FBI agents have seized records related to the Los Angeles district’s massive purchase of digital devices, in the latest and most dramatic sign of trouble sweeping over the technology project.
Schools Superintendent Ramon C. Cortines revealed last week that the FBI had taken 20 boxes of evidence from the facilities-services division at district headquarters. In a statement, Mr. Cortines said the seizure was part of an investigation of the “procurement practices involving the Common Core Technology Project,” the name of the ambitious attempt to provide all the district’s 640,000 students with iPads.
That effort, launched by Mr. Cortines’ predecessor, former schools chief John Deasy, represents one of the largest ed-tech purchases by any district in the nation’s history. Its cost has been estimated at $1 billion.
