LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Unified School District has canceled the contract that the district was using as the basis for its plan to put a tablet in the hands of every student, using bond financing.
Even so, district officials insisted Tuesday that efforts to provide a tablet for every student have not been derailed, after a memo sent by the superintendent to the school board Monday evening raised questions about the project's lifespan.
District officials said they have not canceled the project aimed at putting electronic tablets in the hands of all of its students over the next several years.
LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy said he sent a memo to the school board directing them to halt use of the current Apple Inc. contract and implement a new request for proposals, according to a prepared statement.
The Deasy memo sent to school board officials asked that a new request for proposals be issued for personal computing devices before new phases of the project be brought to the board for approval, Deasy said.
The contract was canceled after news reports documented extensive communications Deasy and other district officials had with education software vendor Pearson before issuing the RFP that resulted in the contract to buy iPads loaded with Pearson software.
"We remain committed to providing students with devices that support their access to a world of learning and discovery so they are better prepared to graduate college and are career ready," Deasy said.
Deasy said the new RFP will enable the school district to take advantage of an ever-changing marketplace and technology advances and give the district time to take into account successes and lessons learned in the initial roll-out.
District officials said they expect that Apple and Pearson will participate in the upcoming RFP.
