Morning Read: Wifi upgrades push iPad cost to $1.3 billion
LA School Report | February 11, 2014
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LA schools’ wifi networks to cost about $800 million
The Los Angeles Unified School District’s board is scheduled to green light $66 million in wifi upgrades Tuesday, bringing the total reported costs of wifi upgrades need for its iPad proposal to $795 million. With that, iPad and wifi costs together would exceed $1.3 billion if the program is expanded to all district schools. KPCC
LAUSD responds to allegations in Miramonte lawsuits
Two weeks after a former Los Angeles Unified School District employee blew the whistle on his former employer in how it handled civil lawsuits involving the Miramonte Elementary School sex abuse scandal, the district’s general counsel defended his actions in an exclusive interview with NBC4. NBC Los Angeles
Schools can do more to prevent sexual abuse, GAO report finds
Last fall, Miramonte Elementary School teacher Mark Berndt pleaded no contest to charges of lewd acts on children. Parents were especially devastated because they believe LA Unified should have removed Berndt after earlier allegations of sexual abuse had surfaced. KPCC
CA bill among many proposals to protect student data
When a southern California school district hired a data-mining company last fall to monitor students’ public posts on social media, the move made national headlines and set warning bells off for one state lawmaker, who filed legislation this month to help protect kids’ personal information. SI&A Cabinet Report
Q&A: Publicly funded preschool ‘top priority’ for U.S.
Expanding publicly funded care for children under 5 is a top priority for the U.S. Department of Education, said Libby Doggett, the deputy assistant secretary of Policy and Early Learning. Doggett, a Texas native, was appointed in late August 2013 to replace Jacqueline Jones, the first person to hold the post created by President Barack Obama in November 2011. EdSource
Expanding pre-kindergarten in California would be money well spent
Commentary: Early education has become the policy flavor of the month. Across the country, politicians on both sides of the aisle are avidly promoting big-ticket expansions of pre-kindergarten. Sacramento Bee