LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. — A recent TikTok trend involving students inserting metal or pencil lead into the ports of school Chromebooks has gone viral, spreading across multiple schools, including Los Alamitos High School, and resulting in numerous incidents, according to Assistant Principal of Student Services, Mr.Bowen.

On Monday, May 12, Mr. Bowen, the assistant principal of student services at LAHS, sent an email to staff and put a segment in the school newsletter specifically to inform parents of the trend and encourage families to talk with their students to “encourage safe, responsible use of technology”. The message included a warning to those on campus about the consequences of purposefully breaking Chromebooks and the dangers of online challenges.

“I think it’s a sad statement on how young people view things that do not belong to them,” a teacher at LAHS said.

The trend, which involves putting foreign objects into the metal areas of school-issued Chromebooks to create smoke and fire, can cause permanent damage or break the device entirely. Broken devices can also pose additional danger to their surroundings, with electrical shock and smoke inhalation possible for the students responsible and those nearby.

“I’ve heard a couple of rumors here and there, but there have been a couple of kids, you know, who have been caught doing it,” Bowen said.

LAHS administration has pointed to school policy on dealing with problematic behavior: students who are found to be damaging devices may have their parents notified, be forced to pay for a replacement Chromebook, suspended from school or dealt with by law enforcement.

While Mr. Bowen does not plan on changing Chromebook usage rules in the future, he shared that he is considering giving informational presentations to students if the situation gets worse.

“Oftentimes these trends tend to come and go, but if it persists, or it starts to become more of a concern, then that’s something we could definitely consider,” Bowen said.

If a student sees someone else participating in damaging school property, the expectation is that the incident gets reported to a teacher or other faculty members. While kids at school may not always speak up to adults, Mr. Bowen believes these steps for students will ultimately help keep the campus safe and secure.