Truth matters. Community matters. Your support makes both possible. LAist is one of the few places where news remains independent and free from political and corporate influence. Stand up for truth and for LAist. Make your year-end tax-deductible gift now.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
LAUSD Puts The Brakes On iPad Program After Students Hack Them
Photo via Shutterstock
The Los Angeles Unified School District has temporarily halted a plan to distribute thousands of iPads to schools because of widespread hacking by students.
The move is seen as a climactic moment in a long, headache-inducing saga that highlighted just how little school officials knew about students and their habits.
LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy originally developed the program as a way to get kids from low-income and impoverished backgrounds access to cutting-edge technology. According to Reuters, 25,000 iPads had already been rolled out and the plan was to have 650,000 of them in the hands of students by 2014. It was touted as the largest distribution of mobile computing devices to schoolchildren in the United States.
The iPads were initially manufactured to help with homework, play learning games, take tests and read curriculum.
But the allure of social media has proven to be too great for school-age kids to resist. Within a week of the rollout, 300 of the iPads at three different high schools were hacked by students to gain access to sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. In addition to the hacks, 71 iPads went missing altogether. The district had initially banned students from taking the iPads home with them in an effort to curb the hacking, but the moratorium on the iPad program shows that was not enough.
The school board is expected to vote in the coming months on whether they should scrap the program altogether or delay it for a year to find alternative solutions to keep students from using the iPads for pleasure.
Related:
LAUSD Gifting All Students With iPads For Tidy $30 Million (To Start)
LAUSD Students Hack School-Issued iPads In First Week of Roll-Out
LAUSD Reports 71 Missing iPads. Gosh, Where Did They Go?
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our connected community. We are free to tell the full truth, to hold power to account without fear or favor, and to follow facts wherever they lead. Our only loyalty is to our audiences and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen our community.
Right now, LAist has lost $1.7M in annual funding due to Congress clawing back money already approved. The support we receive before year-end will determine how fully our newsroom can continue informing, serving, and strengthening Southern California.
If this story helped you today, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Your tax-deductible donation keeps LAist independent and accessible to everyone.
Right now, LAist has lost $1.7M in annual funding due to Congress clawing back money already approved. The support we receive before year-end will determine how fully our newsroom can continue informing, serving, and strengthening Southern California.
If this story helped you today, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Your tax-deductible donation keeps LAist independent and accessible to everyone.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
