Chicago Public Schools Lose A Few I Pads, Laptops, And Hot Spots … 77,505 Of Them

Chicago taxpayers should be outraged. Then again, they’re the ones that keep voting these people into office. The city takes incompetence to dizzying heights. Already one of the most dangerous cities in the country, last year their own accountability school report card would demonstrate that huge majorities of students in the city’s worst schools, 75 percent in elementary and 95 percent in high school, failed to meet the state standards.

Last year, the Chicago Tribune pointed out that “Just 30% of Black students meet or exceed reading standards in the third grade, and the number falls to 14% for 11th graders, according to data from the Illinois State Board of Education.”

Chicago schools clearly aren’t getting the job done, but fear not, the political leaders in the city have discovered a solution to the problem … stop grading schools.

In an interview at the time, Mayor Brandon Johnson said:

“I personally don’t give a lot of attention to grades. How do you grade a system, when the system has not fulfilled its basic obligation of providing an equitable system that speaks to the needs of students. My responsibility is not simply to just grade the system, but to fund the system. That’s how I’m ultimately going to grade whether or not our public school system is working: based upon the investments that we make to the people who rely on it.”

In other words, forget demanding accountability and simply throw money at the problem. This is so typical of leftists. By eliminating the grading of schools, you accomplish two things. First, you eliminate the evidence of your failure. It’s tough to explain “F” rated schools, so by eliminating the grade, you eliminate the evidence. Second, it’s tough to raise standards and to follow up on them to see that they are followed. It’s much easier to throw money at a problem, even if it is misappropriated and does nothing to really help the students.

Well, since we’re talking about throwing money at a problem, here’s a problem there going to need a snow shovel for. In the annual report from the Inspector General of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) it was revealed that millions of dollars worth of tech devices were reported lost or stolen, “without appropriate search and recovery efforts.”

The fiscal year 2023 annual report released Tuesday states that CPS schools reported 77,505 tech devices as lost or stolen during the 2021-22 school year, totaling well over $23 million in original purchase price. The report said the missing items included laptops, iPads, Wi-Fi hotspots, printers, document cameras and interactive whiteboards. “At three dozen schools, 100 percent of tech devices assigned specifically to students were marked lost or stolen, inventory data showed.”

Let me reiterate that last fact, at 36 schools, EVERY tech device that was assigned to students turned up either lost or stolen. I’m sure I’m not the only person that can deduce that something is drastically wrong with that happening. A CPS spokesperson told Fox News:

“In a District of our size, some device loss is expected, but we remain concerned about the loss of any public asset. Our CPS team will work to streamline our system for tracking resources, including devices, while enforcing compliance with Board policy.”

The spokesperson added that they are working to change the process, enhance systems and hold school leaders accountable to the asset management policy.

Really, I’d say your about 77,505 devices and $23 million dollars late. Not only is the amount of loss totally unacceptable, but the Inspector General of the Chicago Public School system stated that there was not “appropriate search and recovery efforts.” So not only have these devices gone missing, but no one also seemed to give a damn about the $23 million dollar loss. Which is a scary thought, since during that same school year CPS spent upwards of $124 million on “technology assets,” which the report said was the most in the last five school years. 

“It’s just wasteful and that’s what our office is here to address and that’s what we do,” CPS Inspector General Will Fletcher told WGN-TV. “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 there’s no record or indication that the district reached out to the family mentioned this was an issue try to figure out what happened.”

“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.”

Which means what exactly? That if you’re economically disadvantaged you have a license to steal? Because it sounds like your school system already tried the sensitive method and that didn’t turn out very well.

The Chicago Public School System needs to wake up from their “woke slumber” and realize that this is unheard of. Nothing is free, and someone is and will continue to pay for these losses. Every student needs to be held accountable, not some, every single student, … Period!