“In government, you have to make peace with the fact that some things won’t make sense — but sometimes a stubborn problem gnaws at you,” Gale Brewer writes for Crain’s New York Business. “That is how I have felt about getting tablet computers into public schools.”
“They are important for today’s students and tomorrow’s entrepreneurs and job seekers, especially now that mobile devices have become the primary way to get online. They can help instruction in all kinds of ways: teaching computer science and coding skills, helping English language learners and enabling new forms of classroom collaboration. In particular, they can be transformative for special education, opening up opportunities and giving a voice to students with impaired motor skills, speech or mobility,” Brewer writes. “But it is hard to get more tablets into our schools because the city cannot spend capital funds on tablets—not in the Department of Education’s budget and not in City Council members’ or borough presidents’ allocations. This is because of the city comptroller’s Directive 10, drafted in 2011 (a year after iPads were introduced, when they were far from the essential devices they are today).”
“The comptroller’s office puts forward rules to ensure capital funds are spent properly,” Brewer writes. “Directive 10 goes far beyond those commonsense rules, banning “iPads and similar products” by name, even if they meet all the other stated criteria for appropriate capital projects.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: More poof of the misnomer that is “government intelligence.”
SEE ALSO:
Apple CEO Cook to President Trump: The U.S. should have the most modern government in the world; coding should be a requirement in every public school – June 20, 2017
Google’s Chromebooks are still spying on grade school students – April 21, 2017
Apple iPad helps lift school district’s graduation rate to 82% from 65% – May 13, 2016
New York school district converts 75% of its curriculum to Apple’s iPad – June 19, 2015