Hardware

Sustainability Stretches K–12 Budgets

Good device management strategies can keep costs down for schools while simultaneously benefitting the environment.

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Janice Mertes is the CDW state-level ambassador serving state departments and K–12 education. She has more than 30 years of experience in public education, including 20 years in a large suburban Wisconsin school district as a social studies teacher and technology leader. Janice serves as the CDW liaison for national educational technology organizations, including SETDA, the Consortium for School Networking, the Council of Chief State School Officers’ Education Information Management Advisory Collaborative CIO Network and the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology.

The idea of sustainability may conjure thoughts of electric cars, wind turbines or recycling bins. In K–12 schools, however, it doesn’t mean anything as drastic as turning the playground into a field of solar panels.

There are many ways today’s school leaders support sustainability. When it comes to environmental sustainability, they can reduce the amount of power their devices are using. They can also look into devices made from recycled materials to help avoid e-waste, a growing problem in K–12 schools as devices reach the end of their lifecycles.

In reconsidering the device lifecycle, K–12 IT administrators can make their schools more sustainable.

Click the banner to explore expert advice on managing the device lifecycle.

Repair Devices to Minimize the Impact on Budgets and the Environment

Investing in warranties and device repairs for school technologies up front can help K–12 IT departments maintain their budgets and sustain the environment. CDW offers dashboards for sustainability planning that help IT leaders enforce device management strategies.

These strategies can help small districts that need 1,000 student devices or large districts that need 50,000 devices. The experts with CDW Education have scaled these projects for student populations of all sizes and helped district leadership understand the need for future planning for sustainability’s sake.

Strong repair programs and device warranties can keep repair costs predictable, and they can help keep devices in rotation longer. Fewer broken and discarded devices also mean less electronic waste going into landfills. It opens up the possibility of working with e-recycling partners, which may even allow schools to recoup money from old devices.

LEARN MORE: IT asset disposition services help schools manage the end of device lifecycles.

Track Devices’ Viability with Asset Management Programs

Schools can also extend the life of their devices through asset management programs. Asset tracking can help IT leaders develop long-term sustainability plans for their school-issued tech.

With these tools, they can track which devices see heavier use. For example, a district might realize that middle school students don’t take their devices home, and therefore those devices will experience less wear and tear and stay viable longer.

The conversation around sustainability has gained traction with leading K–12 organizations, and it may even play a role in the highly anticipated update to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Educational Technology Plan.

DON’T MISS OUT: These are the five K–12 tech trends to follow in 2024.

As sustainability practices become the focus of organizations such as the Consortium for School Networking and the State Education Technology Directors Association, K–12 administrators will want to develop a plan to tackle this priority. While extending the device lifecycle may be crucial for budgetary reasons now, it could benefit the environment as well.

This article is part of the ConnectIT: Bridging the Gap Between Education and Technology series. Please join the discussion on Twitter by using the #ConnectIT hashtag.