On November 4, 2008, residents who live within the Los Angeles Unified School District voted in favor of the above measure to repair and to upgrade classrooms in the district.
Years later, LA Unified superintendent John Deasy decided to ignore the will of the voters and announced that the district would take $1-2 billion stipulated by the voters to be used for construction for the purpose of buying iPads for every single student, regardless of need.
Now, a group calling itself Repairs Not iPads, has launched a Facebook page documenting deteriorating conditions that aren’t getting fixed while the school district goes on its technology spending spree with money that was supposed to be spent on school repairs.
How did this happen? Our guest, Matthew Kogan, Administrator of Repairs not iPads and an LAUSD teacher who teaches English as a second language at Evans Community Adult School, told us about the seriousness of this problem and what you can do about it.
We did our homework on this topic. And we made it easy for you to participate!
Here is a handy list of people you can blame for this. And contact. Repeatedly!
And here is the oversight committee who is supposed to be preventing things like this from happening…with their phone number!
Even if you don’t live in the LA area, this can happen where you live!
Here are some examples of LA Unified School District school deterioration that could be fixed if $1-2 billion was not being spent on iPads:
Facebook page promotes campus repairs over iPads in L.A. schools.
Follow the money. Why ipads, and not Android pads? Who’s pet company is getting the contract to buy these ipads?
If the contract is legit, then they might make the argument that teachers need a way to directly contact students through sexting, to put some excitement back into the job of teaching. These poor teachers are sex starved?
Maybe they just decided to leave the schools run down so the students will be accustomed to these deplorable conditions when they are unable to get a good job due to their poor education!
I think they have an out by saying “improving classroom internet”. Thats what they will use as a reason to get all those ipads
Buying iPads vs. Andrioid is really not the big deal here. You should be equally as pissed if they spent the money on Android or Windows! It’s the fact they’ve spent $1-2b on tablets when they really didn’t say in the proposed budget. You can say some of the $1.925b could be spent on tablets, but ALL of it!?!?!?! SHADY shit going on here.
http://www.laschools.org/bond/meeting-archives/download/measures/MeasureQ.pdf
Its Apple who is indirectly stealing this money. Some pressure should be applied to this money hungry / evil company to get them to backup the tax payers here. Apple agress that this is approriate use of the funds?
Apple should refuse this corrupted contract in the first place.
Why not give them all a top of the line 486DX computer from 1989 instead? Both will be just as worthless in 5 years. I think I paid $1500 for my first 486DX with Windows 3.1, and I was the first on my block to own one. I believe its worth about $15 now for the gold plating in the circuit boards after its melted.
You can’t ask the Government to listen to you in California. You are their subject. You answer to them. The Government unions own everything, so you’ll just have to leave, or fund non-sense like this ipod crap with your tax dollars. I moved my enterprise to Nevada one year ago and I am the happiest I have been in the last 10 years of my life. Growth is up 200% with no state taxes, and white people are respected in Nevada (if you’re employed).
My friends and family who moved to Nevada notice we don’t have the feeling of the walls closing in, like it was in California. I wake up refreshed in Nevada instead of waking up with a stink damp headache from the Hydrogen sulfide of 10 zillion Mexican baby diapers polluting the fuckin air. Hydrogen sulfide is that stink you smell after driving back from Vegas heading down into the valley; and it is toxic. Feeling irritable, nervous and nauseous lately?
I’m so proud of Tom for his topics lately about being stunned by the parking Nazi laws, the traffic, corruption and this switch and bait school remodeling scheme to fraudulently invest the agreed to LA. District school rehab funds to buy electronic junk that has a shelf life of 6 months, and will be destroyed and stolen. This arrogance starts at the top and trickles down to bureaucrats who see our President lie and sell us insurance we can keep if we like; then ripping our fucking nuts off after the deal is closed.
Welcome to the USS of AmeriKa; where the gubment owns us. Lay down and wimper like sheep, and bleed taxes while Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and dead people vote twice in elections. Think you’re still free? At least you can leave California, and that was good enough for me. Seems Hollyweird is following judging by the local film permits we’re seeing in Clark County with the new tax incentives for movie production here.
I hope Tom Leykis moves from California when the NNN takes off and saves 10% on corporate taxes by moving to Nevada. Lake Las Vegas has exceptional real estate deals right now within 20 minutes of the strip. Lake Las Vegas is now home to Celine Dion and the rich and famous who desire luxury, and location, and has half the prices of 2006 with more value and selection on the lakefront properties, or in the hills; still within 20 minutes or so of the Las Vegas strip.
