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Monday, December 9, 2013

LA Schools want 100k more iPads | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC

LA Schools want 100k more iPads | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC:

LA Schools want 100k more iPads

Baldwin Hills iPad - 8

Maya Sugarman/KPCC

The Los Angeles Unified School District wants to triple its supply of iPads, even while a citizen’s oversight committee wants to hit the brakes.
Superintendent John Deasy's administration released a request this week, asking for about 100,00 more iPads for students and staff. The district purchased 30,000 of the devices earlier this school year as a pilot, which will be independently studied for effectiveness.
In its request, the administration is leaving no time to learn the results.
Deasy said the new $115 million request, which also includes a laptop pilot, is a necessity since, he said,  students need the computers to take new digital performance tests. Under the plan, students would have to share iPads rather than get one for their individual use.
The request does not account for the number of existing computers at schools. KPCC requested the inventory of the district's computers at school sites last month, invoking