the child, and safety controls for all students.  A personally owned Chromebook will not have these features. Chromebooks not owned by Harrisonville Schools will not be allowed.

All student Chromebooks have a cloud-based filter, which restricts content at school. It is important to remember that no filter is foolproof, but the district has thoroughly tested the filter and received multiple recommendations from other districts that are successfully using it. In addition, the content filter has other safety features designed to protect students online.

Yes. Because the Chromebooks represent a deliberate effort to expand learning beyond the boundaries of the school walls and schedule, the district has planned for them to be taken home. This also helps us extend the formal learning community to include parents, siblings and other people important in the lives of each student.

• Double check the authentication needed to connect to the wireless router and that it is being typed in correctly.
• Wireless routers have limits on the number of devices they can physically support. This can be as few as 15 in home grade equipment.
  • Turn off other wireless devices in your house (don’t forget the game systems, TV’s, Cable/Satellite boxes, cell phones, etc) then reboot the router and see if the Chromebook can connect.
  • Confirm there are enough IP addresses in the DHCP scope of your router. How to do this will be specific to your Router. Each devices on the network uses one.
  • Research your Router to see how many devices the manufacturer says it should support concurrently connected.  
• Take your device to another network (such as a friends house or a public place that offers it as a service) and confirm you are able to get the device to connect.

The Chromebook is a learning device in the Harrisonville School District. The expectation is that all students who have paid the mobile device insurance fee will be required to take the device home and charge it daily.  

The Chromebook will play an integral role in classroom instruction, so it is extremely important that students bring their Chromebooks to class every day. The Chromebook will become part of a student’s necessary classroom supplies similar to a pencil and notebook paper.

Students are expected to fully charge the Chromebook each evening at home, which should provide sufficient battery life to use the device throughout the school day. Students should also try to preserve battery power during the school day by lowering the lid whenever the device is not in use.

One of the strengths of the Chromebook is its exceptional battery length. When fully charged, the Chromebook battery should last the entire school day. Chromebooks should be charged nightly at home so students can bring a fully charged device to school each day.

Students may connect to any Wi-Fi network, whether at home or in a public place.

Google Docs allows the user to work in offline mode so students can complete classwork at home, even without internet access. Files are saved locally to the Chromebook, then automatically updated the next time a wireless connection is detected. So a student can start a project at school and finish it at home, even without an Internet connection. When the student returns to school the next day, anything he or she worked on at home will be automatically updated to their Google Drive. Offline mode must be enabled before students can use it.  In offline mode, students can edit their documents and presentations. Spreadsheets, however, are view-only for now.

If the student is having problems with the device at school and classroom troubleshooting is unsuccessful, the Chromebook should be taken to the designated building location in the library. Students will be given a loaner device to use while their computer is being repaired.

If your child’s Chromebook gets broken, please have your child report it to their teacher immediately. Harrisonville Schools will handle all the repair/replacement work. Please do not take your Chromebook to a third party vendor to have it repaired as this will void the warranty.

Students can personalize their Chromebook as long as the items used can be removed at the end of the school year. Harrisonville Schools will not provide a case for student Chromebooks. If desired, students may use their own case. Removable covers/skins are okay, but stickers, markers and anything glued should not be used since they may not come off easily.
 

Use a soft, dry, lint-free cloth when cleaning the computer. If necessary, the cloth may be dampened slightly to assist in the cleaning areas that do not appear to be coming clean with the dry cloth.

Students need to keep their devices in a secured location at all times when unsupervised. The best choice for secondary students is to lock their Chromebook in their locker. If a secondary student must leave the device in a car, the locked trunk of the car would be an acceptable as long as it’s not excessively hot or cold. If on an athletic team or with an activity group, never leave the Chromebooks in school vehicles, in the gym, in a locker room, on a playing field or in other areas where it could be damaged or stolen.

No, you will not be able to purchase the device when you graduate. It will be used for another student.

No. At this time, Chromebooks do not support software installation. Rather than running traditional software, Chromebooks rely on web applications. Harrisonville Schools will make available various educational applications from the Chrome web store.

No. Like other class materials, all Chromebooks will need to be returned at the end of the school year.

Yes, students will turn in their Chromebook at the end of this current school year. Students who are enrolled in summer school or an online course through the district will keep their Chromebook until those summer courses end.

Yes, students entering grades 9-12 next school year will receive the same Chromebook back when they come to school in August.  
 

A missing or lost power supply is $17.00. The district will note this on the day of Chromebook Collection. A fee will be added to your account in Student Information System.

Students who are enrolled in summer school or an online course through the district will keep their Chromebook until those summer courses end.

We encourage all students who have damaged Chromebooks to turn in the device and get that fixed prior to summer collection. The devices will be stored in the summer and we do not want to store a damaged device.

Since the Chromebooks will be stored in bins and the district is limited on space, please remove the cover and any USB dongles for wireless mouse if you have them. The bins are specific in size and we have accounted for Chromebooks only.
 

The last day or day before we will be collecting the Chromebooks. Students will be notified of the collection date prior to the last month of school.

If a student who is NOT enrolled in summer school fails to bring their Chromebook in, the district will turn the device off and make contact with the parent/guardian and require them to bring the unit to the technology department.

Students who drop their summer school course will be required to bring their Chromebook and power supply to the technology department. We will review the attendance roster of summer school and turn off all Chromebooks for students who do not come and/or drop.