LA schools' superintendent faces school board after days of questions on iPad plan
Los Angeles Unified school board members meet Tuesday afternoon in the first public meeting since Friday, when Superintendent John Deasy began facing a rush of questions about his relationships with executives at Pearson.
Emails obtained by KPCC led some school board members and other district watchers to question whether Deasy's relationship with Pearson paved a path for the software company to land a contract, without giving other competitors a fair shot during the open bid process. A committee lead by school board member Monica Ratliff has been asking that same question for months.
Monday evening, after news of the emails broke, Deasy announced he was abandoning the contract with Apple and Pearson and would open its one-to-one technology project to new bids.
Deasy has declined multiple interview requests from KPCC. In an interview with KCRW Tuesday, Deasy said he accepted criticism that he should have acted sooner but denied any wrongdoing. He said he was not involved in designing the specifications for bid proposals or choosing the winners.
"The contracting process was reviewed," he said, adding later in regard to the emails: "It wasn't inappropriate. I meet with vendors all the time."
To follow updates from today's school board meeting, view tweets from KPCC's Mary Plummer below.LA schools' superintendent faces school board after days of questions on iPad plan | 89.3 KPCC: