Mary Plummer | 89.3 KPCC http://bit.ly/1vRt9w7
File: Los Angeles schools Supt. John Deasy speaks during a press conference at South Region High School #2 in Los Angeles on Feb. 6, 2012. AFP/AFP/Getty Images
August 26, 10:53 PM :: Los Angeles Unified school board member Monica Ratliff formally released a report that was leaked to media last week, outlining concerns about the district's iPad project.
The report was released during the first public school board meeting of the school year.
Ratliff and school board member Tamar Galatzan engaged in a heated back and forth over Ratliff's decision to require a lengthy confidentiality agreement before allowing board members and district staffers to view the draft report. The report was leaked to KPCC and the Los Angeles Times before she had reviewed it.
The meeting started more than two hours late because closed session discussions over negotiations with the teacher's union went long, according to board president Richard Vladovic, and the board severely limited the number of public speakers who could comment on problems with the iPad program.
Earlier:
Los Angeles Unified school board members met Tuesday afternoon in the first public meeting since Friday, when Superintendent John Deasy began facing a rush of questions about his relationships with executives at Pearson.
Emails obtained by KPCC led some school board members and other district watchers to question whether Deasy's relationship with Pearson paved a path for the software company to land a contract, without giving other competitors a fair shot during the open bid process. A committee led by school board member Monica Ratliff has been asking that same question for months.
Monday evening, after news of the emails broke, Deasy announced he was abandoning the contract with Apple and Pearson and would open its one-to-one technology project to new bids.
Deasy has declined multiple interview requests from KPCC. In an interview with KCRW Tuesday, Deasy said he accepted criticism that he should have acted sooner but denied any wrongdoing. He said he was not involved in designing the specifications for bid proposals or choosing the winners.
"The contracting process was reviewed," he said, adding later in regard to the emails: "It wasn't inappropriate. I meet with vendors all the time."
To follow updates from today's school board meeting, view tweets from KPCC's Mary Plummer below.
Tweets
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Day turns to night - public comment underway, ppl still waiting outside to speak, say they've been here since 1:30 pm pic.twitter.com/thARGw3eBA
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Ratliff says she's heard that once #misis works, it's going to be great. Lengthy MiSiS convo ends on positive note. public comment to start
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Chandler says parents haven't been approved to help w/ #Misis. Anyone following these tweets know of schools where that's happening? true?
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Kayser raising questions - says some parents have been volunteering to help enter data. Asking about privacy issues #misis
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Matt Hill says final recommendation to go live with #misis came from him #lausd
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You can read Ratliff's full #iPad report here: http://achieve.lausd.net/Page/6840 Check out @PFedu's coverage on @kpcc's website http://www.scpr.org/blogs/education
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Ratliff: "I personally think an undo button is really important" "teachers are having problems with grade book" #lausd
⌘ 12h
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Ratliff bringing up concern that grades will be entered incorrectly, no way to undo some grade mistakes, she says #lausd
⌘12h
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Ratliff bringing up long list of #misis problems - Chandler doesn't have answers on hand to several of them, says he'll get answers #lausd
⌘ 12h
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Chandler says times are down to 14 minutes today - no mention of what high end of range is #lausd #misis
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Monica Ratliff says current hold times for #misis help are up to 2 hours #lausd
⌘ 12h
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"We could have had a more elegant plan b" says Ron Chandler, of switching to paper #LAUSD #misis
⌘ 12h
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Some of the things we tested in focus groups didn't pop up as problems until #misis went live, says Ron Chandler of #lausd
⌘ 12h
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"we're at stable condition now" says Matt Hill, one of two #lausd staffers giving #misis report
⌘ 13h
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"we knew there would be some issues, but not to this magnitude" #lausd
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#LAUSD just released committee report that's critical of aborted $1 billion iPad plans, read it: http://achieve.lausd.net/Page/6840
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New district 1 board member George McKenna has banner up in LaMotte's memory #lausd pic.twitter.com/6SQV4ttk54
⌘ 13h
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Deasy talking about AP score gains and drop out plans #lausd
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Superintendent John Deasy speaking for the first time now, giving his report #lausd
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Ratliff says she'll take full responsibility for everything in the report - it's her report #lausd
⌘13h
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Big dispute underway between Ratliff and Galatzan - Galatzan not happy abt the confidentiality agreement that delayed her access to report
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"I may not personally like it, but it's not illegal" says Vladovic, talking abt confidentiality agreement that Ratliff asked people to sign
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Vladovic is asking Ratliff to respond, he says Ratliff's move wasn't illegal #lausd
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Galatzan says she refused to sign. Asking Vladovic is that's allowed #lausd
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Ratliff has passed around technology report - Galatzan says Ratliff withheld docs from her unless she agreed to strict legal secrecy
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"we shouldn't have cozy relationships with multi billion $ entities" says UTLA president
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UTLA president is speaking, says autocratic decision making is big problem. Calling for #Misis investigation and #ipad investigation
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Meeting is officially underway #lausd
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Last 3 hours have been spent discussing union negotiations - public speakers will speak at the beginning of the meeting #lausd
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Board members are making their way to their seats #lausd
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Crowd is yawning, chatting, scrolling smart phones. #lausd
⌘ 13h
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Meeting still has not started, Board Secretariat says he can't provide any further details on the delay #lausd
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Mostly full house awaiting #LAUSD meeting - 1.5 hours delayed, several camera crews have stepped out for live shots pic.twitter.com/ftThYtDcDC
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You can follow our tweets from today's #lausd meeting here: http://www.scpr.org/blogs/education/2014/08/26/17206/la-schools-superintendent-to-face-school-board-aft/ … Once it starts ... wondering if I should have brought PJs
Mary Plummer @maryplummer 
Thomas Himes @LADailyThomas 
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