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 The district's initiative, launched in 2013, to equip each of its
roughly 650,000 students with an iPad or another computer device
with curriculum from Pearson Plc <PSON.L>, was the largest
educational technology project of its kind in the United States.
The project soon ran into difficulties, however, and the technology
rollout encountered problems, including students bypassing a
security firewall on the iPads, while an independent report found
that the built-in curriculum was often incomplete.
The Los Angeles Times said the LAUSD's Board of Education in a
closed-door meeting on Tuesday authorized its attorneys to consider
potential legal action against Apple and Pearson.
"As you are aware, LAUSD is extremely dissatisfied with the work of
Pearson," the district's general counsel, David Holmquist, said in a
letter to Apple on Monday, according to the Times. "While Apple and
Pearson promised a state-of-the-art technological solution [...]
they have yet to deliver it."
Holmquist added that the district was severing ties with both
companies for future services on the project, according to the Los
Angeles Times.
The letter was first reported by local public radio station KPCC on
Wednesday.
Reuters could not independently verify the Los Angeles Times'
report. Representatives for the district and Apple could not be
immediately reached for comment on Wednesday night.
"Pearson is proud of our long history working with LAUSD and our
significant investment in this ground-breaking initiative," a
Pearson spokesman said in an emailed statement. "This was a
large-scale implementation of new technologies and there have been
challenges with the initial adoption, but we stand by the quality of
our performance."
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John Deasy, Superintendent at the nation's second-largest school
district before he resigned in October, described the project as a
civil rights initiative to help the district's mostly disadvantaged
students. But he drew criticism over the process used to select
Apple and Pearson.
The FBI is investigating the project, and agents in December seized
20 boxes of documents relating to the program's purchasing process
from the district's headquarters.
Current LAUSD Superintendent, Ramon Cortines, said in February that
the district could not afford the program, signaling that he was
ready to abandon it.
(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Susan
Fenton)
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