Uxbridge student injured after laptop malfunctions during MCAS testing

A student in Uxbridge, Massachusetts, was injured on Tuesday morning when their laptop malfunctioned during MCAS testing.

School Superintendent Michael Baldassarre said MCAS testing at Whitin Intermediate School was put on hold in the wake of the incident.

Officials said that around 9:30 a.m., a school-owned laptop provided to an 11-year-old student taking a scheduled English Language Arts MCAS exam malfunctioned and began smoking, prompting a building evacuation. The student suffered burns on their hands and was taken to an area hospital by their guardian for treatment. He was not seriously injured.

"I was reading a book," the sixth-grader, a boy named Gabe, said later in the day. "It caught on fire... sizzling."

A staff member activated the fire alarm, and all students and staff were evacuated safely, school officials said.

The Uxbridge Fire Department responded to the scene to clear and ventilate the building, and students and staff were able to return to the school around 10:45 a.m.

MCAS testing was stopped during this time.

Previously scheduled English Language Arts testing for third graders — the only other MCAS taking place — proceeded as normal at the Taft Early Learning Center.

The English Language Arts MCAS testing for Whitin Intermediate School students in grades 4-7 has been put on hold until further notice. School officials said they are working with the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to determine a plan for testing to move forward.

School officials are also working with the laptop supplier to determine how the laptop malfunctioned. The district said students using Acer C734 Chromebooks would need to turn them in Wednesday morning for a safety evaluation.

"The safety of our students is paramount and we will be taking the necessary steps to ensure that something like this does not occur in the future," Baldassarre said in a statement. "We would like to recognize the quick response of the staff members in the library who worked to evacuate students quickly and safely as well as the Uxbridge Fire Department who responded to the scene."

In an update Wednesday, the Uxbridge School District said all students had returned their Chromebooks to the school so they can conduct a thorough safety evaluation of all devices. The cause of the malfunction remains under investigation, they said, adding that the Chromebooks will remain in the district's possesiosn until the investigation and safety evaluations conclude.

They said MCAS testing resumed Wednesday as scheduled.

Acer, the company that makes the Chromebooks, issued a statement Wednesday saying that they have a long history of providing personal computers and other devices to school districts across the nation.

"We believe this is an isolated incident, and we are awaiting the return of the unit to investigate the root cause," a company spokesperson said in a statement. "We began shipping this model in October of 2021 and have shipped more than 600,000 units, and there have been zero additional reports of battery overheating to the point of causing smoke. Acer closely monitors the failure rates and causes of all product lines – the C734 Chromebook is highly reliable with few technical issues of any kind."

The company said they believe it is safe for students to continue using their devices, but will make 450 loaner devices of another Chromebook model available to the Uxbridge School District while the investigation is being completed.