Possibly Corrupt LA District Superintendent Looks for Evidence School Board Is Also Corrupt

The Los Angeles Times continues to
document the rapidly deteriorating relationship between Los Angeles
Unified Schools Superintendent John Deasy and the district’s board
of education. Deasy, who masterminded the now doomed
give-every-kid-an-iPad plan, has come under fire for how certain
vendors landed their contracts. The district’s inspector general is
investigating whether Deasy and his top deputy helped Apple and
curriculum company Pearson win the bidding war to provide the iPads
and instructional materials.

Deasy wants to show that the allegations are ridiculous—by
demonstrating that members of the school board have relationships
with Apple and Pearson that are just as sketchy.
From the LA Times:

In a bold challenge to his bosses, L.A. Unified Supt. John Deasy
has filed a public records request seeking emails and other
documents involving school board members and nearly two dozen
companies including those at the center of the controversial iPad
project. …

At one level, Deasy’s focus on the Board of Education does not
seem surprising, said Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse M. Unruh
Institute of Politics at USC.

 “It’s not as if they were going on long camping trips
together before this happened,” he said, referring to tensions
between Deasy and some board members. “Deasy obviously feels he’s
been unfairly attacked for communications he believes are
completely appropriate. This looks like his effort to find out if
the pots are calling the kettle black.”

While these government-corporate relationships might look bad
for all involved, there is no evidence yet that anything unethical
happened.

Even so, the iPad plan was a
failure in its own right—even if the process that spawned it
was entirely proper.