olddude and beardo are absolutely correct



I will in no way profess to be an authority on this (or on much of anything), however I am in the middle of a situation now and I will share the highlights...

I approached my local school system about this very matter. I was directed to an individual who told me "no". I pressed for some detail on what happened to the ewaste (sold, discarded, etc.) and frankly never received a direct answer. The answer I did receive was vague and when I questioned further, I got silence.

Flash forward a few months and a friend of mine gave me a heads up about the school board declaring a significant amount of material to be surplus and a name for another person to attempt to contact. This person got the ball rolling for me, and while I missed the big score I was hoping for (there is still some type of strange "void" involved here I have yet to figure out), there is still a significant amount of material to be had.

Flash forward yet a couple of more months and I have yet to recover much, but I am now in touch with the IT folks and should be picking up the bulk of the material over the next 2 -3 weeks.

That's a condensed version. My point is, by all means ask. The trick will be getting in touch with the one(s) who make(s) the decisions, and that can be frustrating. Their responsiveness (or lack thereof) can be an issue. Getting to "yes" may take awhile. Even after you get a yes (which I hope you do), it make take even longer to put your hands on the first piece of equipment. This situation is really no different from negotiating deals like the pros on here do all the time, though I do think the bureaucracy involved in schools can complicate things. Stay at it. If you can't get anywhere with the staff / admin, get on the agenda to make a case to the school board. As noted, if you make a case to save them time or money, or appeal to environmental concerns, somebody somewhere ought to eventually pay attention.

Good luck and report back if you will.