“An audit commissioned by the Cobb County School Board accused the superintendent’s office of lying to the board and to taxpayers about the county’s controversial laptop computer program,” Jon Shirek reports for WXIA-TV Atlanta. “Cobb County Schools Superintendent Joseph Redden Monday read a statement blasting the audit, and defended the bidding and procurement process.”
“‘I have complete confidence in the process. Nowhere does the report identify that any professional procurement standards were violated,’ Redden said. ‘Again, I am disturbed by the report’s insinuations and disparaging tone and look forward to the opportunity to respond in detail very soon. We stand by the procurement process that selected Apple as the vendor for Power to Learn, and strongly believe that any credible evaluation of that process from beginning to end will show that it was exceedingly thorough, and resulted in the right proposal being chosen,'” Shirek reports.
Full article here.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Investigation finds Cobb School Board ‘deceived’ the public, Apple iBook deal terminated – August 15, 2005
Cobb County school board pulls plug on 63,000 Apple iBooks plan – August 02, 2005
Judge shuts down 63,000 Apple iBooks for Cobb County students – July 29, 2005
One Cobb County Apple iBook audit expected to finish soon – July 27, 2005
Inquiry into Cobb County Apple iBook bids requested – July 14, 2005
Cobb County iBook saga: allegations that school leaders pressured employees to pick Apple – July 11, 2005
Lawsuit to halt Cobb County’s 63,000 Apple iBooks for education plan goes to court today – July 08, 2005
Cobb County’s Apple iBooks in schools saga continues with lawsuit – June 04, 2005
Lawsuit filed to stop Cobb County’s Apple iBook program – June 01, 2005
Cobb County school board approves Apple Mac plan; could eventually distribute 63,000 iBooks – April 29, 2005
Henrico school board dumps Apple Macs, picks Dells with Windows – April 29, 2005
Cobb County school officials intend to move forward with Apple iBook program – April 21, 2005
Cobb Commission chief urges delay in Apple iBook program, says issue has become too emotional – April 20, 2005
No conflict of interest in ongoing Cobb County Apple iBook saga – April 19, 2005
More controversy in Atlanta-area school district’s plan to buy Apple iBooks – April 16, 2005
Cobb County Georgia approves first phase of plan that could equip schools with 63,000 Apple iBooks – April 15, 2005
Atlanta-area school district on verge of deal for 31,000 Apple iBooks – April 12, 2005
Cobb teachers voice concerns over using Macs for proposed laptop program – March 29, 2005
Cobb County Georgia meeting discusses plan to equip schools with 63,000 Apple iBooks – February 24, 2005
Report: 90 percent of emails opposed to Georgia’s Apple iBook program – February 10, 2005
65,000 Apple iBooks for Georgia schools one of the largest school laptop programs in the country – February 10, 2005
Georgia school district to propose 63,000 Macs for students and teachers – February 07, 2005
he said, she said…
Just remember this started as a political issue (one guy voted off the school board despised the tax increase) and the hardball is only getting worse.
Personally I only favor these laptop programs if they come with a students text books pre-loaded on the machines. Do any of these programs actually eliminate the need to lug around heavy bricks of paper?
MDN Magic Word: “hope” because the citizens of Cobb County hope their politicians get their heads out of their asses.
I would certainly like to read his response. So far it’s been a one sided story. Hopefully MDN will get the other side. I have the feeling the students and teachers will be feeling really bad that the board shot this down just because of one Windows moron who is probably getting paid off by one of the PC manufacturers. If this money wasn’t supposed to go to computers in the schools then why is it ok to purchase Dells and not Macs?
I’ve been waiting for his response. I knew he wouldn’t sit idly by for making the right choice. He’s an island in a sea of idiots. I’m sure this was the only time that those parents involved themselves with their children’s education. All they know about Mac is “incompatibility,” something they couldn’t define even if you gave them a dictionary.
Man, What a morning. First Henrico and now this. You see Bill Gates you started this mess with that sorry software. Somebody needs their bottom beat.
On a related note, M$ patents “fraud” and charges Cobb County $10 per instance…
Re: the above posts from John, JadisOne, and D —
Ditto.
I didn’t realize this became CobbCountyDailyNews.
Objectively, this doesn’t have anything to do with Macs or Apple.
Dear Mr. Justified,
I think the sales team at Apple and the interested observers in other school districts who are considering massive Macintosh purchases would be fascinated to learn that the potential loss of a 63,000 Mac sale “doesn’t have anything to do with Macs or Apple.”
Thank you for your brilliant insight. Color me edified.
I echo “justified” response. At this point, the computer manufacturer really has no bearing on the article and hence is not Macintosh news. We learned that three article postings ago.
I think the story from Cobb County is fascinating. It shows that there is a real, political basis for the prejudice heaped on Apple’s Macintosh. And, btw, why shouldn’t this be news on MDN? Seems to me that a scandal involving Macs is worth reading about. I mean, are we only interested in articles about the latest speed bump or flashy new case? Come on guys, broaden your minds a little.
Dear Gang Bang Chicken,
Sum Jung Gai was funny 20 years ago.
Sincerely,
It Still Ain’t Mac News
To Justified and zupchuck,
The title says “Cobb County Schools.” If not interested, please skip the article. It was your choice to read the “non-news.” Meanwhile, those interested in the “Cobb County” news can choose to read the article.
I agree, this highlights the bias AGAINST Apple products and the dumb follow the hurd choice of Windows. It also makes other districts think twice before selecting Macs, will it cause a problem in the district they live in? Is it worth it?
