Evergreen Public Schools is investigating why some iPads and Chromebooks sold to the public at last week’s surplus sale were not properly disconnected from the district’s content management system.
Some buyers told The Columbian that devices they purchased had photos and videos of students or showed accounts that were still being managed by the district.
Evergreen confirmed Monday it is aware of some issues with iPads and Chromebooks sold at the surplus sale. The district said the devices did not contain students’ or staff members’ personal information.
On Friday, the district held a surplus sale at Evergreen High School to sell outdated items, such as electronics, textbooks and even vehicles at discounted prices.
Evergreen estimated that 500 Chromebooks and 1,600 iPads were sold at Friday’s event. The district said all iPads at the sale went through the factory reset process by its information technology department prior to the event. However, the district discovered that 75 percent were not successfully wiped clean.
“We continue to investigate exactly why the process wasn’t completed and didn’t go through completion,” said Craig Birnbach, Evergreen Public Schools communications manager.
The school district said the iPads sold were only used in classrooms and not assigned to individual students.
People who purchased devices and are still experiencing problems can send an email to surplus@evergreenps.org or call 360-604-4128.
