LEANING RIGHT-You just had to see this coming. The LAUSD is temporarily pulling the plug on plans to give students iPads and let them take them home. Actually the plug should have been pulled long ago on all this nonsense. It never should have started.
In a not so surprising move it took Mongo, the student, all of 5 minutes to cut through district security like a hot knife through butter, allowing all the other students to check websites, chat, and browse rather than stick to school work.
The high school students simply deleted their iPad personal profiles, removing any security put in place. Asked why they broke through district security limits, one Theodore Roosevelt High School student explained that they can now do anything with them.
The school is citing “safety” for the reason they are suspending plans to let students take the iPads home according to a memo from senior district officials to the Board of Education and LA Schools Supt. John Deasy. As of when is dumb spelled “S-A-F-E-T-Y”?
School district Police Chief Steven Zipperman, writing in a memo, even got into the act: “This is just a sample of what will likely occur on other campuses once this hits Twitter, YouTube and other social media sites explaining to our students how to breach or compromise the security of these devices.”
He said putting a hold on the iPad distribution will “prevent a runaway train scenario.” Before any more iPads head home, the district may want to hire the high school kids to develop a more flexible policy. In an environment where the kids breath high tech, with last- century technology the LAUSD is sure to get an F.
The students will also give a grade of F to the LAUSD on the whole concept.
Staff at Roosevelt and Westchester confirmed that the $700 iPads were taken back Friday by school officials. But a Roosevelt teacher said only about two-thirds of the tablets were returned.
The district tally of hackers was 260 students at Roosevelt, 10 students from Angelou Community High School, and 79 at Westchester High. The numbers could be higher based on reports from students and employees at the campuses.
Thanks, citizens and taxpayers of Los Angeles!
Too bad the district can’t afford to repair its buildings, repair fountains, reduce class sizes, or hire teachers. There are currently over 16,000 repair requests across the District. The Venice High visitor bleachers at its football field have been collapsing for years and are dangerous. Many schools need their air conditioning systems repaired.
The next logical question is “Exactly what part of the school construction bonds does an iPad fall under?” This deal reeks of collusion and kickbacks. Three LAUSD Board members own Apple stock. How on earth does the Board accept a deal for these devices that does not include a discount. We’re talking about 700,000 units and $1-billion.
None of the above takes into account the collusion and corruption that will occur higher up the food chain. This includes the purchasing agents, warehouse supervisors, teachers, plant managers, distributors, technicians, managers, and millions of dollars. They are all asking themselves “why let Mongo and the students have all the fun?”
A little sleight of hand and creative accounting and everybody is going to be real happy. Remember we’re talking about $1-billion.
Nor does the above factor in that the iPads will not provide a guarantee the students’ native intelligence or scores will improve. If I had to predict, the iPads will have a negative effect on their mathematical skills because the students will simply rely on the tablets.
Does anybody know where I can get a good deal on eBay for iPads?
(Kay Martin is an author and a CityWatch contributor. His new book, Along for the Ride, is now available. He can be reached at [email protected])
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 11 Issue 80
Pub: Oct 4, 2013