We learned yesterday that the Los Angeles Unified School District may sue Apple for “millions of dollars” following the collapse of its plans to provide every student with an iPad. The mess eventually led to an FBI investigation and a federal review.
The latest development, as ever reported by the LA Times, says that the program is now the subject of a Securities and Exchange Commission inquiry into whether funds were misused in the $1.3B project …
The SEC is looking into whether school district officials complied with legal guidelines specifying how bond funds can be spent.
In particular, the agency was concerned with whether the L.A. Unified School District properly disclosed to investors and others how the bonds would be used, according to documents provided to The Times.
LAUSD officials are apparently ‘optimistic’ that they were in compliance with the rules.
The first signs of trouble with the failed program came when students figured out how to bypass the restrictions intended to ensure the iPads could only be used for school work. It then wasn’t long before the the district was accused of having miscalculated the cost of the project, and it later decided to abandon iPads altogether.
Photo: Reuters
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
It has been a long time since Apple and Education were a synonymous term (read: Apple II days). But it was an important market segment for Apple and brought a whole generation of kids into the tech industry. iPads (or similar devices) with digital books would significantly improve the education experience. Trick is to ensure that students have responsibility and accountability for the learning process. In any case, if Apple wants into that market, they need to step up and fix this.
Have you ever heard of Wheels for the Mind? While it focused on higher ed, it was a successful Macintosh initiative. I worked on a similar initiative in K-12 during the early Mac days and put in hundreds of successful Mac labs all around the world. I’d say Apple was doing fine in education before administrators decided that total cost of ownership wasn’t something they needed to worry about; they only needed to worry about expenses in the next quarter and that led to at least some systems dumping Macs for Windows PCs from various vendors (most of which don’t exist anymore).
The other piece of this situation that smells is that Pearson has a reputation for making bad software and why in hell in this day and age of portability and individualized tools is LA going for a CAI system?
The entire deal stinks from every perspective and yes, Apple’s Ed Rep should have vetted this better and killed it before it got this far. So, in that sense you’re right, Apple Education fell down on the job, if in fact they were involved at all in this purchase.
Steve Jobs said at the 1997 Boston Macworld on his return debut, that Apple was the biggest education company in the world at that time. So you don’t quite have to go back to the Apple II (it’s about 19 years more recent…)
Not true, at art colleges, like my alma mater, the Ringling College of Art and Design, Apple was the only computer to be found on campus. They were also the only computers sold by the school to students too.
Apple doesn’t owe the LAUSD anything. This sounds like a poorly executed plan on their part and may turn out to be criminal. Apple only provided what they wanted.
Apple always has been a luxury item that just works, a premium device for people that has not time to fiddle with settings and stuff.
Android seems for fitting for schools since the cost are considerable lower and an IT person can customize the heck out of it for the School purposes a la “One Laptop per Child” Project.
iPads for Schools? Bad idea.
I have been involved in several different tech to classroom projects over the last couple of decades. The secret to their success for all of them has always been the same, the school districts. If the school districts are willing to put in the time and effort to make the programs successful then they typically are successful. If they aren’t then the programs typically aren’t successful.
Notice that I didn’t say money. One of the biggest indicators of a failure in tech for education is a school district that has the idea that just throwing money at it will make it work. It won’t and it doesn’t.
The LAUSD just threw money at this project without wanting to actually put in any time and effort. That much becomes more and more evident with every detail that I hear.
My point? It wouldn’t have mattered if the school had used an Android tablet or even a Windows tablet this program was doomed from the point that they didn’t want to spend the time to do it right.
If the Tablet “Brand” doesn’t matter. Then why spend double or triple for iPads when the same things can be done with Android Tablets…..?
Personally I have both Tablets and the Android would be the obvious choice when it comes to value.
Like give me a break. Even the cheapest Android Tablets can do wonders compared to what I was using back in my Fancy Private High School days.
