Your donation will help us produce journalism like this. Please give today.
Ever-so-hackable?
At least one LA Unified school board member was hardly shocked to learn that students piloting the district’s iPad program had found a way to break through the firewall.
“Of course it happened,” Steve Zimmer told LA School Report, throwing his hands up in the air as he left an event at Hollywood High School. “Frankly, I’m surprised it took this long. What has it been, a few weeks?”
The LA Times reported today that nearly 300 students at Roosevelt High School hacked the new iPads, reaching such off-limit sites — or so district officials thought — as YouTube and Facebook. Their digital dexterity could delay further distribution of the devices, beyond the 30,000 or so given out in Phase 1 of a near $1 billion effort to give every LA Unified student an iPad.
Meanwhile, as a result of the breach, district officials said the district is suspending the right of students to take iPads home with them.
Zimmer’s remarks came after a ribbon cutting ceremony at the school, which unveiled a state of the art recording studio, an overhaul of the school’s culinary arts facilities and Broadway-quality upgrades to the auditorium. The three projects cost nearly $20 million over six years.
Freshmen Diana Cruz and Giselle Palacios, both students within the Performing Arts Magnet at the school, said they can’t wait to record a song in the new studios.
Palacios, who is also a cheerleader, was the envy of her friends, having performed on the new stage.
“It was amazing and scary,” she said. “The lights are so bright you can’t see out into the audience.”
Previous Posts: Tablets in the Classroom? Debate. But What About That Price?; After Months of Planning, LA Unified Distributes First iPads; LA Unified Survey Finds Teacher Satisfaction with iPad Training