It was requested that we clarify our department policy on billing. The past practice of our department has been to bill costs for work that has been initiated by the school or that is over and above what we would normally provide. Examples of this would be a school asking for new ethernet runs to a room above and beyond the one for the teacher station, moving an existing device (smartboard, ethernet jack etc) for a personal preference. These have only been costs for materials, not labour. We also bill for equipment that needs to be replaced due to loss/theft/vandalism (lost USB cables, vandalized computers etc). New district initiatives are covered (examples: a district strategy of moving a computer lab to be next to a library, or everyone district wide gets a fandangle and new infrastructure is needed) as are costs for materials due to the district technology grant.
We have covered the costs in the past where schools have discussed projects with us well in advance so that we can budget and plan appropriately for the project. It would be unfair of a school or department to expect us to cover unforeseen/unbudgetted costs due to decisions initiated at the school level without any consultation.
A department policy would follow the lines of our past practice above. Your comments are appreciated and will help us guide a decision on written department policy.