@Toro Volt, It comes down to two things. Secure Apps and Textbooks. I have no doubt Pearson’s main platform for textbooks is iOS. Follow the money as they say. And by secure apps I mean the store isn’t riddled with malware and illicit apps that can be harmful or illegal in students hands. The actual security of these iPads, I’m guessing, was handled by the district and not properly managed.
I’ve been involved in several projects of this scale with various companies. I can tell you that a lot of times they are driven by a Superintendent looking for a news-worthy “win,” and a Sales Representative needing to close a big sale. The training, support, and planning are an afterthought.
“Just Works” is a marketing Doctrine, verging on religion. As someone working in IT on a day to day basis with PC’s Win 8, 7, Android, iOS, Macs, apple products generally, “Just Works Better” is much more fitting.
As for iPads in school, I can certainly see how it could work. The iPad is a wonderfully powerful business tool / educational tool built on a solid platform. Unfortunately Apple is not spending enough time with its software development as it was in the early 2000’s.
For the education market, I can see where a combination tablet/laptop would make sense. I just hope LA and Apple can figure out how to work together since that’s a HUGE market and a lot of business that Apple wouldn’t want to miss out on.
Nevertheless, there are hundreds of successful school deployments around the world. Was LA not aware of successful deployments or called upon other successful schools for advice? If you intend on going for a massive deployment you need to be proactive and cover all areas of weakness. Surely the people in charge had this under control, right?
Second largest school district in the US, largest county in a repeatedly bankrupt state. I’m sure they knew what they were doing.
/perpetuatingOP’sSarcasm
They probably just missed something. Remember, this deal happened a while back, it’s a deal that happened last week.
If they had restrictions on the iPads none of this would have happend.
If you dig deep enough I suspect we may find Apple was wronged in this whole fiasco and they’re likely staying tight-lipped about it because they don’t want to look like an aggressor chasing after a school board. Everything I’ve read on the subject points back to the board.
How in the world can you blame Apple for a failed deployment. As noted by m_marchant, there are hundreds if not thousands of successful deployments of iPads for education. One of the worst school districts in the US decides to pass the buck to Apple? Someone’s just trying to reach into the deep pockets of another to save face. Spend more time on improving your system, instead of trying find a gimmick and a way to spend grants. Perhaps spend the funding on increasing educator wages, new books, new class materials/equipment, educational videos.
I took part in that junk of a school system and know from personal experience how bad it is. Just look at Aldema or Arroyo Seco Elementary. Schools should focus on what they can DO for the students to help them, not what they can GIVE them.
The LA Board does have a history of spending money on everything but teacher salaries and students. They love architecture! http://www.publicschoolreview.com/blog/5-most-expensive-high-schools-in-america
3 of the 5 most expensive schools in the country are in LA! LA is great if you’re in the construction business, not so much for kids.
The software developer Pearson failed, not Apple. Apple did there part and provided the iPads and instructions on how to bring the software onto them and so on. Pearson was the software provider that was to have software specifically made for the L.A. school district that would lock down the iPads so students could not bypass and so forth. They failed miserably because when they promised to deliver there software they actually had no software programed. Only a demo of it. Pearson failed to deliver the software needed to run the iPads in a controlled way. Everyone knows iPads have been very successful in many many schools without all of the drama that L.A. has had. In the end Pearson should be liable for the failure, not Apple.
That would make sense. It sounds like you have a little better/more accurate information on the subject. Are you an educator in LA County?
Pearson can’t be liable because Apple bundled the Pearson software into their iPads so LAUSD could use bond money to pay for them. Ultimately, all points of sales went through Apple so LAUSD in unable to go after Pearson. The only option left to LAUSD is to go after Apple, unfortunately.
“LAUSD officials are apparently ‘optimistic’ that they were in compliance with the rules.”
optimistic….That’s the first clue that they knew they were not.
Remember, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky…”
We know how that turned out….