Journalist Kathleen Sharp summarizes the incredible iPad fiasco in Los Angeles in Salon. The article is called “Rotten to the Core.” Let’s face it: the gold rush is on, and tech companies will clean up.
She writes:
“Technology companies may soon be getting muddied from a long-running scandal at the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the nation’s second-largest system. A year after the cash-strapped district signed a $1 billion contract with Apple to purchase iPads for every student, the once-ballyhooed deal has blown up. Now the mess threatens to sully other vendors from Cambridge to Cupertino.
“LAUSD superintendent John Deasy is under fire for his cozy connections to Apple. In an effort to deflect attention and perhaps to show that “everybody else is doing it,” he’s demanded the release of all correspondence between his board members and technology vendors. It promises to be some juicy reading. But at its core, the LAUSD fiasco illustrates just how much gold lies beneath even the dirtiest, most neglected public schoolyard.
“As the U.S. starts implementing federal Common Core State Standards, teachers and administrators are being driven to adopt technology as never before. That has set off a scramble in Silicon Valley to grab as much of the $9 billion K-12 market as possible, and Apple, Google, Cisco and others are mud-wrestling to seize a part of it. Deasy and the LAUSD have given us ringside seats to this match, which shows just how low companies will go.”
The deal was ballyhooed as a win for civil rights, but that was a cynical joke. Apple was the winner, having sold LAUSD an outmoded model at top dollar.
She writes:
“Alas, problems began to appear almost immediately. First, some clever LAUSD students hacked the iPads and deleted security filters so they could roam the Internet freely and watch YouTube videos. Then, about $2 million in iPads and other devices went “missing.” Worse was the discovery that the pricey curriculum software, developed by Pearson Education Corp., wasn’t even complete. And the board looked foolish when it had to pay even more money to buy keyboards for iPads so that students could actually type out their reports.
“Then, there was the deal itself. Whereas many companies extend discounts to schools and other nonprofits, Apple usually doesn’t, said George Michaels, executive director of Instructional Development at University of California at Santa Barbara. “Whatever discounts Apple gives are pretty meager.” The Chronicle of Philanthropy has noted Apple’s stingy reputation, and CEO Tim Cook has been trying to change the corporation’s miserly ways by giving $50 million to a local hospital and $50 million to an African nonprofit.
“But the more we learned about the Apple “deal,” the more the LAUSD board seemed outmaneuvered. The district had bought iPad 4s, which have since been discontinued, but Apple had locked the district into paying high prices for the old models. LAUSD had not checked with its teachers or students to see what they needed or wanted, and instead had forced its end users to make the iPads work. Apple surely knew that kids needed keypads to write reports, but sold them just part of what they needed.
“Compared with similar contracts signed by other districts, Apple’s deal for Los Angeles students looked crafty, at best. Perris Union High School District in Riverside County, for example, bought Samsung Chromebooks for only $344 per student. And their laptop devices have keyboards and multiple input ports for printers and thumb drives. The smaller Township High School District 214 in Illinois bought old iPad 2s without the pre-loaded, one-size-fits-all curriculum software. Its price: $429 per student.
“But LAUSD paid Apple a jaw-dropping $768 per student, and LAUSD parents were not happy. As Manel Saddique wrote on a social media site: “Btw, thanks for charging a public school district more than the regular consumer price per unit, Apple. Keep it classy…”
The deal, she says, is indeed rotten:
“If you step back from the smarmy exchanges, a bigger picture emerges. Yes, LAUSD is grossly mismanaged and maybe even dysfunctional. But corporations like Apple don’t look so good, either. Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Apple, Hewlett Packard — the companies that are cashing in on our classroom crisis are the same ones that helped defund the infrastructure that once made public schools so good. Sheltering billions of dollars from federal taxes may be great for the top 10 percent of Americans, who own 90 percent of the stock in these corporations. But it’s a catastrophe for the teachers, schools and universities that helped develop their technology and gave the companies some of its brightest minds. In the case of LAUSD, Apple comes across as cavalier about the problem it’s helped create for low-income students, and seems more concerned with maximizing its take from the district.
