Debt-for-iPads Scam Update: Five iPads Stolen in Most Telegraphed Theft in History

We've criticized EUSD Superintendent Tim Baird for his debt-for-iPads scam, where he used 30-year debt to fund iPads that would be obsolete or broken in five years.  He's clearly no finance major.

But even we did not imagine Baird would be so oblivious as to fail to secure the iPads after three other area schools were burglarized for iPads and laptops in the past weeks.  Alas, he was.

Patch:

Five iPads were stolen at Ocean Knoll Elementary School late Sunday, according to the Encinitas Union School District.

Initial reports stated that items were not stolen. However, authorities discovered the iPads missing after a thorough investigation, according to the District's Gerry Devitt.

Burglars broke through a fence and window, according to Sgt. Roberto Lopez.

Last month, burglars stole a dozen iPads from Cardiff Elementary School and another dozen from Ada Harris Elementary School. On Friday night, 24 Apple laptop computers were stolen from Skyline Elementary School in Solana Beach.

Only 28 more years of property taxes left to pay off that iPad debt.

Baird wins award for debt-for-iPads scheme

We've covered the EUSD iPads saga many times before:

EUSD to use 30-year debt to buy iPads that will be obsolete in 5 years or broken in 2

Five iPads stolen in most telegraphed theft in history

Encinitas schoolkids get porn on iPads

LA Times: iPads in education are a gimmick and a racket

More porn on iPads in class at Olivenhain Pioneer Elementary

From the Inbox:

This is why we have iPads in ENC schools - to win administrators resume padding awards. At least someone is benefiting from this monumental waste of money.

92024 Magazine:

Two Encinitas residents were recognized by the foundation as being at the forefront in the movement of technology-based education. Encinitas School District (EUSD) Superintendent Timothy Baird received the SDG&E Innovative Superintendent Award for his ongoing commitment to innovative learning programs. He recently implemented the one-to-one digital learning program for all students in Encinitas, which resulted in high student achievement.

No details on what that "high student achievement" means.

In related news, EUSD is canceling the idiotic $189,000 facial recognition login software contract.

Parents concerned about facial-recognition technology on EUSD iPads

From the Inbox:

I am not sure if you are aware that every kid in the school district grades 1-6 has an IPad.  [why, yes, yes we are aware of debt for iPads, leaving iPads unsecured even after burglaries at other local schools, and porn on iPads] It is mandatory and cost a fortune. That is troubling to some in itself. Kids don’t have books anymore and must use the IPad to do their work.

A few weeks ago the EUSD voted to buy Facial Recognition software for all the IPads for $63,000. Baird says it will save time logging in which is nonsense. First, it is a terrible waste of money that could be used much more wisely. Second, it is a huge invasion of privacy as facial recognition is like fingerprints and I don’t want my kid in that database. Third, it is the vanguard for much more invasive data collecting which is the real heart of the matter.

If you as a parent want to see what your kid is working on you cannot access the IPad. The program scans the face every 60 seconds and shuts down if little Johnny isn’t in front. This locks out the parent from the child’s lessons and that is criminally wrong.

Baird wants to be the first in the nation. No one wants this and we were not asked for permission or feedback. Attached is an article in Breitbart and the info on the software provider. We also have a petition circulating:

Change.org

There's a company promo video about the software at the petition link.

EUSD Debt-for-iPads Scam Update

Last year, we discussed the Encinitas Union School District's plan to use 30-year debt to fund iPads for 4th graders.

Well, the 30-year debt has been issued and the iPads have been purchased and distributed. Sources tell Encinitas Undercover that the iPads are a big hit with the kids, so much that many kids now prefer playing Angry Birds over playground games and social interaction with their peers.

And in today's LA Times, columnist Michael Hiltzik discusses the technology scam.

"The media you use make no difference at all to learning," says Richard E. Clark, director of the Center for Cognitive Technology at USC. "Not one dang bit. And the evidence has been around for more than 50 years."

