Friday, March 14, 2014

UPDATE: Is Lausd De Facto Segregation Better Than De Jure? + LAUSD's 30 Million Dollar "Killer" Ipad Deal - Perdaily.com

LAUSD's 30 Million Dollar "Killer" Ipad Deal - Perdaily.com:



Is Lausd De Facto Segregation Better Than De Jure?
(Mensaje se repite en Español)In 2014, we will commemorate the 60th anniversary of the landmark desegregation decision in Brown vs. Board of Education, but with a Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) that remains close to 90% Latino and Black, we are not only no closer to Dr. King's dream, but by every objective standard, we are much further away from it with an LAUSD today that is more tox



LAUSD's 30 Million Dollar "Killer" Ipad Deal



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(Mensaje se repite en Español)


In the Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain, the pauper passing as a prince uses the powerful Great Seal of England to open walnuts, because he doesn't know its power or how else to use it. The issuance of obscenely overpriced IPads to all LAUSD students is reminiscent of this joke, because it presupposes that generationally deprived and socially promoted students have sufficient mastery of enough prior grade-level standards to take meaningfully advantage of the exceptional potential that these devices have. Alas, nothing could be further from the truth. Putting a glitzy IPad bandage over the festering sore that is LAUSD yet again begs the question of just how long can these fools running this school district be allow free reign before somebody with the authority to intercede notices that Emperor Deasy has no clothes. 

Most of the criticism which still rages over this controversial plan revolves around the outrageous price paid for the Ipads, which didn't even come with keyboards- another overrun purchase to be made up by tax payers.  But there's an additional cost overrun which has only been marginally addressed and it started years before the purchases were ever made. Back then the school board voted- with knowledge of the potential sever health effects of wireless communication- that