It is just a single line in the agenda for tomorrow’s closed board meeting, but it may speak volumes.

Described as “anticipated litigation,” the board will be discussing possible ramifications of the FBI probe, arising out of state law that reads, “A point has been reached where, in the opinion of the legislative body of the local agency on the advice of its legal counsel, based on existing facts and circumstances, there is a significant exposure to litigation against the local agency.”

The document seizure happened as the result of a federal grand jury subpoena looking into potential bid rigging in the district’s $1.3 billion Common Core Technology Program, which sought to get a computer tablet in the hands of every student and teacher in the district.

Due to the secrecy laws surrounding federal grand juries, little has been known about the nature of the investigation since the seizure. But the board’s closed meeting agenda is the first indication that a grand jury might have identified legal problems with how the district conducted the bid process and, as a result, that the district might face legal action. No indictments have been brought in the case, and federal law requires that details of the grand jury investigations remain sealed unless one is brought.

LA Unified’s Director of Communications Shannon Haber said under the advisement of district General Counsel David Holmquist, she cannot comment on the closed session. Laura Eimiller, spokesperson for the FBI’s Los Angeles Division, did not return a call seeking comment.

The ambitious Common Core Technology Project was the brainchild of former Superintendent John Deasy, but it came under severe scrutiny when the public release of emails last August revealed that Deasy and a key underling, Jaime Aquino, had a high level of communication with the two companies that ultimately won the bid, Apple and Pearson.

That led to questions about whether Apple and Pearson had an inside track to win the contracts. Deasy and Aquino have always maintained that the bidding process was conducted fairly, with preference given to no one.

After the emails were revealed, Deasy cancelled the contract with Apple and Pearson and said he was going to reopen the bidding process to keep the program alive. With the program’s pilot and early rollout experiencing severe technical and logistical problems, public scrutiny of the program increased, and Deasy resigned in October.

Less than two months after Ramon Cortines was hired as Deasy’s replacement, the FBI seized at least 20 boxes of files and district officials confirmed they were the result of a federal grand jury probe. Cortines cancelled the Common Core Technology Project shortly after and publicly declared that the district could not afford any 1-to-1 tablet program.

Other board meeting notes

The board is technically holding two separate closed sessions tomorrow, with one dedicated to finding a new superintendent and the other for discussions over the FBI case and other legal issues, as well as some personnel and student discipline issues. The search for a new superintendent will also be part of the open meeting, scheduled to start at 1 p.m.

For the board’s regular public meeting, there are no major resolutions scheduled to come up for a vote. Board member Mónica García is bringing several resolutions forward for the district to recognize Latino Heritage Month, Student Attendance Month, National Coming Out Day and College Awareness Month.

There will also be several public hearings regarding charter school petitions.

With the launch of the new Technology Initiative Task Force yesterday, LAUSD is restarting its approach to integrating technology and instruction in the classroom after the last effort ended with an FBI probe.

The Common Core Technology Project drew criticism from the start, in part for questions over the procurement process with software publisher Pearson and iPad provider Apple. The new initiative will be characterized by public access to information and community input from the get-go, the task force chairwoman told LA School Report.

“The goals of this group are complete transparency and to hear the voices of groups throughout the district,” said Judy Burton. “Part of the process will include town hall meetings and focus groups with students, teachers and parents throughout the district before anything goes forward.”

Meetings will be open to the public and everything discussed will be available on a new website, which is scheduled to go live early next week.

“I think the bright light about this is the task force and the district are not just looking at using technology to prepare for tests, but at how to use technology to deliver instruction,” Burton said. “We’re thinking more about what students really need to be successful in college and in careers — today students have to be able to use technology as a tool to learn.”

Instead of uniformly dropping the same device with the same pre-programmed curriculum into the hands of every student, the new task force has set a goal to avoid the previous one-size-fits-all approach.

“The thing that’s most exciting about this task force is it’s not about the central office telling schools what device they should have or what instructional technology model they should use,” Burton said. “The superintendent (Ramon Cortines) wants this to be innovative, and school communities to determine what kind of model they will use and what kind of device meets their needs.”

