iPad

LA school district suspends iPad initiative over conflict of interest

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has suspended its contract with Apple to supply the district's students with iPads. The suspension was announced by the district's superintendent in an Aug. 25 memo that was obtained by the Los Angeles Times.

"Moving forward, we will no longer utilize our current contract with Apple. Not only will this decision enable us to take advantage of an ever-changing marketplace and technology advances, it will also give us time to take into account concerns raised surrounding the [initiative]." John Deasy, Superintendent of the LAUSD

The suspension of the iPad contract follows reports suggesting that LAUSD officials had conflicts of interest with Apple and Pearson, the company that supplied the educational material for the program. The Los Angeles Times reported Aug. 24 that the deputy superintendent emailed Pearson with tips on how to win the contract.

The district's iPad program ran into problems shortly after the first students were given devices in 2013, with students in one high school quickly learning how to disable security software found on the device that blocked unrestricted access to the Internet.

"We had the right urgency, but urgency can be the enemy of necessary scrutiny. Now our challenge is to maintain the urgency while getting the details right." Steve Zimmer, LAUSD board member

The LAUSD had in June already begun to diverge from its plans to supply students with iPads, concluding that it was a mistake to assume that all students' needs could be met by one device. Inexpensive laptops from Dell and Lenovo were among the choices subsequently offered to schools.