FBI seizes 20 boxes of documents on LAUSD iPad program

On Monday morning, the FBI seized 20 boxes of documents pertaining to a $1.3 billion iPad program from the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), according to the Los Angeles Times. The program, which was intended to give iPads to every student, teacher, and campus administrator of the nation’s second-largest school district, has met with many catastrophic difficulties, and this latest federal investigation led the new superintendent of the school system to shelve the project indefinitely on Tuesday.

The program first hit a bump in the road back in 2013 when a number of students “hacked” the iPads—which is to say they deleted profile information that designated the user as a student, thus letting the student browse the Internet unencumbered by the filter restrictions enforced by the school district. At the same time, many teachers reported that they felt ill-equipped to use and teach with the iPads. In October, the LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy resigned amid allegations of malfeasance, although he claimed no wrongdoing. Deasy drew attention after the disclosure of his ties to Apple and curriculum-provider Pearson.

On Tuesday, Deasy told the Los Angeles Times that he had had no contact with the FBI, nor did he know what the investigation was about. Ars contacted the FBI for more details about the investigation, but a spokesperson said she could not comment.

Deasy had put the iPad contract on hold before he resigned, but the suspension had never gone into full effect. As recently as yesterday, the school district was prepared to continue its million-dollar spending track with Apple.

After his resignation, Deasy was replaced by Ramon C. Cortines, who officially shelved the program today, telling the Los Angeles Times “We’re not going to use the original iPad contract anymore. I think there have been too many innuendos, rumors, etc., and based on my reading of a great deal of material over Thanksgiving, I came to this conclusion.”