TikTok Chromebook Challenge Safety Concerns

We want to inform you of a concerning online trend encouraging students to deliberately damage their school-issued Chromebooks. The “Chromebook Challenge” encourages students to “test the durability” of their devices by intentionally inserting lead or metal items like paperclips, push pins, aluminum foil, or mechanical pencils into the device’s USB port. This action can force an electrical short circuit and may result in the failure of the device’s lithium-ion battery, posing a serious fire risk and the production of large quantities of toxic and flammable vapor.

Please take a moment to speak with your child about the seriousness of this behavior. Deliberately damaging school property is a violation of our district Code of Conduct. Additionally, tampering with the device creates a serious safety hazard both on and off school property. If a device is tampered with at school and it does not immediately catch fire, explode or create vapor, it may still do so later – on the school bus, at home, or when left unattended.

If you notice a device has been tampered with and is smoking or catching fire, please take the following steps:
- Do not touch it! Stay as far away from it as possible.
- Unplug the device from the power source if it is charging (if safe to do so). If a device has been tampered with, do not plug it in to charge it.
- Report any suspicious activity to a teacher, administrator or staff member.

Our Chromebooks are valuable learning tools, and we count on our students and families to treat them carefully. Thank you for your partnership in reinforcing this important message at home.