Los Angeles Unified’s troubled iPad project and former superintendent are framing discussions in the March 3 school board primary.
Among three contested seats, two-term incumbent Tamar Galatzan faces five challengers quick to point out her past support for former Superintendent John Deasy in their bids for the District 3 seat that represents parts of the western and southern San Fernando Valley.
One of Galatzan’s most outspoken opponents, Carl Petersen, highlights Galatzan’s support for what once was a $1.3 billion effort to put iPads in the hands of every student as well as for Deasy, who abruptly resigned in October.
“She’s lost touch with the people she represents; you just have to go to one of the board meetings,” said Petersen, an LAUSD parent who heads logistics for a Glendale-based manufacturing company.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office and FBI are probing iPad contracting procedures for criminal wrongdoing in the process that tapped Apple to supply devices and Pearson, an educational company, to create content.
Petersen questions the use of bond dollars, which voters approved as a means to improve schools, to buy the devices. He would prefer the money be spent on school computer labs.
Read the full story at http://www.dailynews.com/social-affairs/20150223/deasy-ipads-key-issues-in-lausd-school-board-campaigns