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

[chrisbru]

And yet nobody blinks twice when professional sports teams toss around hundreds of millions on a 25-man roster.

Holy non sequitur batman!

Pro sports teams make far more than they spend. It's called capitalism. When schools start bringing in the money they spend (or more) rather than utilizing tax dollars and bonds, then they can spend whatever they want. Until then, they need to spend responsibly.

 

[charlituna]

A book has an 'infinent' lifespan. This software as well as an iPad maxes out at 3 to 5 years.

Books do NOT have an infinite lifespan. Especially textbooks. They will easily be physically destroyed in the same 3-5 years as that iPad. Plus their contents, depending on the subject matter, can 'expire' within months. In some cases, textbooks are outdated by the time they are delivered to students. The software on the other hand can be content updated every year and likely updated for new versions of iOS rather easily depending on the basic structure since Apple doesn't rewrite iOS a la Mac OS 9 to X every year

 

[PocketSand11]

Can anyone with a good knowledge of networking and security help me understand the bias towards Windows based computers? I hear constantly that macs aren't supported or allowed on the network either schools or work.

Are macs a hassle to set up and keep secure?

I've never heard of them being unsupported, except maybe that there's no tech support available for them. Honestly, if my school banned Macs from the network, I'd find some hack workaround then tell everyone how to do it. Windows is sometimes better for schools because it can run on any cheap old computer. Apple's support for old hardware comes to an abrupt end after a certain number of years, but XP and 7 run on anything. As can FreeBSD...

 

[sjinsjca]

A book has an 'infinent' lifespan. This software as well as an iPad maxes out at 3 to 5 years.

Textbooks can last two or three years, maybe longer if the schools are vigilant about student damage, require covers, etc.

TBD how long iPads will survive the tender mercies of school kids.

P.S. "Infinent"?

 

[charlituna]

Lazy teachers will delegate teaching to the software.

Why not? They already delegate teaching to showing the movie version.

Lazy teachers were so before iPads etc and will be so after them. Until someone cuts tenure etc and makes them prove they deserve their jobs or will be replaced.

 

[octothorpe8]

And you apparently need to read more of them, so you can learn to spell things like "infinite."

And yet his point stands. A math book will keep working year after year no matter how many times it gets dropped. Tell me with a straight face that an iPad can do the same.

 

[charlituna]

Apple has rested on their laurels with the iPad and it will soon bite them. Instead of continuously innovating, adding capability and value (IE Price), they simply shrunk it to give people a cheaper option without adding any capability.

That's not really true. The power of the iPad is that it is basically a blank slate to be filled by developers etc. Apple adds new possibilities every year for those developers to take advantage of, if they choose. But if the developers don't use the tools, that's not Apple's fault

I enjoy my iPad, but I'm not going to pretend its nothing more than an internet browser and useful for reading the occasional book or magazine (which I still prefer paper copies of). There was no way it was ever going to takeoff in school systems.

You sound like someone that hasn't really done his homework either. Especially about the fact that they already have in several. LAUSDs issues really don't have anything to do with it being iPads versus something else but that they didn't do the proper research and planning before picking what to use.

 

[davey1107]

That seems like a tremendous amount of money for a school district to have.

Here in LA, the LAUSD serves about 750,000 students and faculty. So a billion dollars is about $1300 per person.

 

[charlituna]

Good. Schools need better and more teachers, not more tablet computers.

I wouldn't be too quick to say 'good' as that $1 billion is from a bond issue specifically for tech. If LAUSD doesn't use it for that they legally can't use it for anything else. The only other choice is to voluntarily give it up and let the tax payers stop paying it.

 

[octothorpe8]

Difference is sports teams pull in a ton of profit. Public schools are money sinks funded by tax dollars

You want to hear about some bigger "money sink"? Prisons. An undereducated populace. But yeah, keep those sports teams going.

 

[charlituna]

So the school district suspends a legitimate contractual agreement because it is receiving criticism about the bidding process?