Almost every generation has been subjected in its formative years to some "groundbreaking" pedagogical technology. In the '60s and '70s, "instructional TV was going to revolutionize everything," recalls Thomas C. Reeves, an instructional technology expert at the University of Georgia. "But the notion that a good teacher would be just as effective on videotape is not the case."

Many would-be educational innovators treat technology as an end-all and be-all, making no effort to figure out how to integrate it into the classroom. "Computers, in and of themselves, do very little to aid learning," Gavriel Salomon of the University of Haifa and David Perkins of Harvard observed in 1996. Placing them in the classroom "does not automatically inspire teachers to rethink their teaching or students to adopt new modes of learning."

Click on over to read the whole thing, but it comes down to two points:

1) It's the content and the teacher that matter, not the medium. Better a good teacher with a chalkboard than a program on an iPad.

2) Technology purchases are pushed by the corporations like Apple who profit from them.

Encinitas homeowners who just got 30 years of debt to pay off, you've been had.

Encinitas schoolkids get porn on iPads

We've long been critical of Encinitas Union School District Superintendent Tim Baird's debt-for-iPads program.

But it gets worse. Much, much worse.

Union-Trib:

The Encinitas Union School District failed to install filters on iPads it sent home with elementary school students, making it more likely children can use the devices to download inappropriate content, a group of parents told the school board Tuesday.

The parents also complained that Superintendent Tim Baird has been aware of the problem for a long time, but has failed to take any action.

[...]

At Tuesday’s board meeting, several parents said students had become exposed to pornography through district iPads. “There was no filter established. I mean zero,” said Neil Warren, a parent at Capri Elementary. “You can not expose children to the harmful effects of pornography.”

Chuck Phillips, a chief technology officer for a major digital marketing firm in San Diego, and parent with two kids at Flora Vista Elementary, told Baird that there should be clearer milestones to get the filters installed on the tablets as soon as possible. “There’s just no accountability to parents,” he said.

EUSD to use 30-year debt to buy iPads that will be obsolete in 5 years or broken in 2

iPads for everyone!

Someday in the not-so-distant future, all third- through sixth-graders at Encinitas Union School District schools could be using iPads instead of textbooks as part of the district's plan to upgrade technology.

The district recently bought 40 of the tablet computers for teachers and administrators to use to determine whether they're the best digital tool for the classroom, Superintendent Tim Baird said.

Even aside from the fast obsolescence of personal technology devices like iPads, what's the expected lifespan of an iPad that gets banged around in a kid's backpack every day? Those kids will still be burdened by the $44 million bond on their property taxes long after the last iPad has crashed and today's kindergarteners have long since graduated high school.

More Porn on iPads in class at Olivenhain Pioneer Elementary

The long and sordid saga of Tim Baird's iPad adventures continues.

From the Inbox:

Thought you might be interested in this letter that we received today from the EUSD. I already had the following objections to iPads in the school:

1. Gadgets that will be obsolete in 2 years purchased with 30 year bond money;
2. No evidence that these devices actually improve learning; lots of evidence that they are a distraction and detract from learning;
3. Privacy issues (facial recognition software)
4. Kids losing them all the time; parents have to stress about paying to replace something that they did not want their kids to have in the first place
5. Porn being shown in the class room

These iPads, like many of the other expensive useless projects of Baird, are designed to earn Baird and the district honors and awards that pad their resumes leading to bigger and better jobs in the future. And we are stuck with the costs.

And here's the letter from the district psychologist to parents whose children were exposed to porn during class.

This is not the first time EUSD schoolchildren have been caught using their iPads for porn.

EUSD iPads in schools

Never mind the wisdom of using 30-year debt to buy iPads that will be broken or obsolete in five years.

What's the wisdom of using iPads in school in the first place?

Party on, Tim!