Its not a Mac or PC issue to the taxpayer. Its a what the heck do you think you are doing buying computers for kids. Just teach the kids. Buy desktops at about 1 per 3 or 4 students. I thought the education system was running out of money. Where in the constitution is the right to a lap top?
For those who are interested, here is another article at Marietta Daily Journal.
http://www.mdjonline.com/268/10192194.txt
I guess the statement which got the board members upset is decision was made through ‘intuition.’
Too bad they don’t realize ‘intuition’ is only way anyone can compare Mac and Windows. It is not like comparing Dell to IBM. Comparing Mac to Windows is like comparing Apple to Orange.
Here is my suggestion, buy 1/3 Apple with MacOS, 1/3 Dell with Windows, and 1/3 IBM with Linux/FreeBSD. Then try to teach students how to interoperate between three different OS. Use OpenOffice and FireFox on all computers, so students can exchange word processing, spread sheet, and presentation documents and browse web sites. Teachers and students can use Java, JavaScript or GNU compiler to develop software if they want to have custom programs or learn to program. Exchange the computers between students once in a while, so they all can experience different OS. Students will learn more about computer using different OS than if they only used one OS and prepare them for upcoming OS, what ever that is (Plan 9 or Hurd?).
Yeah, MacGoog, just teach. I mean who needs books and other modern tools. Go Artistoteles!
While I like the suggestion of a mixed environment (a more truly ‘Open’ solution that ‘everyone should run Linux, only then will we be truly free’), I was amused at the idea of teachers developing their own custom programs. Not because they are incapable, but because they don’t have the time (and if they do, they’re not doing their job properly!).
But it would definitely be good to see kids learning about a wider range of computers – most people don’t realise that the majority of ‘real IT’ doesn’t happen on Windows kit, and that having done IT at school doesn’t prepare you for a career in programming.
Justified is wrong…this discussion has everything to do with Apple and Macs. Case in point, I love my PowerBook and dual G5…but have to admit that as a teacher the following sort of information does cause me to pause. Montax is this political bias against Apple and Macs? Or just the facts?
====
Monday, August 22, 2005
Cobb board ignored Henrico s laptop lessons
As a supporter of properly implemented technology in education, I’ve vicariously watched this slow moving train wreck known as the Cobb Laptop program. With each new revelation in the MDJ, it becomes more apparent that “somebody was getting something from someone.” With the information available from both the Cobb County School Board evaluation process and from other school districts that have implemented this type of initiative, you have to ask yourself what was the CCSB thinking – or not thinking?
Since Henrico County, Va., was constantly mentioned in this process, I decided to do a little web research on the Henrico Public Schools Laptop Initiative.
They’ve had four years of experience with a program that looks like a carbon copy of the Power to Learn project. Well, well – bet they’ve got a wealth of information that would have been helpful to our fearless leaders at the CCSB in their quest for the best solution. A couple of clicks later and voila! I was correct. Henrico County Public Schools – the educational model for technology in the classroom, the favorite reference site of Apple Computer, that amazing come-from-behind winner in our laptop derby (and apparently the best place to look for supportive consultants to put on the CCSB payroll), does in fact have experiences that could’ve been of benefit to the CCSB. In fact, Henrico schools went out and hired a consultant to evaluate the process – after four years – to see just what administrators, teachers and students thought of the program. They also included the people actually footing the bills – the tax paying parents – in this survey.
I’ll skip to the juicy stuff in the report, the stuff that should have set off a few Red Flags if you had to make a purchase decision for a large school district:
n Page 16 – “The majority of iBooks (Apple laptops) require repair during the school year – 57 percent turned their iBooks in for repair since the start of the 2004-2005 school year.”
n Page 18 – “61 percent indicated that it took more than three days to receive their iBooks back from the help desk. – 18 percent of middle school students with iBooks have sent them to the Texas repair center since the start of the 2004-2005 school year.”
Who knows how long that took?
n Page 27 – “The majority of teachers indicated that they prefer to have a Windows-based system, while most administrators preferred the Apple Macintosh system.”
n Page 30 – “The majority of parents prefer their children use Windows-based personal computers. – 54 percent preferred that their children used Windows-based, 11 percent selected Apple Macintosh, and 32 percent did not have a preference. – Support for Windows was higher among those parents with a computer at home.”
Let’s see if I have this right:
n 57 percent (!) of the students have to get their Apple laptops repaired in one year;
n The majority of the people who work with the students and the computers -the teachers – prefer a Windows based alternative;
n The majority of the people who actually pay the bills, actually had to make an informed purchase choice with their money to buy a computer for home – the parents – prefer a Windows-based alternative; and
n The majority of people who neither work with the students and the computers, nor have to foot the tax bill to fund the programs – the administrators – prefer the Apple laptops.
Gee, it sure would have been nice for the CCSB to see this information before a decision was made. Too bad this report came out too late. Oh, wait a minute – it was submitted to HCPS on Feb. 10.
So I challenge anyone to find out what the CCSB knew and when they knew it regarding the Henrico County Public School Technology Evaluation Survey.
My guess is it wouldn’t have mattered – the fix was already in at that point.
Pete Gonzalez of Marietta has worked in the technology industry for over 17 years. He is the father of three young children.
http://www.mdjonline.com/270/10192918.txt
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I think a lot of people still think MacOS 7 when they think Mac. I always here things like “they’re good for graphics”- That’s like thinking of Windows as windows 95 or 3.1.
I think some people don’t feel Mac have the nerd computer value that PCs do, but in truth, they are every bit as powerful and capable and then some.
–Ed Palma