“The computers are being funded by stimulus money under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009,” Dawsey reports. “The district already has started distributing the computers and expects to deliver them all by the end of this school year, said Kisha Verdusco, a DPS spokeswoman.”
Full article here.
Shawn D. Lewis reports for The Detroit News, “Beginning in February, every student in grades 6-12, and every teacher in the district, will receive or have access to an ASUS Eee Netbook.”
“Teachers received their Netbook laptops, and were trained on how to use them in December,” Lewis reports. “School board president Anthony Adams described the laptops as a tremendous leap forward. ‘If Detroit Public Schools are all about the cutting edge, then this technology purchase today represents a critical part in how we educate kids,’ he said.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Three points:
1. The “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009″ was intended to create jobs and promote investment during the recession. Now, in this case, U.S taxpayers’ money was wasted, er… invested in a foreign company’s products rather than applying the “stimulus” money to U.S. companies’ products and benefitting *ahem* U.S. employees. To the geniuses who made this decision: Great job, you’ve “stimulated” a Taiwanese company instead of a U.S. company with U.S. taxpayer funds. Morons. This from Detroit, where you’d think “Buy American” might have at least a remotely familiar ring to it. Here’s an idea: U.S. taxpayers’ money, especially those funds supposedly specifically intended to “stimulate” the U.S. economy, should at least be legally limited to only being blown on U.S. companies’ products and services; companies that pay U.S. taxes we might add. Before you ask, no, we can’t – possession of that sort of basic logic (any logic actually) automatically disqualifies us from running for office.
2. Anthony Adams is either an ignoramus or deluding himself that POS Asus netbooks are “cutting edge technology.” They’re junk; the ones that aren’t lost or stolen will be broken in massive numbers. This is a total waste of $49 million, unless Detroit is trying to develop the next generation of DMV clerks – in which case it’s only a waste of about $48,999,000.00.
3. With decision-making like this, it’s no wonder at all that Detroit is at least 4/5ths of the way down the shitter.
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