The task force includes principals, teachers, administrators, parents, students, community members and special resource experts from various local organizations, colleges and businesses.

“You have a monumental job ahead of you,” Cortines told them, in a statement issued by the district. “We have spent more than $100 million dollars on this project and it is now time to regroup and develop a solid plan that allows us to move forward and leverage technology as a tool to improve teaching and learning for our students. We also need our teachers and parents to be users of technology and involved and engaged in this entire process. I look forward to receiving a technology plan that can be implemented across the entire District.”

The task force consists of four work groups that will focus on what and how students will learn, resources needed and how implementation will work. Come December, the group’s goal is to have a set of recommendations for a three-year strategic plan to present the board, according to the task force mission statement.

The Common Core Technology Project was cancelled by Cortines amidst an FBI investigation into whether Deasy showed any favoritism toward Apple and Pearson during during the procurement process.

* Adds comment from Superintendent Ramon Cortines.

** Correction: In December a set of recommendations for a three-year strategic plan will be presented by the task force to the board.

More than 19,000 laptops —  part of the newly renamed Instructional Technology Initiative Phase 1L pilot — were scheduled to be delivered to 21 participating high schools by September. But Superintendent Ramon Cortines today explained that due to a “delay in the contracting process, our technical teams got a late start in developing the systems and infrastructure needed to support an effort of this magnitude.”

The new timeline calls for the start of c vfdelivery of Chromebooks during the second week of February while the Window 8.1 laptops will go out starting Feb 19.

Before the devices can be distributed the district is having them audited for security purposes.

“In order to ensure that devices are safe to be taken home by students, as many schools in the pilot have chosen the district is completing a security audit by Feb 13,” Cortines wrote to teachers and principals.

An outside firm is conducting the audits, Shannon Haber, a spokeswoman for the district told LA School Report.

The inclusion of laptops for older students was an effort spearheaded by board member Monica Ratliff, chair of what was once known as the Common Core Technology Project Committee, to diversify the one-to-one program, which initially only considered supplying iPads.

Members of the district’s Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment Committee watched a video that featured students and staff at Valley Academy of Arts and Sciences in Granada Hills, one of three schools allowing tablets to go home, gushing about how their educational experience had improved.

“The minute that you let students take the iPad home, all of the sudden more work gets turned in,” Valley Academy of Arts and Sciences teacher Judith Quinones said in the video.

Students in the video told stories of coordinating their homework better, hauling fewer books around and communicating easier with their teachers when outside of class. Teachers spoke of increased engagement with students and a higher level of homework assignments being completed.

The video was part of a report on the results of the phase 1 rollout of the take-home project that was presented to the committee by Gerardo Loera, executive director of Curriculum, Instruction & School Support at LA Unified. (See the video embedded below.)

The video was purely anecdotal, and the district has yet to produce hard data or reports on whether using the devices at home is increasing student achievement. But it did provide evidence of positive results.

“The full instructional value of these devices, in particular at the secondary level, can only be fully realized when they go home,” Loera said.

Loera said eight more schools are set to begin sending devices home through next month.

Loera said 90 percent of students at the three schools had opted to take the devices home, a process that requires each student and a legal guardian to sign papers taking responsibility for it. According to the video, only one device was damaged and two were misplaced — but later recovered.

While committee chair Monica Ratliff and some of her colleagues had once expressed concern about the devices leaving campuses, none voiced any further concern at the meeting, as questions and comments were focused simply on the details of the take-home project.

Board member Bennett Kayser did wonder if the video included only positive comments from students and staff.

“Were there any partcipants who didn’t want to be in the video because they didn’t like it? Is this representative of everybody?” he asked.

Loera didn’t directly answer but responded that overwhelmingly more students were choosing to opt into the program and few if any had opted out after taking the devices home.