It seems the Encinitas Union School District bigwigs wasted no time celebrating their $10 million Pacific View windfall.

Seaside Courier:

As if to celebrate their fleecing of taxpayers with the school site sale, school board members the first week in August gathered at the posh La Quinta Resort in the Palm Springs area—part of the Waldorf Astoria family—for a three-day “educational retreat” that may have cost taxpayers another $20,000 or so.

According to the flier produced by the school board, the retreat kicked off on Wednesday, Aug. 6, with a “Welcome Happy Hour at Tim’s Suite,” Tim being Superintendent Tim Baird. (Incidentally, in October 2011, Baird sued the City of Encinitas because the council at the time wouldn’t upzone the Pacific View site to allow high-density condos—a move that would have allowed the district to maximize profits from any future sale.)

After happy hour came dinner at the Adobe Grill, the resort’s onsite Mexican restaurant that one Open Table reviewer called “undeservingly pricey.”

The first day of the “educational retreat” ended with “evening libations in ‘The Suite’ or ‘TWENTY6.’” The next day, according to the agenda, a breakfast buffet on the Waterfall Patio was followed by a four-hour “management retreat.” That must have been grueling because the rest of the day was remarkably light: lunch, then “Relaxation and Reflection,” “Happy Hour at Tim’s Suite,” “Dinner off-property at The Grill on Main” and more “evening libations.”

A notice at the bottom of the flier urged school board members to “bring laptops, iPads, sunscreen, swimsuits, hats and any other desert survival items.”

An EUSD parent writes:

I have never heard of such an excessive retreat at a time when class sizes are going up, and parents are expected to fund hundreds of dollars worth of supplies and services.

Agenda for the boozefest here.

Pacific View saved!

... for now. They'll be back with more lawyers and maybe more council members next time.

NCT:

The latest housing proposal for the old Pacific View Elementary School site failed to gain favor Wednesday night with a majority of the Encinitas City Council.

The next battle over the prime coastal property's future is likely to occur in a courtroom, proponents and opponents said after the council's 2-2 vote on a rezoning request, which would have allowed the housing proposal to proceed. The council needed a super majority vote to approve the request.

Looking furious moments after the council vote, Encinitas Union School District Superintendent Tim Baird shook his head and repeatedly said, "Unbelievable."

Baird, who just swindled Encinitas homeowners into taking on 30 years of debt to buy iPads for 4th graders, should take a pill. There's no Constitutional right to have your land rezoned for maximum profit.

Stocks and Bond voted for the rezoning; Houlihan and Barth voted against it. Gaspar bizarrely "recused" herself because she hadn't been on the Council for the first rezoning vote. Does she not understand what recusing is? You recuse yourself when you have a conflict of interest, not when you weren't on the Council for prior related votes. Most likely, Gaspar is just afraid to piss off the developers and school district by voting "no," and the public by voting "yes." That's not a recusal; that's a cowardly "present" vote.

EUSD borrowing rated second-least transparent in county

You may recall the Encinitas Union School District's scheme to use 30-year debt to pay for iPads whose useful life would be far shorter than 30 years.

Now the San Diego County Taxpayers Association is calling foul on EUSD's lack of transparency on how it's spending our money.

Union-Trib:

San Diego County school districts are making strides when it comes to keeping the public informed on how they manage voter-approved bond measures, according to a study released Monday.

[...]

The information is intended to help districts and inform the public, said W. Mark Leslie, president of the taxpayers association.

“Voters have agreed to pay more taxes...,” he said. “They deserve to know if the promises are being kept.”

The report, “School Bond Transparency in San Diego County,” rates bond measures recently approved in 21 districts using its “School bond transparency score card” that covers everything from posting financial audits online to providing information about members of citizen oversight committees.

The organization found that school districts met 90 percent of the criteria, up from 80 percent in its last review conducted in 2011. San Diego Unified and Sweetwater were the only districts to earn perfect scores, having met all of the 23 criteria. The organization deemed Julian (met 7 of 23 criteria) and the Encinitas Union School District (met 10 of 23 criteria) as the least transparent, they are the only two to meet fewer than half of the criteria.