But the worst thing about this scandal is what it’s done to the public trust. The funds for this billion-dollar boondoggle were taken from voter-approved school construction and modernization bonds — bonds that voters thought would be used for physical improvements. At a time when LAUSD schools, like so many across the country, are in desperate need of physical repairs, from corroded gas lines to broken play structures, the Apple deal has cast a shadow over school bonds. Read the popular “Repairs Not iPads” page on Facebook and parents’ complaints about the lack of air conditioning, librarians and even toilet paper in school bathrooms. Sadly, replacing old fixtures and cheap trailers with new plumbing and classrooms doesn’t carry the kind of cachet for ambitious school boards as does, say, buying half-a-million electronic tablets. As one mom wrote: “Deasy has done major long-term damage because not one person will ever vote for any future bond measures supporting public schools.”
“Now, the Apple deal is off, although millions of dollars have already been spent. An investigation into the bidding process is underway and there are cries to place Deasy in “teacher jail,” a district policy that keeps teachers at home while they’re under investigation. And LAUSD students, who are overwhelmingly Hispanic and African-American, have once again been given the short end of the stick. They were promised the sort of “tools that heretofore only rich kids have had,” and will probably not see them for several years, if ever. The soured Apple deal just adds to the sense of injustice that many of these students already see in the grown-up world.
“Deasy contends that that he did nothing wrong. In a few weeks, the public official will get his job performance review. In the meantime, he’s called for the release of all emails and documents written between board members and other Silicon Valley and corporate education vendors. The heat in downtown Los Angeles is spreading to Northern California and beyond, posing a huge political problem for not just Deasy but for Cook and other high-tech captains.
“But at the bottom of this rush to place technology in every classroom is the nagging feeling that the goal in buying expensive devices is not to improve teachers’ abilities, or to lighten their load. It’s not to create more meaningful learning experiences for students or to lift them out of poverty or neglect. It’s to facilitate more test-making and profit-taking for private industry, and quick, too, before there’s nothing left.”
Clean up? Seems more likely they will leave behind a huge mess…
They didn’t and don’t have any idea what it will cost to do it well, or at all really:
“In response to problems with providing iPads to all students, teachers and campus administrators, the Los Angeles school system will double the number of people who will help with technical and instructional issues.
Getting such aid to L.A. Unified schools and teachers was one key recommendation from a critical evaluation of the district’s $1.3-billion technology program.
The technical assistance this year will involve about 120 employees at a cost of about $3.9 million to the general fund and about $5.3 million charged to school construction bonds.”
“The technology project evaluation was conducted by the Washington, D.C.-based American Institutes for Research, which has a five-year $2.5-million contract.
The report recorded widespread complaints with the Pearson curriculum, and little use of it. Among 245 classrooms visited in May, only one was using the Pearson materials.”
What was the big rush, again? Anyone remember what the trumped-up crisis was? Were we “falling behind other countries” so everyone had to have a device, immediately?
Thanks Diane for bringing this new article to light. The LA Times today does another ‘pass’ on Deasy’s many failures, and Jim Newton accentuates what he calls successes. However the upward numbers in terms of graduation rates had started due to programs in place before Deasy came to LAUSD. Newton ignores the huge problem of MiSiS, the failed tech system that has left thousands of students falling behind in classroom assignments, and in college prep courses. Once more his informed choice of tech was doomed to fail because of his engorged ego. Deasy was advised by many that the system was not yet ready, but he insisted on imposing it at the start of this Fall term.
The LA Times seems to be consistently influenced by Eli Broad who they, (as in Karin Kelein’s recent editorial) quote as saying, “this Board micro manages Deasy”…and “he is the best Superintendent we have ever had”…of course they leave out that Broad forced the prior BoE to hire this man with his phony PhD, and his business background working for Bill Gates, and his training at the Broad Academy to be a CEO rather than an academic leader, and he immediately hiring Jaime Aquino right out of his Pearson job. Then these two Broadies jumped right in and seemingly colluded with Apple and Pearson for the $1.3 billion iPad and software. Surprise !
Now, teachers, principals, and staff are coming apart at the seams trying to piece meal the student data….and there seems to be no rapid plan in place to ameliorate the failure of this technology of MiSiS. Schools also are so short handed because Deasy wasted money that could and should have been used for building repairs and hiring back teachers, librarians, nurses, and staff. Instead he colluded with his favored tech firms for their huge pay day.
