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L.A. Unified School District Suspends $1 Billion iPad Contract with Apple

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macrumors bot
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Los Angeles school district superintendent John Deasy halted the district's iPad contract with Apple in mid-rollout, reports the LA Times. The $1-billion multi-year contract would supply LAUSD students with iPads that were pre-loaded with curriculum from Pearson.

students-ipad.jpeg

The contract was administered in phases with an initial $30-million investment to equip a pilot group of students with iPads. Additional payments totaling almost $1 billion would expand the project to additional students and build out the wireless infrastructure to support tablet usage at the district's schools. Each phase was subject to approval with the option of canceling the project if it no longer met the district's needs.

Deasy's suspension follows criticism of the project rollout and its bidding process, which some claim was modified to favor Apple and Pearson. While issues with securing the iPads surfaced shortly after rollout, the contractual complaints were detailed in a district technology committee draft report that was obtained recently by the LA Times.
Among the findings was that the initial rules for winning the contract appeared to be tailored to the products of the eventual winners -- Apple and Pearson -- rather than to demonstrated district needs. The report found that key changes to the bidding rules were made after most of the competition had been eliminated under the original specifications.

In addition, the report said that past comments or associations with vendors, including Deasy, created an appearance of conflict even if no ethics rules were violated.
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While Deasy responds to these criticisms, the technology program at LAUSD is moving forward with other devices and alternative curriculum being adopted by schools in the district. The district is expected to purchase up to 18,000 laptops with Apple and Pearson invited to bid on this new contract.

Article Link: L.A. Unified School District Suspends $1 Billion iPad Contract with Apple
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/08/26/lausd-suspends-ipad/
sputnikv

sputnikv

macrumors 6502a
Oct 3, 2009
507
3,187
That seems like a tremendous amount of money for a school district to have.
 
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octothorpe8

macrumors 6502
Feb 27, 2014
424
0
Yeah, given that the bond measure was for school infrastructure and their buildings are crumbling, this is a good move. Also doesn't help that the devices were a trojan horse to get a specific educational publisher's products into the hands of students (at a great cost, of course).

They were also paying $800/iPad, which is just disgusting.
 
Suture

Suture

macrumors 65816
Feb 22, 2007
1,002
212
I guess I could see where over time (years), this could eventually turn the corner towards saving money vs traditional books. However in the school districts where these have been deployed (I think we even have them up here in Northern VA?) -- have there been any crime events (muggings) associated with this?
 
A

alent1234

macrumors 603
Jun 19, 2009
5,688
170
octothorpe8 said:
Yeah, given that the bond measure was for school infrastructure and their buildings are crumbling, this is a good move. Also doesn't help that the devices were a trojan horse to get a specific educational publisher's products into the hands of students (at a great cost, of course).

They were also paying $800/iPad, which is just disgusting.
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which included the software
 
ArtOfWarfare

ArtOfWarfare

macrumors G3
Nov 26, 2007
9,560
6,059
octothorpe8 said:
Yeah, given that the bond measure was for school infrastructure and their buildings are crumbling, this is a good move. Also doesn't help that the devices were a trojan horse to get a specific educational publisher's products into the hands of students (at a great cost, of course).

They were also paying $800/iPad, which is just disgusting.
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Um... you seem unaware of the cost of other things schools buy that they no longer need to buy, IE, textbooks (did you happen to go to college where you had to actually buy them yourself? One semester can easily go over $800 in books. I think one semester I ended up spending $1050 on books,) and computers.
 
JoEw

JoEw

macrumors 68000
Nov 29, 2009
1,583
1,291
tigres said:
Hey Apple,

Perhaps consider a volume discount in the future. IDK
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the bulk of the price was likely Pearson content, Apple does offer volume education discounts.
 
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iMerik

iMerik

macrumors 6502a
May 3, 2011
666
522
Upper Midwest
I'd like to know how successful the pilot program was for actually educating children better. I'm quite skeptical in educators' abilities to use technology effectively for education.
 
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ThisIsNotMe

Suspended
Aug 11, 2008
1,849
1,062
ArtOfWarfare said:
Um... you seem unaware of the cost of other things schools buy that they no longer need to buy, IE, textbooks (did you happen to go to college where you had to actually buy them yourself? One semester can easily go over $800 in books. I think one semester I ended up spending $1050 on books,) and computers.
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A book has an 'infinent' lifespan. This software as well as an iPad maxes out at 3 to 5 years.
 
GoCubsGo

GoCubsGo

macrumors Nehalem
Feb 19, 2005
35,741
153
sputnikv said:
That seems like a tremendous amount of money for a school district to have.
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Not really when you look at head count.
Pearson has been invited to bid…translation, all other bids will fall short no matter what.


So it is $1 billion today, what about in a few years when new iPads are needed? How long will an iPad last in the hands of a student who likely has no reason to take care of it? Can parents replace it if broken? I believe that is how other schools function, under contract with parents that they will replace it if lost or destroyed. I could be wrong.
 
yaxomoxay

yaxomoxay

macrumors 604
Mar 3, 2010
7,410
34,211
Texas
iMerik said:
I'd like to know how successful the pilot program was for actually educating children better. I'm quite skeptical in educators' abilities to use technology effectively for education.
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Lazy teachers will delegate teaching to the software.
 
lolkthxbai

lolkthxbai

macrumors 65816
May 7, 2011
1,426
489
1 billion would expand the project to additional students and build out the wireless infrastructure to support tablet usage at the district's schools.
 
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patohi

macrumors regular
Sep 16, 2009
157
70
Chromebooks
With google rolling things out like classroom it is very tempting for IT departments at school districts...
 
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