If the district didn't follow proper protocol then they should be on the hook. Yes Apple could end up suing them for not following through on the contract but I doubt they will given all the press, mainly highly negative, the whole affair has gotten. Honestly they will make the money elsewhere.

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Chromebook's to the rescue! At least with Chromebook's the admins can restrict access to games and stuff like that.

until some smart ass kid figures out how to hack his chromebook. If a restriction can be set, it can be broken. Setting it at all is a challenge for a kid.

 

[davey1107]

Apple will win it again

Here in LA, we're eager to equip our students with tablets as a cost effective method of moving to digital textbooks and 21st century educational practices. How we keep 9 year-olds from destroying their iPad...we'll work on that.

If the bid process was rigged, that's not good for the taxpayers. But as an app developer, I also believe iPad to be the most appropriate and cost effective tool for students. I believe Apple will be the leading contender in a new round of bidding, and hope we can move forward with equipping our kids with the best possible tech as quickly as possible.

For those new to the LAUSD project, the goal was to equip our 750,000 students and faculty with tablets for around $1 billion. (A total cost of about $1300 per person). This money is not being taken from infrastructure, as some claim, and yes it could also be well spent on teachers or soccer balls or cafeteria options. But we also imagine a world where we can take the costs of textbooks - printing, shipping, storing, replacing, updating, etc, and roll those into a digital experience that will be cheaper for schools. Can we do it? Well, in 1999 my company paid $3000 for a Dell and $250 for scheduling software, where today we have a $499 iPad and $1 app doing the same thing...so I'm personally optimistic.

 

[charlituna]

And yet his point stands. A math book will keep working year after year no matter how many times it gets dropped. Tell me with a straight face that an iPad can do the same.

not if, like many of the textbooks I was issued in high school, it has pages that were ripped out, holes in other pages, stains and gum on several more.

And my personal fav was getting a math textbook that had been used the year before by the class pervert (and apparently not checked after he turned it in). Literally every page was covered in multicolored sharpie drawings of penises, butts and even porno style drawings of women with gigantic breasts bent over to be skewered by enormous penises.

 

[Liquorpuki]

We can apply caveat emptor to our school systems and allow all manner of companies to profit off of them. And certain Wall Street has the US education budget firmly in its sights. But I don't have to be happy about the fact that companies are pushing expensive technology with dubious educational merit on our schools.

Wall St doesn't have that type of leverage

LAUSD is the one that wrote every word of the contract, not Apple or Pearson. They're the ones who ID'd a problem that had to be solved by spending taxpayer money and put the contract out for bid. Since they spend taxpayer money LAUSD is also the one who has the public trust and it's their obligation to not get seduced and properly vet their contracts.

I do contract admin for a municipality and have 2 contracts out for bid right now. If the winning bidder's deliverables don't meet my expectations or the project that requires the deliverables fail, it's my fault not theirs, because I'm the one who specifies the terms.

 

[kerrikins]

Gatekeepers to education spending are the politicians that control the municipal budgets, not sports fans. One is paid for by taxes, the other by disposable income

I don't know why you're creating a false analogy by comparing the two

Someone else was actually the one who made the initial comparison, and someone else replied with the excuse that they're private. This is something that we all need to get over because if anything we should be willing and happy to spend money on education, not whining about it.

 

[yankinwaoz]

Good!

I'm not against using tablets in school. I think it is a good idea.

However, I am disgusted by how the LAUSD planned to pay for these iPads. They floated a 20 year bond. That is just stupid. You never finance something on terms longer than the life expectancy of the resource. Would you take out a 20 year loan to by an iPad? Of course not! So why does the LAUSD think that is a good idea?

They can take that cash and buy $150 Android tablets, locked down so no other apps can be installed or settings changed. Make sure each tablet has a unique admin password so that a general one doesn't get leaked to the students.

Lock the TCPIP stack to only route to school run proxy server that only allows access to school student material.