Mendacity is his stock in trade. And probably he will again work with Parent Revolution and United Way in the next few weeks before he is to be evaluated, to orchestrate another day of street theater at the BoE building in order to attract media coverage and to influence the vote of the Board, as he did last Oct. 29, all of which I reported on this site.
Jim Newton of the LA Times also sloughs over the vast teacher opinions of Deasy as with their close to 100% NO CONFIDENCE vote last year. The union, UTLA, is well advised to finally stand up to this bully Superintendent’s mismanagement, and his lack of interest in teachers. He follows the dictates of his mentor, Eli Broad, and continues to destroy LAUSD while wasting multi millions of dollars on his failed projects.
The community is finally fighting back and demanding he be fired. Many activists feel that Jackie Goldberg, a long term inner city teacher, who was on the BoE and was the President, and then was elected to the LA City Council, with her valid academic credentials from UC Berkeley and U.of Chicago, would be an excellent interim Superintendent. She could set LAUSD on a steady course and she understands how to work collaboratively with the BoE.
Ellen Lubic, there was a typo in the LA Times editorial. It was supposed to read: “This Broad [Eli] micromanages Deasy.”
You made me smile…yes, that would have been correct.
I like the idea of a woman at the helm of LAUSD, whether its Jackie Goldberg or not, who knows. Responding to the performance evaluation of John DZ, it appears that the Oct 29th evaluation was not written and is no where to be found.Shouldn’t that have been a public record, why is his previous eval not available or strangely, nonexistent? Everyone else in this school district is evaluated on paper and later viewed as to the contents of the evaluation. This is disturbing, in the Oct 21st evaluation, I want the BOE to provide a written record of the evaluation and in truth, the performance eval should be an open hearing. What is so personal that the public, who pays this superintendent, can not hear. The way it is now, the public cannot hear the evaluation in an open meeting nor can they read the evaluation because the BOE does not keep a written record. What madness is this? Taxpayers, we’re being had again.
Wow, Paula…did not realize that all the 91% info has been wiped. Check with UTLA….I think it was the union survey. But it was reported on LASR, the LA Times, and I know I wrote it up here on Diane’s site.
Ellen, I’m talking about the performance evaluation the BOE did, not the teachers. Acc to la school report, when asked about the previous performance eval, they didn’t have anything written. That seems strange, huh.
Very strange…this all should be in the BoE saved, meeting reports.
There are some choice words that could be used to describe this. Teachers are a creative bunch. We can all come up with a list of adjectives and descriptors.
BTW- Hope you’re healing and doing well Diane.
Thanks, Mark, it is a slow process. I am not dancing yet. I went to see an expert on scar tissue, and he put my leg in a cast that I can wear half the day. It helps a lot. The good news: no new surgery.
Great news…much better than surgery.
The real loss is the decimated trust we should have in our public school district. It will take a miracle to turn this situation around. A miracle or a few brave insiders to shed an focused spotlight on these corporate villains and their minions. ugh…so despicable.
You are so right on, sozo…Deasy has lost the trust of the teachers and the parents…and certainly of the public who are the taxpayers who have watched their hard earned tax money go down the corporate drain because of his terrible decisions.
There are those who feel replacing DZ will not stop the corruption that exists in LAUSD and to an extent, that’s true. What replacing DZ will do is to underline the fact that malfeasance and unethical management will be dealt with decisively. Its not ok for public officials to use our hard earned tax dollars to enrich themselves and their friends. Not disciplining DZ will send the message that its ok to commit criminal acts and ignore public welfare of our schools in LAUSD thereby supporting a culture of lies,deceit,unethical behavior. We must fire this superintendent to get the reputation of our district back and set an example that the public is who we truly support, not private, greedy deformers.
Paula, you are so wrong! Just say you are doing. It “for the kids,” and all is forgiven. Then gild the lily by saying you are doing it for civil rights, and you are forgiven and celebrated and you get away with anything.
“And when every last cent of their money was spent, the Fix-It-Up Chappie packed up — and he went!”
I used to read that book to my kids and “forget” the last page, where the Sneetches actually proved that they could learn from their mistakes. It’s sad, but probably more realistic that way.
