At Bonita Vista High (BVH), Intro to Design and Intro to Architecture teacher Moses Muturi begins class by telling students to turn on the desktop and monitor in front of them. However, in this room, 201, some students find their provided electronics not functional due to them having been damaged and vandalized. Muturi’s students suspect the damage is done by previous classes so they look for new ways to work around the defacement of their devices.

“Someone broke my mouse. Then my friend next to me had keys taken off of his keyboard. Every once in a while our computers just won’t turn on,” Sophomore Isabella Pierce said.

In Muturi’s third period, the class must code and create new interactions between 3D models and designs. However, their damaged technology has become an obstacle to do so and students’ time is not being used in an efficient manner.

“The most annoying part is having to walk over to [Information Technology Support Technician David Elsheikh], since it’s pretty much always my [desktop]. Since I’m the one who constantly has to walk over there, I’m stuck not doing work for a good portion of class,” Pierce said.

Earlier in the school year, students faced software malfunctions that disrupted their work in class. As technology issues continued, students had to work around the faulty software they needed for the class. The constant problems with their equipment led students to express their frustration. When students find their devices vandalized, their first step is to have Elsheikh repair it.

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“All of the recent damage has happened in computer labs. Most of it happened in 201. Keyboards, mice, network cables and power cables have needed to be replaced,” Elsheikh said. 

To address the issues, Muturi has been on the lookout for the culprits behind the damage. He devised a new way to regulate students’ usage of the computers to make sure they work properly.

“We [have] the first student who comes into the period one class to certify their computer is working, as well as the last students in period five. We’ve asked them to  log in and out of[their] computer [to] make sure it’s working. If in period one of the following day, their computer is not working or they see damage on it, we will know that it was period five.” Muturi said.

All in all, the concerns of Muturi’s Introduction to Design class have been heard by BVH. Elsheikh has been able to provide extra equipment when necessary. Through problem solving, students of Muturi’s class can return to their class plans with little interruption. They hope the problem does not worsen in the future. 

“Just don’t [vandalize things.] Treat others the way you would like to be treated [and] treat school property the way you treat your property,” Muturi said.