LAUSD: Deasy's iPads for All, At What Cost?

Warning….coming soon to a school district near you:  iPads for all – paid for by voter approved construction bonds!!!!

Yes, it’s true and it’s happening right now in Los Angeles.    Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy decided that all students should be given their own iPad.

No matter that in January, 2012,  he announced in an Apple commercial that “we had decided to adopt iPad technology as we were trying to provide ways for increasing student engagement.”

No matter that the iPads’ main use will be to facilitate standardized tests.

No matter that this announcement preceded by a year a vote for approval by the board of education

No matter that the final choice of a tablet was Apple’s iPad.

No matter that the final three choices of curriculum to be loaded on the iPads was Pearson Education, Inc.

No matter that Deasy hired former Pearson employee, Jaime Aquino, as his deputy superintendent of instruction whose salary, along with those of about 20 others, was paid for by foundations such as the Broad and Casey Wasserman Foundations.

No matter that both Deasy and Aquino were graduates of the unaccredited Broad Superintendents Academy.

Apparently, it DOES matter to the citizens of Los Angeles, who are paying dearly for what they thought would be upgrades and improvements to school facilities, not for  technology of yet to be proven educational value with a useful life of at best three years.

Apparently, it also matters to Curt Hagman, member of the California State Assembly Committee on Accountability and Administrative Review:

“While I fully support technology initiatives that give our students new learning opportunities and help make materials relevant, I don’t believe the right steps have been taken to ensure proper execution and smooth operation of this project,” stated Hagman in the letter.

Let this be a warning to all tax payers.  Your tax dollars can be used in ways you never intended.   If LAUSD gets away with this, watch for the next raid on voter approved school construction bonds.

Also, call or email members of the Assembly Education Committee, whose chair, Joan Buchanan and Vice-Chair, Kristen Olsen, are also members of the Accountability and Review Committee.

http://aedn.assembly.ca.gov/