It was initially part of the massive Common Core Technology Project — now rebranded the Instructional Technology Initiative — for students to take the devices home. But the option was cancelled in the fall of 2013 as some among the first students to get the devices figured out how to disable their content filters.

Requiring that the devices stay on campus “created logistical challenges for schools to distribute and collect devices on a regular basis,” a September independent report on the program from American Institutes for Research (AIR) stated. District materials on the take-home rollout state that they have made significant improvements to the filters, but that “no web-filtering solution is 100 percent foolproof.”

The filter disabling was among the first of many problems for the iPad program, which has included serious questions about the bidding process that are now being investigated by a grand jury, logistical problems with distribution, a low use of the device’s pre-programmed educational software and a federal report that cited a general lack of a grand vision and metrics to judge the program’s effectiveness.

Some committee members expressed concern about the 10 percent of students who declined to take the devices home. Loera explained that teachers are required to give paper assignments to students opting out, and that while every effort is made to ensure that the educational experience is equitable for them, it is “one of the challenges that we deal with.”

Judy Burton

LA Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines has invited Judy Burton, a former associate superintendent of innovation and instruction in the district, to serve as chair of what is now known as the Instructional Technology Initiative, nee the Common Core Technology Project.

Cortines said Burton, founding president and CEO of Alliance College-Ready Public Schools, would work with two senior district officials, Ruth Perez and Bernadette Lucas, to establish a committee to review device and curriculum options.

The committee would also include teachers, administrators, parents, students, community members and a representative from the Bond Oversight Committee, Cortines said.

“It is my expectation that the committee will review what the District has done so far, examine the funds that have been used thus far, and assist with the development of a plan which includes funding options,” he said in a memo to the school board. “As we move forward, it is my intent to ensure that we look at funding this Initiative in a balanced way using bond dollars but taking into consideration the District’s brick and mortar needs as well as our technology needs.”

How about for a school district?

To change the public perception of a project at the center of LA Unified’s two ill-fated programs — iPads and MiSiS –Superintendent Ramon Cortines is renaming the Common Core Technology Project.

It now goes by the name: Instructional Technology Initiative.

Catchy, huh?

“I think this new name is very simple and can be clearly understood by our stakeholders,” Cortines told board members in an email announcing the name change. “I also believe that the name is in line with the way we’re moving forward as a district using technology for instructional purposes.”

Apparently, Cortines took suggestions for the new name. “I’d like to thank those who submitted suggestions to me previously,” he wrote.

Let’s hope this effort doesn’t turn out like New Coke.

Former LA Unified Superintendent John Deasy

Agents with the FBI visited the offices of LA Unified headquarters yesterday and seized files related to the district’s controversial $1.3 billion iPad program, a district spokesman confirmed.

The FBI action was first reported by the Los Angeles Times, which said 20 boxes of documents were removed and that the seizure came as a complete surprise to district officials.

The controversial iPad program, which aimed to give every student and teacher in LA Unified an iPad as part of the Common Core Technology Project, was one of the major initiatives undertaken by former Superintendent John Deasy, who resigned in October.

Some critics who opposed the iPad program from the start questioned whether bond money was an appropriate or even legal way to fund the purchase of iPads, although the district’s lawyers determined it was legal and the program was approved the district’s bond oversight committee. While unanimously approved by the LA Unified school board in 2013, the board pulled back on its support for the iPad program as its implementation was fumbled and questions were raised about the fairness of the bidding process.

Deasy cancelled the iPad program in August after emails surfaced showing he and a deputy had a close relationship with Apple and Pearson, a company that provided educational software for the iPads. To some it looked like the bid was rigged favor of Apple and Pearson.

Deasy’s resignation is believed to have come under pressure from the board, in part as a result of the botched iPad program, although the board issued a statement that said it believed the results of a report would show Deasy did not break the law.

“While the District’s investigation into the Common Core Technology Project has not concluded, the Board wishes to state that at this time, it does not believe that the Superintendent engaged in any ethical violations or unlawful acts, and the Board anticipates that the Inspector General’s report will confirm this,” the statement said.

