The iPads and LAUSD

A Board of Education with a new non-reform majority began the school year facing the possible resignation of Superintendent John Deasy. The board did the right thing by offering him a contract extension.

Now it should focus on managing the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and providing the best possible education to its more than 650,000 students. Not an easy task, based on the marathon-like, contentious meeting this week.

In the end, the board reached a compromise that will let it continue its ambitious but necessary plan to provide iPads to students.

The plan, promoted by Deasy and with an expected cost of $1 billion, started out poorly when tablets were distributed in 47 schools this fall. It did not take long for 300 students in three schools to disable security filters in the devices and gain free access to the Internet. It was also never clearly defined how the parents would be responsible for the devices, and keyboards still need to be purchased so students can use the tablets to take exams.

The district must still decide how it will finance this plan, which is currently being paid for with school construction bonds.

We think that the decision the board made on Tuesday, to continue with the plan at a slower pace than what was originally planned, is reasonable. The iPads will be distributed in 35 more schools and given to all of the district’s teachers and principals. In addition, LAUSD will test the distribution of laptops in seven high schools while it reviews its contract with Apple—which produces the iPads—and evaluates the effectiveness of the tablets as teaching tools.

This spirit of compromise should guide this board in solving hurdles, always with the goal of fulfilling its important mission.