Burning laptop prompts MCAS delays

MCAS testing plans went up in flames at one Uxbridge school Tuesday, after a smoking laptop burned a student and caused an evacuation during the exam.

The MCAS English Language Arts exam was in progress at Whitin Intermediate School when around 9:30 a.m. one student’s school-provided laptop malfunctioned and began smoking, Uxbridge Public Schools reported Tuesday.

Staff sprung into action, stopping the test, pulling the fire alarm and evacuating the building without incident, the district said. The Uxbridge Fire Department responded shortly after and cleared and ventilated, allowing students to return to their classrooms by 10:45 a.m.

The student holding the laptop suffered burns to their hands, the district said, and their guardian took them to a local hospital to be treated.

MCAS testing will be paused at Whitin Intermediate School, which includes grades 4 through 7, “until further notice,” district officials said. Previously scheduled ELA MCAS testing for grade 3 did continue as normal at the Taft Early Learning Center and was the only other MCAS testing scheduled on Tuesday.

The school administrators and Department of

Technology and Digital Learning are working internally and with state education officials on a plan to continue the MCAS ELA testing, the district said. Officials will also be working with the laptop supplier to examine the cause of the computer’s malfunction and “determine the safety of the devices for future testing.”

“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 Superintendent Baldassarre. “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.”

District officials said updates on the ELA MCAS testing will be shared with Whitin Intermediate School families “as soon as they are available.”