Apple Recall

August 30, 2006

Apple battery recall hits USD 489 computers

DIANE GASPER-O'BRIEN

Hays Daily News

Some students in Hays USD 489 will have to power their laptopcomputers the old fashioned way for a while because of a battery recall on certain Apple laptops. About 1.8 million faulty lithium batteries from a Sony Corp. subsidiary at a Japanese plant are being recalled after several reports of battery packs overheating. The battery can short circuit, overheat or even catch fire. The Hays district was contacted by its Apple representative last week and told of the problem. "We were instructed to take the batteries out of the computers," said Loren VonLintel, instructional technology coordinator for the Hays district. The computers still can be used by plugging them into a power source. But Mary Woods, operations technology coordinator for USD 489, said elementary schools are more reluctant to plug in the computers because of power cords. "It's definitely thrown a wrench into some activities that they usually do with computers," VonLintel said. The Hays district leases about 1,800 laptops from Apple Inc., including nearly 1,000 at Hays High School. Coincidentally, though, just a small number - about 20 - of the 370-some located with defective batteries in the Hays district are at Hays High. The local school most affected by the recall is Washington Elementary School, which has the use of 75 computers as part of a two-year state technology grant. Serial numbers of 50 of those recalled batteries match those in computers at Washington. "We're not completely shut down, but we're definitely hit pretty hard," said Allen Park, principal at Washington. Park said technology assistants at his school are working on a plan to be able to plug in computers to use them. "Once you take the battery out, there's no cover," he said. "So we're trying to figure out a way to use them while not damaging the computer." Woods said that when she was contacted by Apple about the recall last week, she informed technology assistants at all the schools of the serial numbers of the affected batteries. At Hays High, students were contacted during their seminar hour to check for matching serial numbers, and VonLintel said that ran smoothly. "For us to be able to get through all of those in a day or two and check all the batteries, it was just a great effort by our computer techs," Woods said. Woods said that while the situation causes an inconvenience, "the safety of the kids is what's most important." Woods said that she has been in contact with Apple and that she has been told that educational systems will be given priority as to the turnaround time. "We will be on a priority list because of that," Woods said. "Plus, we're a volume customer, so hopefully that will help. I expect to hear from them later today if it'll be a week or a month." Until then, VonLintel said, "We wait."

Reporter Diane Gasper-O'Brien can be reached at (785) 628-1081, ext. 126, or by e-mail at dobrien@dailynews.net.