Thanks again Salon for your tremendous reporting on this woeful scenario that ONLY happens when the powerful and well-connected steam roll their way over every soul that suffers from their righteous determination.
Big Money has gone all in for John Deasy. And vice versa.
What a pathetic lack of leadership and vision that enriches so many but completely abuses the wonderful kids and community in our LAUSD school system.
I am so sad that the Democratic power structure in LA has separate standards for their own kids that they give mine.
And they are so aggressively determined to make sure my kids DON’T have a shot. Their steadfast financial, political and media support of John Deasy speaks volumes of their selfishness. It is like listening to a litany from the super wealthy how Ronald Reagan was the Working Man’s best friend and we need MORE of his policies to make us better off.
NONE of LA’s power structure have any skin in the game with their own flesh and blood.
Their callowness and stridency for my kids’ future is why revolutions ferment.
There has NEVER been a true debate about what constitutes a “good” education for my kids. It starts by giving MY kids what YOUR kids have in school.
John Deasy and the Koch Brothers both cite Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as their inspiration with the same damaging effects. The rich and powerful Democrats in LA don’t ever have to live with the consequences of their education policies. Teachers have had zero say in John Deasy’s world. The LA TIMES has NEVER put forth what pedagogy Deasy offers my kids is something they wish THEIR kids had too.
The Board of Ed is ridiculous, looking only to those in power to tell them what to do.
My heart breaks thinking what has happened to PROGRESSIVE thoughtful education in LA. John Deasy is held up as a demi-God and no one on the inside has the guts to stand and tear down his 24 story statue at Beaudry.
Thank you Salon Magazine. Thank you Progressive Magazine. Thank you Nation Magazine. All your exposes and investigative reporting IS getting through and making a difference to those of us on the outside. It gives the large number of us who believe in social justice and public education, the hope, strength and intellectual facts to bear witness.
And one day, maybe some of what you are reporting will make it inside to the people who wield our city’s true power and give them courage too.
Here is a copy of my letter to the editor of the LA Times sent about an hour ago. :Hope others here send one to them castigating Newton’s column today, and also castingating Deasy. Salon.com hits it squarely on the crazy head.
—————————————————————————————–
Deasy and Newton’sTwisted Facts
Again, the LA Times shows it’s bias in downplaying Superintendent John Deasy’s many failures and mismanagement which has cost taxpayers multi millions of wasted money. Newton sloughs over the iPad potential collusion, now visible with reports of two year old emails between Apple and Pearson, and Deasy and Aquino. But he also avoids the huge failure of the doomed MiSiS tech project, which Deasy was repeatedly advised not to impose on the district yet. He, however, insisted on using it this Fall term. Thousands of students have been left without classes needed for college entry, and teachers, staff, and principals are suffering with failed data entry problems. The education community urges he be fired now.
This mendacious and inept Superintendent colluded last Oct. 29 with Parent Revolution and United Way to orchestrate costly street theater the day his contract was up for renewal. Will they do this again in the next few weeks? Will the 91% of teachers who voted NO CONFIDENCE in Deasy show up at the BoE meeting, or will they stay in their classrooms, doing their jobs of teaching their students?
Ellen Lubic
Director, Joining Forces for Education
joiningforces4ed@aol.com
I liked the comments at the end of the Salon article. My favorite was-
“Common Core is theft from the left, in the same way that charter schools are theft from the right.”
I know my district must have overpaid for the clunky tablets that barely hold a charge or connect to the Internet. No consumer in the private sector would purchase this product. Instead of overcharging school districts for inferior products that would otherwise sit unused in a Chinese warehouse waiting for said manufacturer to pay someone to dispose of them, why don’t these billionaire tech companies just donate the devices and receive a tax write off from Uncle Sam?
I think fighting against technology in the classroom is probably futile. What we should be fighting against are scandals like Deasy in LA. The process needs to be transparent and include teacher and student feedback and training. Districts should be given discounts, if not outright donations.
Agree kafka…so please send a letter to the LA Times and express your opinion. Even though they do not publish most of our letters, they do acknowledge how many they get on a given issue.
All readers here can help us fight this battle with LAUSD.