TechBytes

• April 15-May 30: State Testing Window (check with your school site for exact dates)
• May 31: Physical Fitness Test Scores must be submitted
• May 27-June 5: Student Chromebook Collection
• June 9-10: Summer Professional Development
• Summer/Fall 2025: Student Chromebook Refresh (info coming soon)

A trend is circulating on TikTok and other social media that encourages students to insert small metal objects (such as paper clips, pushpins or pencils) into the charging ports or internal components of Chromebooks to create an electrical short circuit. This can result in sparking, electrical fires, and even battery punctures, all of which can cause serious injury and damage.

This behavior poses a serious safety risk and causes significant damage to district technology.

Unfortunately, we have already seen a few cases in our schools. This type of damage will not be covered by the manufacturer and these devices will need to be replaced at an approximate cost of $500 per device.

If you see or suspect that a student is engaging in this type of activity, please report the incident to your school administrator and submit a ticket to ITS to have the device picked up as soon as possible. Do not attempt to power on or charge a device that appears to have been damaged or broken in this manner.

We are also encouraging students to report any unsafe behavior they witness involving Chromebooks or other devices.

Student Chromebooks will be refreshed over the summer. This means that all students will be turning in their devices at the end of this school year. Students will need to turn in Chromebooks and chargers to their school site. Collections will vary by site, but should occur during the last two weeks of the school year.

Summer programs will have access to Chromebooks, which will be deployed at the start of their programs.

At the beginning of the school year, new Chromebooks and chargers will be deployed to all students.

Are you intending to participate in the Summer 2025 Professional Learning Series June 9 -10? Register now! Sessions are open for certificated and classified staff. There are a large variety of sessions available, including sessions on curriculum, dyslexia, and Promethean Boards.

Registration ensures that you will be placed on a PR in FiscFlow. If you do not register before May 28, you will still be allowed to attend any open sessions on the day of the event. However, you may experience a delay in payment since you will not have been entered on the original PR.

See below how to register. Spaces are filling up. Registration for sessions will close on May 28 at 4:00pm.

IF YOU ARE LEAVING THE DISTRICT IN ANY CAPACITY (RETIREMENT, RESIGNATION, ETC.), PLEASE FOLLOW THE STEPS BELOW BEFORE YOUR LAST DAY.

1. Make an appointment to return all devices to ITS at the Ed Center (351 S. Hudson, Pasadena, Room 109). This includes laptops, Chromebooks, hotspot, etc. Appointments are only available one week ahead of time. Some appointments may be available at your school site, please be on the lookout for more information.
2. When returning devices, they must be in good, working condition and include the charger. Failure to return all components in good condition may result in a fine.
3. Workstation components (monitor, docking station, keyboard, and mouse) must remain in your office or classroom.
4. If you have a Promethean board in your space, your Promethean accessories must be put away in the box and left with the board. Your NFC card should be disconnected from your account and left in the box as well.
5. Projectors, Document Cameras, and site based technology will be turned in to your librarian, Instructional Coach, or office staff. Please check with your school site to determine who to turn these devices in to.

• Google Drive, emails, bookmarks, and more to import into another Google account. Follow the steps for Transferring your account or for using Google Takeout in the videos below or by following the directions HERE.
• **The Google Takeout process can take anywhere from an hour to multiple days, depending on the amount of content in your Drive, so please plan accordingly, as ITS will not reopen your account so you can download content.
• Export your Canvas content if you want to keep it.
• You will have access to your PUSD accounts until the last day of your contract/employment. For classroom teachers, this is June 6th.

Please continue to assess the PFT while considering options that are away from the bare dirt. Pacers and mile runs can be done indoors or on grass. See PFT Information.