BYOD Chromebook setup fee in a school - any justification?

[Dos_Box]

There is an issue that parents' own device is managed by the school so Timmy can't watch Netflix at home on the device that parents paid for.

 

That was also going to be an additional question. Can the (privately purchased) Chromebook, once enrolled with a school, be used on a secondary account for home use?

By the sounds of it, that's a big fat nope.

[localzuk]

That was also going to be an additional question. Can the (privately purchased) Chromebook, once enrolled with a school, be used on a secondary account for home use?

By the sounds of it, that's a big fat nope.

It can, yes. There is a setting in Google Workplace that allows non-school accounts to log in as well. Plus, they should be using a filtering tool that does not interfere with connectivity at home - Securely has an "at home" part to it, so you can say when out of hours/offsite, a different set of filtering rules apply, for example. I'm sure others have similar capabilities as well.

 

EDIT: I say it can, but it requires the school to set up their policies correctly. If they don't, I would be pushing them to make that change as limiting how a personally owned device can be used at home would be inappropriate.

[Steve21]

That was also going to be an additional question. Can the (privately purchased) Chromebook, once enrolled with a school, be used on a secondary account for home use?

By the sounds of it, that's a big fat nope.

 

That normally depends on the setup of things like filters via addons. Some allow for parents to manage "out of hours" internet etc via their own portal. As it's still effectively under the umbrella of the cloud filter.

 

Steve

[Dos_Box]

It can, yes. There is a setting in Google Workplace that allows non-school accounts to log in as well. Plus, they should be using a filtering tool that does not interfere with connectivity at home - Securely has an "at home" part to it, so you can say when out of hours/offsite, a different set of filtering rules apply, for example. I'm sure others have similar capabilities as well.

 

EDIT: I say it can, but it requires the school to set up their policies correctly. If they don't, I would be pushing them to make that change as limiting how a personally owned device can be used at home would be inappropriate.

 

Thanks Tony, I'll make sure they ask the school about that.

[paulkerton]

It's not, it's tied to the make and model of device so you an re-use the license.

 

Only if it is a like for like replacement for the purposes of a hardware fault that needs to be replaced. Trust me, I've had many a conversation with Google over this, including querying the issue where disabling a device returns the license to the pool giving you a false reading of exactly how many licenses you have.

[PotNoodleTech]

Only if it is a like for like replacement for the purposes of a hardware fault that needs to be replaced. Trust me, I've had many a conversation with Google over this, including querying the issue where disabling a device returns the license to the pool giving you a false reading of exactly how many licenses you have.

 

Never run into that and been doing it since 2014

[Ditto]

My comments make two assumptions from the OP.

i) it's state funded school

ii) I'm taking 'must have' literally

 

With my ex-governor hat on, and referring to https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5af99c8ae5274a25e78bbe30/Charging_for_school_activities.pdf

[Dos_Box]

My comments make two assumptions from the OP.

i) it's state funded school

ii) I'm taking 'must have' literally

 

With my ex-governor hat on, and referring to https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5af99c8ae5274a25e78bbe30/Charging_for_school_activities.pdf

[ATTACH=CONFIG]71791[/ATTACH]

 

That is very helpful, and could also put a very angry cat amongst the pigeons!

[gszech]

My comments make two assumptions from the OP.

i) it's state funded school

ii) I'm taking 'must have' literally

 

With my ex-governor hat on, and referring to https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5af99c8ae5274a25e78bbe30/Charging_for_school_activities.pdf

[ATTACH=CONFIG]71791[/ATTACH]

"Additionally there is a specific exception in the legislation which enables schools to charge for materials where the pupil’s parent wishes them to own the materials"

The same link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5af99c8ae5274a25e78bbe30/Charging_for_school_activities.pdf

If parents don't want to contribute the school needs to issue a device for them to use during the school hours.

 

This applies to hardware, not license so in this case it's not legal to charge parents the license fee as they can't "take the license with them"

[PotNoodleTech]

Good work both. Frankly it looks like many schools on here are happy to try and charge parents through the nose for equipment in order to save the school budget (so it can be wasted on other stuff probably) I for one think it's pretty disgusting.

[Primus]

Good work both. Frankly it looks like many schools on here are happy to try and charge parents through the nose for equipment in order to save the school budget (so it can be wasted on other stuff probably) I for one think it's pretty disgusting.

 

Orrrrrrrrrr

 

Schools are on their knees financially and they're trying to do what they can and sometimes get it wrong/don't explain themselves properly etc.

 

It's easy to assume schools are wasting money, it's often not true but in the same way people might say IT waste money by replacing "perfectly good PCs" it's easy to look at spends elsewhere and for us to say "they replaced a perfectly good roof, I remember when it was last replaced in 1960 they did a fantastic job and it had plenty of life left in it"... an extreme example but hopefully you take my point.

