LA Times:
The Los Angeles Unified School District has reached a tentative $6.4-million settlement over curriculum from education software giant Pearson that the school system said its teachers barely used.
The pact is the latest fallout from an aborted $1.3-billion plan to provide an iPad to every student, teacher and campus administrator in the nation’s second-largest school district.
The Board of Education is expected to vote on the settlement in October. The bidding process that led to the original contract is the subject of an FBI investigation.
This has been a long, drawn out embarrassment for Apple, a company that prides itself on its work with schools. While the case isn’t entirely over, this settlement at least paves the way for all parties to move on.
Hope these iPads are given away to people who can use them.
Well, it’s actually Pearson’s fault, not Apple. THIS: “…Pearson provided only sample units of curriculum, rather than a finished product. The contract allowed for the partial curriculum…”
Personally, I think Apple should’ve partnered with other company (could be smaller and more finished/polished and is proactive) that support school.
Pearson had a long history in schools. I wouldn’t blame Apple for their choice here.
I don’t know the exact relationships at each stage, but you can trace their acquisition lineage back a long way. I worked on one of those products for many years.
I still don’t get how this is Apple’s fault. It gets reported that way because it makes headlines.
Exactly. Usual media BS.
Keep also in mind how difficult it can be for any educational-services company to do business with a public school district that is contractually allowed to make revisions to its curriculum right up until a final release.
Pearson is TERRIBLE. Their cheapness and incompetence essentially torpedoed all of Apple’s good will in this project. I’ve done work for Pearson, and it’s generally been a pain in the ass, and if they could have gotten away with it, I’d have not been paid for my design and production work for them. Awful company.