5 Steps to Successfully Reclaiming School Chromebooks from Students

As K-12 schools let out for summer break, many IT teams have been considering device reclamation. Chances are the conversations have looked very different across most districts this year.

When COVID-19 forced students, faculty, and staff into a learn from home model in March, some schools had to increase their Chromebook fleet size. And, continued uncertainty over what a return to school will look like in the fall meant that for some districts, it made more sense to leave Chromebooks in the hands of students for the near-term.

Whether or not Chromebooks are returned to school for the summer has been a district-by-district decision. There’s no one right answer. Some asked that all students keep their devices for the summer, except for graduating or departing students. Others asked that they all be brought back to campus when the academic year ends.

Regardless of what your district decided in this anything-but-normal school year, there are steps you can take to ensure a successful device collection process – and for Absolute users looking to reclaim Chromebooks, you already have the tools to easily do it.

Reclaiming with Ease

With Absolute Control®, you can see, manage and secure every mobile device, no matter where they are, on or off campus. It serves as an unbreakable digital tether to devices, data, and applications and supports a more effective and efficient reclamation process. Using the cloud-based Absolute console, there are 5 basic steps that will streamline your device collection and audits.

1. Plan

• 45-60 days prior to device collection, prepare user message scripts and target your student device groups.

2. Execute

• In the month leading up to the collection period, create custom alerts and reports to categorize devices by desired return date.

3. Collect

• Collect student devices according to your procedures.

4. Control

• 1-2 days after collection, flag devices that haven’t been returned as missing.
• 5-7 days after flagging devices missing, freeze devices that haven’t been checked in.

5. Monitor

• Use the Missing Devices view and Device Freeze Summary report to keep your inventory visible.

The Absolute Chromebook Collection Guide outlines each of these 5 steps in more detail and highlights the Absolute features that will assist you through this process.

If you aren’t an Absolute customer, you can learn more about how Absolute helps in our Distance Learning Solutions Hub and/or by reading how Anaheim Union High School District relies on Absolute for Visibility and Control of 30,000 Devices with Absolute.