MCPS has been quietly phasing out the current Chromebooks that many WJ students use. The older Chromebooks are easily recognizable due to the black hatched pattern on its lid, and are still used by a majority of WJ students.

While the newer Chromebooks, the 500e Generation 3, that MCPS is introducing as a replacement are made by the same company, Lenovo, they have several differences. The processor has switched from a MediaTek to an Intel chip, which impacts performance in software. However, no major changes have been made to the software, limiting students to using Chrome. The lid is also still gray, and scratches much more easily than the older models.

“[The new Chromebooks] were given out to all of us,” freshman Simon Lynn said . Last year MCPS recalled all old Chromebooks that were in use throughout middle school, before replacing them before school started, “I don’t like [the newer model] as much.”

If a student’s Chromebook needs to be replaced, they will be given the newer Chromebooks, as WJ no longer has a stockpile of the older model. Any old Chromebooks were sent to a holding location. This has proved troubling for teachers who have had all classroom Chromebooks repossessed by MCPS, and no replacement Chromebooks for students whose Chromebook was forgotten at home or dead.

This rollout is happening as a report from the Montgomery County Inspector General found that the county was only able to locate 16.9% of Chromebooks at three anonymous MCPS high schools. Despite MCPS spending a rough 19.5 million dollars on Chromebooks in 2024, a report by the Montgomery County Inspector General found that, “MCPS is missing opportunities to timely identify vulnerabilities in the process that may lead to fraud, waste, and abuse.”

According to the report, MCPS only checks Chromebooks during the restocking period at the end of a school year, and even then, does not connect Chromebooks to an individual student. This leads to students being more likely to evade punishment for damaging their devices.

“MCPS will introduce a structured protocol for investigating inventory discrepancies to a set percentage of the school locations,” MCPS Superintendent Dr. Thomas Taylor said. “This formalized process will promote transparency and accountability and will be implemented by October 2025.”

Dr Taylor also said that updated regulations will be added at the end of the 2026 school year.