Deasy was replaced by interim Superintendent Ramon Cortines, who told the Los Angeles Times that the FBI raid came as a surprise.

Superintendent Ray Cortines

A decision by LA Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines to proceed with the next phase of the district’s controversial iPad program appears to contradict statements he made a month ago, opposing the use of construction bond money to pay for devices pre-loaded with curriculum.

Three days ago, Cortines gave the go-ahead to spend capital improvement funds to outfit another 27 schools with tablet devices and 21 campuses with laptops.

Tom Waldman, a spokesman for the school board, said Cortines is not in the office this week and would be unavailable to clarify any apparent discrepancy.

In January, months before Cortines replaced former Superintendent John Deasy, the school board unanimously approved $114 million to expand the program. But ever since Cortines took the reins last month he has come out swinging against idea of using bond dollars for the Pearson software that the board approved for the iPads bought from Apple.

He went so far as calling it “stealing.”

On his first week on the job he issued a statement on the subject saying, “I still need to meet with the Common Core Technology Project team to learn more about the plans in place but I think we will need to identify alternative sources to fund the curriculum ongoing.”

He also told the LA Times, “I don’t believe the curriculum should be paid for with bond funds, period.”

But in the latest statement on the new round of purchases he wrote, “Our students deserve the best tools available to meet the requirements to be successful in the 21^st century workforce…Without the appropriate tools, they will be disadvantaged compared to their peers across the entire nation.”

Board Member Monica Ratliff, who chairs the Common Core Technology Project Committee, and has been a strong critic of iPads and the Pearson curriculum, also declined to respond. Her chief of staff said she would have no comment “at this time.”

Under the new round of purchases — officially called phase 2B – principals at each school will have “more options” and won’t have to settle for iPads if they prefer an alternative, according to the district. But so far, the district has not opened the bidding process to any new vendors or curriculum developers.

Another complication: Deasy cancelled the contract with Apple and Pearson when he came under fire for communications with company officials before the procurement period. It is unclear if Cortines is now un-cancelling the cancellation. If he has, the district will be paying for Pearson curriculum, which is scheduled for completion at the end of the month,

Although the full timeline for implementation of the latest phase has yet to be determined, Cortines says students will have the new devices by February.

LAUSD Superintedent Ray Cortines

Let the iPads roll. Again.

LA Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines today approved moving ahead with the next phase of the district’s iPad program, officially known as Phase 2B of the Common Core Technology Project.

It’s actually, iPads et. al.

The goal with this action is to complete the second round of buying digital devices by equipping teachers and students at an additional 27 schools with learning devices. That brings the total to 85 district schools with iPads or, in the case of the Phase 2B buy, other digital devices, such as Chromebooks.

The total reflects 47 schools receiving iPads in Phase 1 and 11 in Phase 2A, which was halted by former Superintendent John Deasy after questions arose about the procurement process.

The cost to date: $114 million, which covers devices, keyboards, charging carts, testing devices, and the laptop pilot program for 21 high schools.

In this latest phase announced today, each school will have the option of buying devices that the principal and teachers deem best for their students. And the district intends to sustain that approach going forward.

District officials said they expect this latest round of devices to reach students by February.

“Our students deserve the best tools available to meet the requirements to be successful in the 21^st century workforce,” Cortines said in a statement. “Without the appropriate tools, they will be disadvantaged compared to their peers across the entire nation. We also need to keep the dialogue open with our schools. We want Phase 2B to provide more options than previous phases so that our students are fully utilizing the most appropriate and current devices available.”

Unlike iPads being purchased under a new request of $13.3 million from the Bond Oversight Committee for computerized testing at the end of the academic year, the Phase 2B devices will be loaded with instructional software.

The list of schools scheduled to receive new devices is here.

LA Unified board member Tamar Galatzan speaks at a board meeting on Jan. 14, 2014. (Credit: file photo)

Board member Tamar Galatzan volunteered yesterday to lead a task force examining LA Unified’s email deletion and retention policy, which is intended to eliminate unnecessary emails even as some some board members fear it could lead to the destruction of important records.

