Getting Macs from Schools

[applekid]

I was wondering, how should I go about asking the schools in my area about getting their old Macs?

My high school, for example, has put away all of the iMacs (Snow) and a few PowerMac G4 (Sawtooth) away for storage and replaced them all with really old PCs (it's more for network compatibility). If I'm lucky, I can probably get a few iMac G4s and the old ADC's. I'd love to get my hand on a few of those old machines, perhaps sell a few as my own business or turn a few into my replacement Macs in my room.

Any tips for refurbing and cleaning? I'm pretty sure it's all permanent marker on beige boxes and the clear plastic for the more modern machines, though it has been rubbing off most of them, last time I saw them.

You think I'll have to pay for the Macs? If so, you don't think it's too high, as in maybe just one or two figures?

Once I get those Macs, the only problem may be getting my parents to let me store them in our already cramped apartment...

Apple Collectors, speak to me!

 

[Les Kern]

I'm a tech director at a school district, and here's the deal.
The taxpayers paid for them, so they cannot by law just be given away. This leaves 3 options.
1. Price them to sell as per-piece. Normally an excellent way. Snows this way go for 50-150 bucks. Red tape here is a pain.
2. Auction in lots. Less money for the school, BUT it's less work for me. Same red tape.
3. Donate them to another school in the district that the current school is in. This is what I do, and NO red tape. The taxpayers lose nothing, the feeder school (which have less money than me) get more modern machines, and these older machines are PERFECT for Accellerated Reader and all those low-end edu apps. Last year I had 200 iMacs that I gave away. Yep, there were some snows too. Sorry!
There IS one more option that I never talk about. If the system is broken and cost more to fix than it's worth, I toss it. If it's salvaged and fixed, so be it. Measured against man-hours/pay (and I do just fine) I have to make calls like this a lot. I could keep broken machines around forever and swap parts, but I would always be swapping parts. Not a good use of my time.

 

[applekid]

Hmmm... I don't know what my county or state laws are (I assume they're similar), but I guess e-mailing the county school board couldn't hurt?