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Student injured, MCAS paused at Mass. school when school-owned laptop malfunctions

The school was evacuated for about an hour while firefighters cleared and ventilated the building, officials said.

Daniel Acker

By Emily Spatz

1 minute to read

MCAS testing has been paused at an Uxbridge school after a student was taken to the hospital with burns after their computer started smoking, officials said. 

The school-provided computer, given to the student for a scheduled ELA MCAS exam, malfunctioned and began smoking at about 9:30 a.m. at Whitin Intermediate School, officials said in a statement.

Staff activated a fire alarm, and the school was evacuated “safety and without incident,” according to school officials. 

The Uxbridge Fire Department responded to ventilate and clear the school. Students and staff returned to the building by 10:45 a.m., according to the statement.

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The student suffered burns on their hands and was taken to a local hospital by their guardian, the statement said. 

MCAS testing, a statewide test for public school students to measure educational benchmarks, was stopped after students returned to the building, officials said. ELA MCAS testing for fourth and seventh-grade students at Whitin Intermediate School has been put on hold until further notice.

The grade of the student injured Tuesday was not released.

Previously scheduled ELA MCAS testing for third graders continued at Taft Early Learning Center, officials said. 

The school said it is working with the state’s Department of Technology and Digital Learning and Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to make a plan for testing moving forward. The school district is also working with the laptop supplier to determine the safety of devices and the reason for the malfunction, according to the statement. 

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“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,” said Uxbridge Public Schools superintendent Michael Baldassarre. “We would like to recognize the quick response of the staff members in the library who worked to evaluate students quickly and safely as well as the Uxbridge Fire Department who responded to the scene.”

The Uxbridge Fire Department gave tips about laptop safety in a post on Facebook Tuesday, including unplugging devices before leaving the house, keeping chargers on hard, flat surfaces, and keeping vents and fans clean from dust.

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