Then all the tablet is good for is running school apps and accessing school content.

 

[Liquorpuki]

You want to hear about some bigger "money sink"? Prisons. An undereducated populace. But yeah, keep those sports teams going.

I like you guys can't tell the difference between public money and disposable income

 

[foodog]

How would digital books fix this if they can still charge for digital books? They'll pull this crap whether the books are printed or digital. There's no way around it other than forcing policies of keeping old books, unless you count piracy.

It doesn't... and it also has nothing to do with the specific topic I commented on... which was print books last forever. Which isn't true either since they are kind of susceptible to environmental issues like fire and water.

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640K?

Pfft... thats enough for anyone!!

or at least it should be....

 

[Liquorpuki]

Someone else was actually the one who made the initial comparison, and someone else replied with the excuse that they're private. This is something that we all need to get over because if anything we should be willing and happy to spend money on education, not whining about it.

If it worked, nobody would be complaining

People are whining because the project failed miserably and LAUSD is still the same crappy LAUSD, just $30M poorer.

School board could've taken that same $30M and spent it on education some other way instead of wasting it.

 

[plix]

And yet nobody blinks twice when professional sports teams toss around hundreds of millions on a 25-man roster.

That is such a bad analogy.

 

[octothorpe8]

I like you guys can't tell the difference between public money and disposable income

I like you guys who can't make the connection between a comparatively small and humane investment that society can make and the future of its children and its economy.

For the record, I could give a crap either way about sports, but people who whine about spending money on education are just plain idiots.

 

[GeneralChang]

Books do NOT have an infinite lifespan. Especially textbooks. They will easily be physically destroyed in the same 3-5 years as that iPad. Plus their contents, depending on the subject bobcat, can 'expire' within months. In some cases, textbooks are outdated by the time they are delivered to students. The software on the other hand can be content updated every year and likely updated for new versions of iOS rather easily depending on the basic structure since Apple doesn't rewrite iOS a la Mac OS 9 to X every year

I read an article by an author of grade school textbooks who pointed out that most of the people actually writing the text aren't subject matter experts for whatever the book is about, and often they go to Wikipedia or a similar source to fill in the blanks.

So you know, the content might be wrong before the book is even started.

 

[octothorpe8]

LAUSD is the one that wrote every word of the contract, not Apple or Pearson.

Exactly true. You can't fault companies for trying to make money — it's what they do (in fact in the case of publicly held corporations, they're *required* to do whatever necessary, no matter what the societal/ecological impact, to make turn a profit for shareholders).

You can fault administrators for spending it poorly though.

 

[Mr. Buzzcut]

Because that's PRIVATE money. Schools are PUBLIC money, huge difference.

This keeps getting repeated but stadiums and infrastructure are often public money as well as the tax breaks a team may get to stay in a particular area. It's not a great analogy but the rebuttals aren't necessarily true.

 

[Tanegashima]

Apple just needs a better guy to be in front of this.

1. Those stupid IT guys only know what they learned on 1990's/2000's, an iPad is too complicated for them, I use the Apple's MDM software, it's easy to use, you can make what you want with an iPad it works well, and it's even free.

The thing is, not everybody is smart as me to figure it out. Most people working on IT management don't know what they are doing, and all they do is repeat the steps tought at formation.

Who formatted this guys? Microsoft, CISCO, etc. not Apple.

Collaborating with IBM here would be essential. Tim Cook, what are you waiting for?

2. Price. Apple, don't let Android or Chrome get into this, just give away the iPads at price of cost, right now. Inertia will bring you the $, it works for Microsoft, can work for iPad's in education.

3. Content, this one is harder, but it would help to make iBooks Author (ebooks that really look and do better than regular books) would help both convincing the teachers when they see it working. Also, a good strategy for lock-in.

4. Partner with logitech, they have an EXCELLENT keyboard for the iPad, it's expensive, tough. Offer a way that can charge both the keyboard and the iPad, and start manufacturing those things by the half million.