EUSD Superintendent Tim Baird admits he's asset-stripping to fund the budget

Just two years after his 30-year-debt-for-iPads swindle, Encinitas Union School District Superindendent Tim Baird now admits that his plan to strip the community of an irreplaceable asset is all about plugging the hole in his budget. Patch:

“This loss of revenue will force us to raise class sizes even higher, and ultimately lay off some of our best and brightest teachers," Baird said.

“It is not too late to stop this train wreck."

So how will EUSD pay its teachers a few years down the road when the money from Pacific View has been blown through? One of the most basic principles of running any organization is that you don't use non-recurring revenues for recurring expenses.

Baird, by the way, is reportedly demanding a pay raise, and the school board, including Mark Muir's wife Maureen Muir [I stand corrected?], appears set to give it to him.

Your tax dollars at work

Sources tell Encinitas Undercover that the Proposition P bonds, which are debt that will be paid off by increased property taxes over 30 years, have been used to buy iPads for all 4th through 6th graders, as well as giant flat screen TVs for school offices. You know what the useful life of an iPad in the hands of a 9-year-old is? I'll give you a hint: it ain't the 30 years of debt we just signed on to pay for it.

All this while EUSD schools are increasing class sizes and still failing No Child Left Behind standards. How's that for district management?

In unrelated news of Encinitas financial shenanigans, the Ecke developers are seeking yet another bailout via subdivision after ripping off members of the Encinitas Ranch HOA by getting the city council to let them out of their obligations to the failing Encinitas Ranch Golf Course. And Pacific View is up for rezoning into condos again.

Time for change at City Hall?

EUSD Superintendent Tim Baird sues Encinitas

How's this for a Friday afternoon news dump?

EUSD Superintendent Tim Baird, who recently got Encinitans to take on 30 years of debt so he could give iPads to 4th graders, is now suing the city of Encinitas because the council won't upzone Pacific View to turn it into high-density condos and maximize the school district's profit on the sale.

Baird thinks state law requires cities to upzone properties to match the surrounding neighborhood (i.e. from public use to high-density residential). The council thinks it's not that clear-cut. Unfortunately, the city's attorney is Glen Sabine, the genius responsible for both the Barth harassment debacle and the road report fiasco.

HT: Anonymous

EUSD under fire

The Encinitas Union School District is coming under increasing scrutiny for financial mismanagement.

In today's Patch, we learn that the the EUSD is running a $5 million deficit before taking into account the likely December cuts from the state. It is utterly irresponsible to run a huge deficit even under the unrealistically optimistic June budget scenario and then risk making drastic cuts mid-school-year.

Fiscal irresponsibility is a recurring theme at EUSD. Recall that this is the same district that swindled Encinitas voters into taking on 30 years of debt so they could buy iPads for 4th-graders.

But EUSD management is willing to do more than mortgage our future for a little technology bling. They also want to strip the community forever of an irreplaceable prime asset in order to fund current bloated operating budgets. The Leucadia Blog explains the history of the Pacific View site that EUSD wants to sell to the highest-builder.

Most of the property was gifted to our community in 1883 by one of the early town founders, J. Pitcher. Over the last 128 years the remainder of the property has been meticulously deeded down through several generations until it was finally deeded to EUSD in 1964. It was a gift. There was lots of land available in Encinitas in 1883. These town founders were very particular about this special site on top of the bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. They wanted it for the community and its children.

Finally, anonymous commenters at Encinitas Undercover have lots of info (unverified, but believable) on this post, including free preschools for revenue, a sweetheart deal for a Vista farmer, and Tim Baird's background in Ojai.

If you have any information you'd like to share, please e-mail encinitasundercover@gmail.com. Confidentiality is assured.