News & Record; "Critic of tablets feels vindicated"

"David Colin sent an email earlier this week that read, “I surrender.”

The retired engineer is an outspoken critic of the tablet computers that Guilford County Schools began giving to students this year, and has expressed concerns about the safety and durability of the devices.

And he felt school administrators weren’t taking his concerns seriously.

“I was like, ‘I give up, I quit,’ I couldn’t keep this up anymore, I’ve had enough,” he said. “But then someone called me, said they were collecting them back up.”

Colin, 77, felt vindicated, Friday — sort of — when GCS announced that it was suspending the tablet program after experiencing problems with about 1,500 of the devices that included broken screens and a melted charger.

Colin, who worked as an electronics engineer for more than 35 years, has filed numerous public information requests with GCS regarding the tablets.

“It just seemed like common sense,” he said. “It’s a retail product, and they’re trying to use it in a commercial-type operation.”

In a recent email that Colin sent to GCS Board Chairman Alan Duncan, he brought up concerns about problems arising with the battery, including possible overheating, if left plugged in too long.

According to a spokesman from Amplify, the company providing the tablets, there is no risk with leaving them plugged in overnight.

GCS director of communications Cynthia [Mujeeb's wife] Shah-Khan said, that as far as she knows, none of the tablets used by the district have had problems with their batteries.

...For his part, Colin doesn’t see himself as a crusader, but rather just as “somebody who looked.”

“I just nagged them, pestered them and sent everyone emails and letters and showed up at every meeting,” he said.

Robert C. Lopez
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David on George Hartzman;