[PotNoodleTech]

I'll be careful here as I don't want to offend anyone but generally if a school is on it's knees financially it may be because budget has not been managed carefully in the past.

 

For example my school is doing fine financially. 1:1 chromebooks new this new that we only spend about 50k a year on IT kit out of the 3 million we have avaialble.

 

Another school 10 miles up the road is doing terrible financially cant afford chromeboks or anything is in big debt.

 

Now both schools have almost the same funding per pupil and almost the same roughly 3 million turnover and roughly the same number of FSM roughly the same staff count etc.

 

So why are both schools so different?

Edited July 2, 2024 by PotNoodleTech

[Primus]

I'll be careful here as I don't want to offend anyone but generally if a school is on it's knees financially it may be because budget has not been managed carefully in the past.

 

For example my school is doing fine financially. 1:1 chromebooks new this new that we only spend about 50k a year on IT kit out of the 3 million we have avaialble.

 

Another school 10 miles up the road is doing terrible financially cant afford chromeboks or anything is in big debt.

 

Now both schools have almost the same funding per pupil and almost the same roughly 3 million turnover and roughly the same number of FSM etc.

 

So why are both schools so different?

 

Not always, there's so many variables - the increase in PFI costs recently has crippled some of ours that were pretty well managed financially - to give just one example.

[synaesthesia]

PFI, absolutely ridiculous leasing agreements, robbing MSPs, shoddy buildings - lots of things can affect that and take a long time to recover from once corrected. Unfortunately don't think PFI can be corrected though!

[PotNoodleTech]

PFI, absolutely ridiculous leasing agreements, robbing MSPs, shoddy buildings - lots of things can affect that and take a long time to recover from once corrected. Unfortunately don't think PFI can be corrected though!

 

The sad thing is the LA agreed to it all in a bid to try and get "education on the cheap" like using a third party company that's sole job is to make a profit for 30 years , is going to work out cheap. I guess the poor management was at the LA not the school when those 30 year agreements were signed.

[Primus]

The sad thing is the LA agreed to it all in a bid to try and get "education on the cheap" like using a third party company that's sole job is to make a profit for 30 years , is going to work out cheap. I guess the poor management was at the LA not the school when those 30 year agreements were signed.

 

Orrrrrrrrrrrr - their existing school buildings were crumbling and they needed a better solution than a sticking plaster - sadly it's come back to bite them - there is no perfect system.

 

We've got another school continually denied a replacement build having to spend a fortune on maintaining a very old, large and inadequate building - yes they received CIF and more recently SCA funding but it's nowhere close to the actual cost experienced by the school.

 

We've another school where although their percentage of FSM is similar to others locally, they have a much more deprived catchment so have to spend more on staffing out their pastoral and family support teams - FSM isn't anywhere close to a perfect system unfortunately.

 

My point was that it's easy to judge, schools are facing some pretty difficult challenges and times at the moment - there's a reason not many people are applying to be Headteachers!

Edited July 2, 2024 by Primus

[PotNoodleTech]

Sure! I am not trying to be nasty to anyone.

 

Large scale building works should be covered by the LA as it's their property and they're the ones going to be sued when a tile falls off the roof etc.

 

If they are not doing it - make them look stupid on twitter by closing the school due to health and safety as the LAs wont fund the new roof etc. Would take a strong head but I guarantee once it's all over the local news there'll be contractors sniffing around in 5 days.

[dmj]

this type of thing is usually worded as a 'contribution' rather than a fee to get around the legal aspect of charging for educational resources.

[Primus]

Sure! I am not trying to be nasty to anyone.

 

Large scale building works should be covered by the LA as it's their property and they're the ones going to be sued when a tile falls off the roof etc.

 

If they are not doing it - make them look stupid on twitter by closing the school due to health and safety as the LAs wont fund the new roof etc. Would take a strong head but I guarantee once it's all over the local news there'll be contractors sniffing around in 5 days.

 

Many school buildings are not LA property.

 

Closing a school brings enormous scrutiny on the HT - we had a school have a devastating fire that took out part of their plant room, electrics and fire alarm. The pressure on the HT from DfE to find a way to open was unbelievable - almost open at any cost, find an alternative site - even if it's unsuitable etc.

[PotNoodleTech]

Yes but it's the only way to progress in that kind of scenario. Either that or put up with it and hope no tiles get embedded in pupils. Like I said would need a strong head.

[FN-GM]

Wow this thread has gone off into a whole other topic.

[localzuk]

You are not wrong there @FN-GM.

 

Everyone... back on topic!

[paulkerton]

Never run into that and been doing it since 2014

Try it. Disabled a device and watch your license count uptick!