Sept. 25--The Los Angeles Unified School District has reached a tentative $6.4-million settlement over Pearson educational software that it purchased but barely used. The deal is the latest fallout from an aborted plan to provide an iPad to every student, teacher and campus administrator in the nation's second-largest school district.
The Board of Education is likely to vote on the deal at its first meeting in October. The bidding process that led to the original computer contract remains the subject of an ongoing FBI investigation.
Under the settlement, Apple will pay the district $4.2 million and another computer maker, Lenovo, will lower its bill for equipment recently purchased in the amount of $2.2 million. The settlements are with the device makers because Pearson was a subcontractor to them in the purchasing agreements with L.A. Unified.
Nearly all the money will be used to buy computers through a competitive district grant program.
"There are many schools that have not received devices, but that nonetheless have a need for instructional technology and innovative ideas for how to use it," said Supt. Ramon C. Cortines in a memo this week to the Board of Education. "The $6.4 million in proceeds represents an exciting opportunity to invest in such schools and to promote collaboration among campuses."
The deal with Apple, reached in June 2013, has received the most attention because it was part of a bold initiative -- and an exclusive deal with Apple -- to provide an industry-leading tablet to all students using school modernization and construction bonds. The deal with Lenovo came later, after the district had decided to include devices from other manufacturers and to slow down a technology rollout that was beset with problems.
Both brands incorporated software from Pearson, which was supposed to provide all the math and English instruction for the behemoth school system. The contract with Apple allowed Pearson to provide a sample of instructional units during the first year of a three-year license, which added about $200 to the cost of each computer.
Training on the devices and the curriculum was limited, and teachers never embraced the software. The district also later accused Pearson of providing an underwhelming product beset by technical glitches.
Pearson has defended the quality of work, noting that other school systems continue to use its online courses.
The district had threatened to sue over the Apple/Pearson contract, but a spokesman on Friday praised the work of all involved in the negotiations.
The district plans to use the settlement proceeds in a way that addresses a key flaw of the original technology plan: The fact that many schools were not ready to use the devices effectively.
The Times' new education initiative to inform parents, educators and students across Califonia >>
To win grants, schools must make proposals that show they are ready to use technology and they also must set aside some of their own discretionary funds.
"This is the superintendent's brainchild," said Gregory L. McNair, a senior attorney with L.A. Unified. "I think what he's doing will have the effect of ensuring that schools that participate in this program, that they will be ready."
Cortines first mentioned the broad outlines of the settlement at a recent public meeting of a technology task force, which was covered by the L.A. School Report.
ALSO
California teen seen in video jumping in to stop bully attack
L.A. beaches remain closed after needles, tampons wash ashore
Woman seen screaming for help, scaling 8-foot wall at Saudi prince's L.A. compound
Sign upPrivacy Policy
