HARRISONBURG, VA (Rocktown Now) – Harrisonburg School officials are trying to figure out how to handle the growing problem of damaged school-issued Chromebooks.

Superintendent Dr. Michael Richards explained to the school board during last evening’s work session that damage to the laptops, which are loaned to students for their use, costs the school division over $28,000 in repairs.

Richards says while most of the damage is accidental, some of it is caused by a TikTok challenge.

“Our secondary schools put out a notice about this challenge,” Richards said. “And the challenge is you take a paperclip or something and sabotage your Chromebook with it.”

Richards says he talked with Harrisonburg Fire Chief Matt Tobia, who pointed out that this is happening across the country and has caused some fires in different places.