Take your tax dollars out of Jerry Brown’s evil empire and save by not funding this lying, thieving bullshit you see now in California. Fuck you California. Fuck you L.A. Teacher’s union. I hope you get your ipods and lose your fucking jobs.
Yo go Tom!
Did this FUCKING MORON of a superintendent know that Apple Corporation (and probably Samsung, ASUS, Google, etc) have programs where they GIVE AWAY tablets for education, and/or sell at cost?
What the FUCK!?
I agree that this isn’t acceptable, but from what I hear LA, and CA in general, has boatloads of other problems that should be brought up to the public’s consciousness as well before we see one of our great states fall to 3rd world territory. Just yesterday, I read gas prices are being taxed even higher. That’s just another example of politicians (Pssst, DEMOCRATS) lining their pockets. This is just the tip of the iceberg…….due to global warming, of course.
why would that surprise anyone?
high speed rail (actually lowspeed) was supposed to cost $30 billion according to the ballot then you find out it will be $90 billion, dimwit Brown decides he can run for governor again and again and again and again as term limits dont apply to him for some reason – theyre letting you know that they’re not accountable to you, the voter or the legal citizen.
Here’s the Scoop,… Are you Surprised to hear about wasted Tax Payer Dollars ?
The fact that they spend your money recklessly without due consideration is the foundation of the problem.
Our children should have access to Technology in school; Moreover, the iPad offers a mobile learning platform that is most representative of the current trends in our culture.
Tablet technology offers students 24/7 real time access the the greatest wealth of free information available in the world, the internet.
Too many of our teachers are incapable of engaging and connecting with students. Lecture style teaching is dead. Instead, intrinsic learning, similar to that of higher education should be adopted in student centered classroom environments.
It is true that many teachers do not have the necessary skills to teach with technology, nor do they care to try. Whereas I believe teaching with technology is a way to connect with students.
The Politicians are to blame. Moreover, other brand name technology can be substituted for Apple iPads. There is no excuse for overspending when cheaper alternatives are available.
It’s a case of the misappropriation of funds, not that this Technology isn’t valuable or effective as teaching tools.
Tablets are cheaper than laptops and desktop versions. What about the ridiculous costs of overpriced antiquated textbooks ???????
Blow Me Up !
Prove to me, using scientific evidence, that iPads make children smarter. Cite sources.
Proof is that kids who carry ipads get sucker punched and robbed!
Here’s what happens when an 8 year old walks down the street holding an ipad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QHUtoZ8mS0
LAUSD will be painting a bullseye on every child, making them targets for street violence.
Tom,
The question itself is a bit of a play on words. If you wear Prada, does it make you Rich ?
Just because the students have iPads, it doesn’t make them Smart.
The key is that we need teachers who can engage students and get them interested in learning. Guided learning methods and strategies that provide students with the questions so they can find the answers. Intrinsic learning is the desire to learn because learning is rewarding and it makes one feel good.
In today’s society, it is more important to know how to find the answer than it is to have memorized the information. The information is already available 24/7 from almost anywhere using mobile technology (including smart phones).
So, in other words, providing students the access to this technology is necessary in a mobile digital world. Statistic show that many students already have their own technology; Why not allow students to bring their own devices to school ?
These devices also make text books obsolete. A tablet has the potential to replace several text books. Moreover, the relationship with the text book companies could be completely severed.
Our schools are having problems due to the changes in gender roles, the breakdown of the family unit, and dysfunctional behavior stemming from the home.
Traditional lecture teaching is dead. Who wants to take notes while listening to someone talk ?
Mobile technology is a medium that captures the attention of the students and provides the flexability for learning platform that can be accessed from almost anywhere at anytime.
There is no physical evidence at this time that iPads make kids smarter, however, would they be any smarter if it were not available ? Or, if this technology would only be made available to certain segments of the community ?
There are many Pros and Cons to the arguement, however, these trends towards advancement in mobile technology should be included in schools because it is representative of the direction our Society is heading.
Technology is the Future; What did you do before you had a Cell phone? How did a smart phone further change and evolve your ability to connect with people ?
Don’t you agree that Podcasting is a tremendous vehicle for the transfer of information ?
Blow me Up Tom !
Love the Show !
Thanks !
