Schools' Technology Choice Draws FBI Interest
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Pete Spencer, president of a La Mesa company that installs digital whiteboards, says an FBI agent recently requested he turn over documents related to a lawsuit he filed against San Diego Unified.
Sam HodgsonThe Promethean company name is emblazoned across the corner of one of its digital whiteboards.
Posted: Wednesday, April 28, 2010 3:51 pm | Updated: 4:15 pm, Wed Apr 28, 2010.
The way in which the San Diego Unified School District chose a specific brand of technological tools has drawn the interest of the FBI, according to a local businessman who sued the school district over it.
Pete Spencer, president of a La Mesa company that installs computerized whiteboards, filed a lawsuit against the school district last year alleging it had inappropriately picked a specific brand of boards for its classrooms. Spencer says he was visited this month by the FBI, which is already investigating whiteboard purchases in Florida and Iowa.
Federal investigators have sought information in the other school districts on the purchase of computerized whiteboards exclusively from a British company named Promethean. Federal prosecutors sent a subpoena to Sarasota County schools in February asking for documents detailing how the boards were picked. The U.S. attorneys also sought information in the Iowa district that the former Sarasota chief now heads.
Like the other school systems, San Diego chose to only allow the Promethean brand of whiteboards in its classrooms. That meant that companies vying to install the boards had to purchase and install Promethean, not any other brand on the market. Here and across the country, selecting a specific product has raised questions and stirred up debate about fair competition in awarding work in schools.
A Promethean spokeswoman said she was unaware of any investigation in San Diego. She said the company is cooperating and believes it is a witness, not a target, in the Florida and Iowa investigations.
San Diego Unified is undertaking a sweeping technological makeover for schools that include classroom sound systems, laptops for each child and computerized whiteboards that can pull up web pages and interactive lessons. Two Promethean resellers, Vector Resources and Logical Choice Technologies, won a $50 million contract to install Promethean whiteboards in San
