BOTCHED STEPS: Looks like New York’s first hurdle implementing devices in schools may be finding--and unwrapping--them. On December 2, an audit by the NYC comptroller’s office deemed record keeping at the city’s Department of Education “grossly inaccurate,” after finding 1,727 computers lost and 400 still in their original wrapping--and that’s only for the ten schools included in the audit. (One school, Public School 168, was listed as having over 10,000 computers. Ten were found on site.) With over 2,000 DOE locations throughout New York City, comptroller Scott Stringer fears these numbers “are just the tip of the iceberg,” according to The New York Times.
Meanwhile, in the first federal law-enforcement investigation into education technology, LAUSD officials turned over 20 boxes of documents about the bidding process and project management in the iPad rollout, after a federal grand jury subpoena. The next morning, Superintendent Cortines announced he was suspending the contract with Apple, citing “too many innuendos, rumors, etc.” Previous superintendent John Deasy denied knowledge of the subpoena.
