Amid iPad, attendance system controversies, school board to weigh superintendent's performance
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After weathering a solid year of criticism for his controversial iPad program, taking a high-profile position in a case against teacher tenure and now dealing with the fallout of an irksome new attendance system, Los Angeles Unified School District superintendent John Deasy is about face the school board for his an annual review.
As ever, he is a lightning rod: The teachers union is calling for Deasy's resignation; his supporters are placing the blame on the board.
"In reality, when it's this dysfunctional, it just prevents action and creativity," Jason Mandell, spokesman for the California Charter School Association, wrote on Twitter.
Deasy's problems were fewer last October, when they concerned mainly a botched rollout of the iPad program. Still, rumors swirled then that Deasy would be fired or step down. Neither happened.
It's extremely rare for a school board to fire a superintendent. After the Centinela Valley school board discovered contract perks pushed Superintendent Jose A. Fernandez's compensation up to $663,000, the board still hired investigators to search for "cause" to avoid a pricey buyout. Faced with opposition, superintendents are more likely bow out.
There's no question Deasy is under mounting scrutiny.
Launched this fall, a new student database, MISIS, failed to track attendance, schedule student classes and allow teachers to input grades. District officials have said the problems affected less than 1 percent of students, but teachers and principals had more widespread complaints.
The district’s inspector general has reopened his investigation into whether Apple and Pearson got a leg up in the $500 million iPad contract after emails obtained by KPCC showed early meetings and planning with Deasy and other high-level staff.
Deasy vehemently denied any impropriety, saying he ended communication with vendors during the bidding process and arguing earlier emails were related to a pilot that never got off the ground.
"In view of the many false and misleading statements of fact that have been made public for what seems to be primarily political reasons, I believe it is incumbent on me to set the record straight so that an extremely important initiative does not continue to be undermined or compromised," Deasy said in a six-page statement released to board members earlier this month.
Deasy declined to comment for this story.
Less than three weeks after KPCC published the emails, one of Deasy's top deputies, Ron Chandler, requested the school board purchase software programed to automatically destroy emails older than one year, a policy that had been previously passed but never implemented.
The school board approved the $294,500 purchase, but after public outcry, vowed to Amid iPad, attendance system controversies, school board to weigh superintendent's performance | 89.3 KPCC: