L.A. School District Officially Ends $1.3 Billion iPad Initiative in the Midst of an FBI Investigation

[01silver4]

$1.3B worth of iPads now sitting in warehouses, unsold.

With this and recent news of declining iPad / tablet sales, all I can say is "Apple is doomed".

How is apple doomed are u serious? In the news last week it reported that apple is worth over 7billon dollars. Have u seen the sales of the new iphone 6/6+? You need to do some research before u come on here with that propaganda. If that is the case similar company Will go down first before Apple does. The iPad may drop in sales, but Apple can turn that around with changes to the iPad and it would be on top again just like that. For example look at the 6/6+ big hit for Apple, they have sold well over 10millon units. And there are still people waiting in line for there 6plus. So to say Apple is doomed I can't see that happening any time soon. The 6/6+ is the best selling iphone for Apple ever. So all Apple has to do is make improvement to the the iPad and boom it would be on top again just like that.

 

[prowlmedia]

Do you actually expect anyone to take you seriously?

Yes all of the above is true even when you copy and paste things out of context.

You Take anyone actually. See I can do it too. Back in your box.

 

[01silver4]

All of you saying, "We need better teachers!" are missing the point. There are still many fantastic teachers that are inspiring our children every day. These iPads often save the school districts thousands of taxpayers dollars in the long run due to the prices and replacement rates of printed textbooks. My daughter's SD received a technology grant from the state. They chose to use it to put iPads in the hands of every student from 6-12th grade. While that was a huge bill initially, they are now ahead because when they launched the iPads they were due to replace nearly ALL of their textbooks within the next 2 years. Let's see... $400/iPad/student (they purchased iPad 2's right after the 3's came out, which knocked the price down!) plus purchase of downloadable textbooks... or $100/textbook/student. Average student has 7 textbooks so around $700/student. With printed textbooks, any updates or corrections cannot be done until the next time they are replaced. With the iPads, the publisher is able to push through any updates (if I recall correctly, they said this happens as often as quarterly).

And let's not forget how ridiculously heavy carrying around a bunch of textbooks used to be!! The students now carry a couple of soft workbooks and an iPad rather than 20+ lbs of books. Also, they no longer have to carry a separate calculator or borrow a dictionary/thesaurus from the library as those things are now at their fingertips. Anyone remember having outdated info in encyclopedias growing up? That is a thing of the past for today's students!

As a bonus: the iPads are teaching the students to be technologically advanced...just like their future jobs will be! My daughter emails in her weekend homework on Friday night and usually on Saturday morning she already has her updated grade from the teacher.

You could have said it better. Technology is the way of the future and can be a powerful tool if used in the correct way. I Bought iPads for both my daughters. iPad mini2 for my 6year old who loves to read, iPad air for my 11year old. Who does a lot of her reading and project research with her iPad. They both use them for constructive things most of the time. And not just playing games and streaming Netflix. I am very serious when it comes on to my girls educations. They have to report to me every day on what they did in class. They are ask everyday if they have home work if not why. I have there teachers emails and some there phone numbers so I can find out from time to time how they are doing in class etc. As there father my goal is to equipe them for the future the best I can. I don't just rely on the school system to do it for me. But I try to work hand in hand with there teachers to make Sure they have the best opertunity for success. There is nothing wrong with using technology in the class room because with a good teacher both can be very beneficial for our children in the end. A mean there are students in Japan putting together Casio digital watches etc. I feel like there no amount of money in the world that can be spend to educate our children. The money they pay our teachers is ridiculous. If our children is to be the future why don't we do what ever it takes to make sure that happens. I have so much more that I need to say but I will just end it with to be continued.

 

[charlituna]

How is apple doomed are u serious? .

No he's not. And anyone taking note of the yellow dot at the end would see that.

It's a standing joke that the media cries "Apple is doomed" every piece of seemingly negative news. Forgetting that, among other things, Apple has like $100 billion dollars in cash in the bank.

 

[01silver4]

No he's not. And anyone taking note of the yellow dot at the end would see that.

It's a standing joke that the media cries "Apple is doomed" every piece of seemingly negative news. Forgetting that, among other things, Apple has like $100 billion dollars in cash in the bank.

Ok my bad I didn't take note at first.

 

[jeremiah256]

So, a quick look through the articles and I can't see what the contract was supposed to cover or for how long. There are 640K students in LAUSD. If the contract was for 10 years, covering normal upkeep, maintenance, replacement, infrastructure, and other educational services, that's a little over $200 per student per year.

Not bad. Especially since you'd probably see savings in other areas (writing supplies, ebooks vice destroyable paperbooks).

That said, could they have gotten more bang for the tax payer's buck with a Chromebook? Absolutely. In a school environment, if you're going for one size fits all, the Chromebook can't be beat. With bulk purchasing discounts and the low and falling price of Chromebooks, for that same $1.3B, you conceiveably could have replaced each student's Chromebook every year if need be; not something you can do with an iPad and the upgrade path for iPads is less clear if you're looking over a 10 year period. Plus, those living in poorer communities would be less likely to sell or get their Chromebooks stolen then if they used iPads.

If the contract was for a significantly less (in duration and scope) then someone has a lot of explaining to do.

 

[Oletros]

Yes all of the above is true

No, it isn't

 

[rowspaxe]

You know, I hear this same song time and again from Americans about the abysmal educational system and how your kids aren't learning.

Yet immigrant children go through the same educational system and excel. As an immigrant I experienced that myself as well as my extended family and friends.

Maybe it has less to do with how much money you spend on education and more to do with the American culture???

American educational institutions have declined in step with American culture. The immigrants who suceed in those schools come from cultures that value learning and are essentially home schooled.

 

[smoledman]

So, a quick look through the articles and I can't see what the contract was supposed to cover or for how long. There are 640K students in LAUSD. If the contract was for 10 years, covering normal upkeep, maintenance, replacement, infrastructure, and other educational services, that's a little over $200 per student per year.

Not bad. Especially since you'd probably see savings in other areas (writing supplies, ebooks vice destroyable paperbooks).

That said, could they have gotten more bang for the tax payer's buck with a Chromebook? Absolutely. In a school environment, if you're going for one size fits all, the Chromebook can't be beat. With bulk purchasing discounts and the low and falling price of Chromebooks, for that same $1.3B, you conceiveably could have replaced each student's Chromebook every year if need be; not something you can do with an iPad and the upgrade path for iPads is less clear if you're looking over a 10 year period. Plus, those living in poorer communities would be less likely to sell or get their Chromebooks stolen then if they used iPads.

If the contract was for a significantly less (in duration and scope) then someone has a lot of explaining to do.

Or a Windows with Bing laptop that can be had for $200.