J
The teacher’s job is to teach, the student’s job it to learn. Both are capable of doing so even if they’re sitting in a tamped dirt circle with nothing but sticks and rocks. The variable is the dedication on BOTH sides. Everything else is irrelevant. It has NOTHING to do with the suffusion of information into idiotic little brains and what method is best, quite frankly. You bitch about “antiquated” textbooks, but compared to a brand new iPad the cost of a brand new text book still pales. Also; you drop a textbook, you scuff your book, you drop an iPad, you need a brand new iPad. Burns twice.
But diatribes about how smart devices are making for dumber people aside; pointing out why it would be a BAD idea to invite corporate and political monstrosities into the classroom where children are at times at their most vulnerable is a very GOOD idea. It’s a very good idea because these companies do not have the best intentions when it comes to everyone’s children, nor their parents, nor their schools. The same goes for politicians. When corporations and politicians get TOGETHER and spontaneously decide what THEY think is “best” for everyone is when sane, normal, reasonably I.Q.ed people need to start reading up on tyranny. Do people honestly think companies like Apple or Google or Microsoft or politicians like Jerry Brown or any board member on the LAUSD actually give a damn about their children? Or themselves? They shouldn’t. To large corporations and politicians and bureaucrats you are nothing but a walking wallet. It is their goal in life to extract as MUCH money out of you as quickly as possible, after all they’re on a time-table; their input from YOU needs to top their own ridiculous spending by fiscal year’s end.
Large multinational corporations and large political bodies are parasites both. You feed them, you shelter them and they fool you into allowing them to exist and do whatever they like by convincing you that they’re doing it all for YOU, for YOUR future, or in this case ohhh, everyone’s CHILDREN’S futures. They will tell you anything you want to hear, they will spin tales and yarns and lies so extravagant they could put Hollywood out of business overnight just to get their hand in your pocket. In some countries this is called “stealing”, in the US it’s called “making your first million”. With the iPad debacle Apple decided to get to a couple of billion dollars, (that they didn’t really NEED, but more is better, ALL is best, right?), sitting around burning a hole in politicians pockets by stealing it from your children. It wasn’t bad enough they decided to SELL the products that normally sell for almost a grand a pop to a body that has consistently shown they don’t know the first THING about what’s right for children, despite the fact that more and more parents are basically allowing the LAUSD to parent and raise their children, but they’re also those textbooks aren’t free you know, plus repairs/replacements, licenses, ect. at TOP dollar for their slave-labor produced digital gee-gaws. For years before Steve Jobs’ death Apple Inc. had shuttered their charity division, as they never gave anything away for free. So other than a wild money grab by a company that made $170 BILLION in 2013, added to the payoffs and kick-backs and bribes to various bodies in Sacramento and the greater Los Angeles area, what is this other than victimization? Technological wonders aside, what would you call this Ponzi scheme at the expense of both children AND over-worked, under-paid tax payers OTHER than predatory?
If corporations like Apple REALLY gave a damn about kids or their future, less than 1% of their annual revenue could fix all the problems and deficiencies in the system within half a decade. But that’s not what companies like Apple are about, that’s not what giant bloated bodies like the LAUSD are about. That’s not how you MAKE money. You make money by MORTGAGING these kids’ futures and chaining them to instant gratification devices that will keep them locked up tighter than a back-alley junkie and keeping that divide between teachers and kids and parents and kids and even kids and other kids so they won’t NOTICE the grossly deteriorating conditions till it’s way too late to do anything about it. Like now.
Even the debate itself has only a moderate amount to do with the devices themselves, moreso the INTENT behind which this whole bit of shenanigans was administered. Fraud and theft and lies, and money for the sake of money to the detriment of a system that’s already horrendously broken. Isn’t this where people should be enraged? I don’t even HAVE kids and I’m insulted. Simply because this shows EXACTLY what corporate America and politicians think about you and it flies in the face of what being EDUCATED instead of ignorant and hard work versus being a parasite is all about.
Don’t know exactly WTF the LAUSD is teaching, but after Binging “tasting game”, Galt-in-Da-Box is Pretty MOTHAFUCKIN’ Certain it ain’t just how to use an Apple tablet!
BTW, aim higher to target whoever concocted this cocamamy Ipad idea: You can bet your left nut that somewhere up the food chain, a dumb, blond, ski-ramp-nosed, oy-veying oligarch came up with this fucking bullshit because having a tablet will make the students “FEEEEEEL” better – so they won’t
mind the crumbling walls, busted toilets, broken windows, no heat in the winter and greasy gangs slashing people and
dealing dope!