LAUSD iPad documents seized by FBI

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- FBI agents have seized 20 boxes of documents related to the Los Angeles Unified School District's $1 billion project to equip all 650,000 of the district's students with an iPad.

Interim Superintendent Ramon Cortines told the Los Angeles Times the Monday seizure surprised school officials. He said the district is cooperating with the federal investigation.

The program, spearheaded by former Superintendent John Deasy, faced problems from the beginning. Students given the iPads last school year were caught bypassing security measures, downloading games and surfing the web. Teachers said they were not trained to use the technology.

The initiative was scrapped when questions came up about Deasy's relationship with contract winners. Emails showed that Deasy had been in contact with Apple and Pearson before contracts were put up for bid.

Deasy resigned in October and the school board voted to appoint Cortines, who previously served as superintendent.

The United Teachers Los Angeles issued a statement: "The former superintendent cannot escape the tough questions about the ill-fated iPad project. He cannot simply resign and leave a mess for others to clean up."

Meanwhile, Cortines said Tuesday that he is canceling the contract and starting another based on "identified flaws" in the Los Angeles Unified Inspector General's report on device procurement.

The district is expected to continue under a different contract with Apple for iPads and another vendor, Arey Jones, for Chromebooks by the 2015-2016 school year, Cortines said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.