“It is critical that the public have confidence in the district’s commitment to transparency,” said Galatzan, who represents the most of the West San Fernando Valley and several East Valley neighborhoods, including Sherman Oaks and Studio City.

“We want to make sure we have a system that safeguards critical emails and lets us easily access them when and if they are needed,” she added. “We also want employees to be able to work efficiently, and to have clear guidelines for the types of emails they should be retaining.”

The current policy, established in 2012, mandates that all district emails be destroyed after one year or be automatically deleted. The only way to save emails for more than a calendar year is by saving or archiving them onto a hard drive.

The panel, which will include district administrators, representatives of district labor unions and members of open-government groups, will consider whether some types of communications should be automatically archived.

“At the September 9 board meeting, I raised concerns that the District’s records policy provided for the destruction of emails that could have value to the public as historical records,” said Monica Ratliff, who co-sponsored the resolution to form the task force alongside Bennett Kayser and Galatzan.

“I strongly believe the District should preserve any and all emails of board members, the superintendent, senior officers and their respective staffs,” Ratliff said.

The importance of retaining records became a contentious topic on the heels of the release of two-year old emails revealing previously unknown communications between Superintendent John Deasy, former district Deputy Jaime Aquino, and top officials with Apple and Pearson, leading to the district’s $500 million iPad deal.

The group will present its recommendations to the Committee of the Whole in January.

In other actions yesterday the board rejected a resolution by Ratliff and Kayser that would have forced the release of the Inspector General’s report on the district’s handling of the procurement process  of a report that resulted in Apple devices and Pearson curriculum being selected for the first phase of the district’s one-to-one program.

“I brought forward this resolution to put into practice one of the recommendations I made in the Chair’s Report on the Common Core Technology Project Ad Hoc Committee – that the District should release the report in order to lay to rest certain questions and avoid any suspicion generated by lack of transparency,” Ratliff said.

The inspector general’s report has been classified by the District as confidential. The measure died in a 4-3 vote after General Counsel David Holmquist recommended a delay in making the document public, saying it could expose the district in the case of potential litigation.

Kayser said, “The public has a lot of legitimate questions about the Superintendent’s iPad/Common Core procurement process and I believe they deserve answers sooner rather than later.”

Ratliff added that she is “disappointed” in her colleagues for voting down the resolution. Had it passed, the report would have been released on Oct. 28.

Finally, the board did approve a resolution sponsored by Kayser, Monica Garcia, and board president Richard Vladovic, supporting passage of Proposition 47, an initiative on the November ballot that would adjust mandatory sentencing guidelines.

“We have worked with our district stakeholders on restorative justice practices that maintain safe campuses and respect our students’ rights,” Garcia said in statement today. “If we can do this in LAUSD, we can absolutely commit to bold approaches across the state of California.”

Proposition 47, which will not apply to persons with prior convictions for serious or violent crime and registered sex offenders, has the potential to reduce prison costs by hundreds of millions of dollars – savings that would be redirected to schools, mental health and drug addiction services, and provide funds for victims of crimes.

At 6 o’clock tonight on KLCS, the district is airing an hour-long iPad special, part of the “Technology in the Classroom” series sponsored by the Common Core Technology Project and featuring students with special needs from the Chavez Arts, Theater, Entertainment School. The District is encouraging viewers to call, email, or tweet questions before and during the live telecast.

“The series is part of our ongoing communications efforts to show how iPads can offer a richer educational experience,” district spokeswoman Shannon Haber told LA School Report. “It helps to let people into the classroom and to see how exactly students are using these devices.”

The show follows yet another sobering iPad development: The district Bond Oversight Committee yesterday approved the board’s request to expand the technology program to 45 more schools, but rejected plans to spend $90 million on tablets for every district principal and teacher.

Previous Posts: LA Unified Board Votes to Reshape iPad Program; Ratliff is seeking alternatives to using iPads in LA Unified’s future.