“FBI agents on Monday removed 20 boxes of documents from the Los Angeles Unified School District related to the awarding of contracts for the ill-fated $1.3 billion iPad project, officials confirmed,” Howard Blume reports for The Los Angeles Times. “The FBI visit surprised school officials, according to L.A. schools Supt. Ramon C. Cortines.”
“Cortines said he was still waiting for a report on the nature of the investigation, but other sources within the district confirmed that the agents were focusing on the effort to provide every student, teacher and campus administrator with computers,” Blume reports. “The iPads-for-all project was a signature initiative of his predecessor, John Deasy, who resigned under pressure in October. Deasy readily acknowledged that the project was an expensive draw from bond funds. But he said there was no other way to pay for what he called a civil rights imperative — to provide low-income students equal access to technology in the nation’s second-largest school system. The L.A. Unified Board of Education approved the iPad contract without opposition in June 2013.”
“[Deasy] has denied any wrongdoing. And an internal report that examined the technology effort showed major problems with the process and the implementation,” Blume reports. “An internal LAUSD investigation is continuing.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Were the boxes labeled “Systemic Incompetence” or just the usual “Yet Another Clusterfuck?”
Related articles:
Beleaguered L.A. schools superintendent to resign in wake of iPad fiasco – October 16, 2014
Los Angeles teachers union calls for investigation of school super Deasy’s ties to Apple, Pearson execs – August 26, 2014
L.A. Unified School District suspends Apple iPad contract – August 26, 2014
L.A. Unified School District repossesses students’ iPads as $1-billion plan hits hurdles – October 1, 2013