FLORIDA MISSING-STLOEN COMPUTERS TRACKED BY DUVAL COUNTY SCHOOLS Local News - Duval School System Tracking Missing Computers

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- It is an every day struggle keeping track of Duval County Schools 51,500 pieces of computer equipment.

This week in a routine inventory Sandalwood High School reported 33 desktop and laptop computers missing.

And that is not unusual countywide.

"It's something you don't want to see and that's why we're looking at new and improved ways to control that problem and it is a problem," says the director of property management for the school system Larry McDonald.

McDonald oversees all those computers, tracking them from a huge warehouse on the Westside.

He estimates 13 computers are missing each month. Sometimes they're stolen, more often just lost.

If all of those were replaced he says the cost would run about $172,000 for the year.

Sandalwood High School told us Thursday that some of the missing computers were older less expensive models. But they still have to be replaced.

"When you lose something that six months old or five years old if you have to replace it because you need it in the system, you pay today's market value to acquire that item," says McDonald.

McDonald's office fills out a police report for every missing computer.

He says many times they turn up at pawn shops which then return the computers to the school system.

Retired computers in the warehouse are sold for scrap, given to prison work programs or donated back to students.