Charleston County’s public schools are missing over 1,780 personal technology devices that were issued to students last school year.

The unaccounted devices are worth about $712,000, according to school district spokesman Andy Pruitt.

Last school year, 20,244 devices were issued to students across the district to help with online learning.

Most of the devices were distributed to students after schools closed their doors in mid-March to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, Pruitt said.

As of Wednesday afternoon, 602 iPads and 1,183 Chromebooks have not been returned to the school district, or around 8.8 percent of all devices issued.

All of these devices are owned by the district Pruitt said, and any students still in possession of a device are being asked to return it to the school from which it was issued.

The district’s IT department has the ability to lock individual student devices using serial numbers, making the unreturned devices unusable.

Some students were allowed to use their iPads or Chromebooks over the summer on a case-by-case basis, Pruitt said. Those devices were not included in the district’s total of unaccounted devices.

This isn’t the first time this summer that a public school district in South Carolina has encountered issues with missing student devices.

In July, Greenville County Schools reported nearly 4,000 stolen student laptops that were not returned to the district, resulting in a total price tag of $1.19 million in unaccounted school property.

In Berkeley County School District, students checked out 29,684 Chromebooks last year, according to spokeswoman Katie Tanner.

“Our students kept their device over the summer, and we do not foresee any issue with having devices for our students,” Tanner said.

Since the district first implemented 1:1 student devices in 2016, the district has reported a total of 417 lost devices. Nearly 200 of those were reported last school year.

A Chromebook with four-year warranty and a case costs the district $471, Tanner said.

Dorchester District 2 did not issue student technology devices last school year for most of its students, according to spokeswoman Pat Raynor.

Some 500 devices were distributed over the course of the spring and summer to those students who did not have access to a computer at home on a case-by-case basis, and all of those devices were returned and accounted for, she said.

The school district is in the process of issuing electronic devices to all students in kindergarten through 12th grade for the upcoming 2020-2021 school year. High school students started receiving their devices on Monday, while elementary and middle school students will receive theirs in the next few weeks.

The district expects all students will have their devices before the first day of school on Sept. 8.

Contact Jenna Schiferl at 843-937-5764. Follow her on Twitter at @jennaschif.