In the face of looming tariff increases,  the Wilton-Lyndeborough Cooperative School Board has approved an early purchase of technology equipment to avoid higher costs this summer.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the board voted unanimously to speed up the purchase of Chromebooks in need of replacement for the next school year. The purchases were scheduled to occur in July, but the Technology Committee learned of the likelihood of higher prices come summer. 

“We need to replace 70 Chromebooks for students and 10 for teachers,” said district Director of Technology Nicholas Buroker, noting the the cost would total just over $23,400.

Buroker said if tariffs go up in July, he said the district may not be able to cover the cost or replace needed projectors.

“The initial tariff on these was 145%, but it’s been pulled back to 30% for now,” he said.

The $23,400 for the Chromebooks has already been budgeted for next year, so the motion approved board was to authorize funds cover the cost of the current tariffs on the purchase – $7,029 – to be made now rather than wait for a potentially higher tariff added to a July purchase. With the unanimous vote, Buroker will proceed with the purchase promptly.

Tik Tok challenge leads to smoke in classroom

Vandalism to a Chromebook resulted in smoke in a classroom May 7. Eighth-grader Andie White was the student representative at Tuesday’s meeting, and said that a day after the incident in an ELA class, the room still smelled of smoke. 

According to administrators, the incident was prompted by a TikTok challenge online that encouraged students to insert something metal into the charging port of a computer to the point that it punctures the battery inside. A student did this in class, which caused the device to smoke and ultimately become melted onto a student desktop.

“By the time we got to the class, the students were out of the room,” said WLC Principal Tom Ronning. “We believed we had the situation contained.

Ronning added that he conferred with Wilton Fire Chief Norm Skantze, who approved of the how the school responded. 

“You handled it fine. Very appropriate response,” Ronning said, referring to Skantze’s comments to him on the matter. 

Administrators said that as of Tuesday, there had been 20 reported incidents of students acting upon this challenge in New Hampshire schools.

“My concern is that the students were safe,” said Superintendent Peter Weaver. “Discipline can come later. These TikTok videos are coming faster than we can deal with them.”

Weaver added that the incident was filmed on at least one student’s phone, which is a violation of the school’s phone policy.

“Whoever filmed it will have a problem,” said Weaver.

According to Weaver, the student who tampered with the Chromebook has been suspended, must pay for the Chromebook to be replaced and has been assigned 30 hours of community service in the school’s information technology department.

“Damaging school property is vandalism. Vandalism is a crime,” said Weaver.