A growing number of school districts, such as Clayton County, are considering policies to ban take-home Chromebooks for students in kindergarten through eighth grade. Devices once seen as essential for homework, research and bridging the digital divide during the pandemic are now being increasingly restricted due to rising costs, high rates of damage and concerns over sustainable technology funding.
“When I don’t finish my assignments in class, I always finish them on my Chromebook at home,” Sonali Warrier, an eighth grade David T. Howard student, said. “Not being able to bring my Chromebook home would be harmful for some of my classmates that don’t have a computer available at home for them to use.”
A surge in device loss and breakage is one of the main influences behind these policy changes. For example, according to America Online, Columbus City Schools in Ohio are removing Chromebooks student-incurred damage and they will only have classroom sets of chromebooks and a select few devices that may be checked out to take home.
Financial sustainability is also an issue, as it can cost districts hundreds of thousands of dollars in a single year to repair and replace chromebooks. This is also a motivation for school districts such as Akron Public Schools.
“There are a lot of Chromebooks that have technical issues that need to be repaired and sometimes even fully replaced,” Warrier said. “I’ve had to get a temporary loaner computer before because my Chromebook needed to be repaired.”
Another major motivator is screen time for kids and how it may reduce productive struggle in classroom environments. Growing research has raised broader concerns about how constant device use is reshaping students’ learning habits, emotional engagement and overall classroom presence.
“I am concerned about the mental and physical health implications that can result from too much screen time such as dwindling attention spans,” English teacher Erin Aube said. “I am concerned about a lack of thinking and feeling that has become all too commonplace. At one point almost everyone was all in for digital learning; we know better now. The studies are piling up that show the negative effects. We need to be brave enough as a society, or at least a school, to say, ‘Hold up. We made a mistake. Now let’s fix it.’”
Many families and educators are trying to balance the benefits of technology with its drawbacks. While there are concerns about attention, emotional engagement, and overreliance on screens, homework accessibility and equity complicate moving forward on limiting take-home devices.
“I like the idea of my child not being able to take their Chromebook home to reduce their screen time,” Midtown parent Bryan Clark said. “But at home it would make it more difficult for many students to efficiently complete their homework.”
Previously, take-home Chromebooks were part of efforts to close the digital divide, especially after school closures forced learning online during the pandemic. Now, many students need access to a device at home for completing homework, research projects and accessing online resources. Teachers will now have to face the challenge of redesigning their assignments which will alter instructional planning and equity considerations for students with limited home internet or hardware.
“Almost all of my assignments and resources are online and we are encouraged to use them,” Warrier said. “Matter of fact, even some of my textbooks are online so there would be a lot of change if take-home Chromebooks were to get banned in Midtown.”
Some teachers, such as Aube, have already made a change to a Chromebook-free class environment. It’s a screen break for students throughout the day and puts less reliance on devices.
“When students are working without their school-issued devices, I see much more evidence of what I would describe as ‘productive struggle,’” Aube said. “All the answers are not readily accessible to them; they must engage in the processes of paying attention to the task at hand and engage in the recall of information they have previously learned.”
In the end, education leaders will have to balance the financial realities with district wide learning goals to shape these new policies. The debate over how to best integrate Chromebooks into learning will cause districts to evaluate the pros and cons.
“I think the banning of school Chromebooks could be beneficial,” Clark said. “It really just depends on how they integrate the policies, but I’m sure there will be mixed feelings about it either way.”
