WILMINGTON — A member of the New Hanover County Schools Board of Education voiced concerns of an upcoming trip to Apple headquarters, questioning its intended purpose and what she called a lack of transparency during the planning process.
The trip was announced on December 30 as a way for thirteen representatives of local government, education, and business to better understand how to utilize technology in education and workforce development.
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Officials from New Hanover County, NHC Schools, UNCW, CFCC, and Live Oak Bank will visit the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, California on January 13 and 14.
What ‘appears to be a sales trip’
NHCS board member Judy Justice said on Monday she considers the trip a “misuse of taxpayers’ money on what for all intents and purposes appears to be a sales trip.” She and two other members of the board were not notified of the trip until a week before Christmas, according to Justice.
“I only found out about it because our lawyer, Wayne Bullard sent out a general email warning the members going about accepting gifts from Apple,” Justice said.
Chairwoman Lisa Estep decided who on the board and among NHCS leadership would be attending, according to Justice. The group includes Estep, fellow board member Nelson Beaulieu, Deputy Superintendent Dr. LaChawn Smith, and Chief Technology Officer Dawn Brinson. NHCS Superintendent Dr. Tim Markley was invited but was unable to attend, according to Estep.
NHCS travel expenses will include three hotel rooms totaling $1,500 for two nights’ stay, roundtrip flights totaling $1,614, and a rental car, according to an NHCS spokesperson.
Estep said she was asked by NHC Commissioner Woody White to designate one other board member to attend. She approached Beaulieu and Stefanie Adams in early November, according to Estep.
“We did not have a date at that point for the trip, nor did we have written details,” Estep said in a Monday email. “[Chamber of Commerce President Natalie English] was working on getting those details from Apple and for the attending group to meet, which occurred in December. As soon as I got that written information I passed it to my Board.”
But Beaulieu — the board member chosen to attend with Estep — questioned the nature of the trip himself, according to Justice.
“Mr. Beaulieu admitted that ‘I don’t know what Apple is thinking.’ Yet he is going without a firm understanding of why he is going,” Justice said.
Beaulieu declined to comment on Justice’s remark Tuesday afternoon.
In response to concerns that the purpose of the trip had not been adequately expressed, Estep said that statements made by English when announcing the trip “demonstrates that there is indeed a strong purpose.”
“This is a great opportunity for this group of 13 individuals to learn from Apple how best to improve the functionality of the large number of devices our system supports,” Estep said.
Is a trip necessary?
The NHCS system supports many Apple devices, the majority of which — more than 9,000 — are iPads, according to Estep.
“What I hope to learn is how to improve our functionality and purpose — how do we use these devices better? What type of professional development is available? How can we work together with our county leaders and higher ed partners to combine resources?” Estep said.
Estep discussed the Apple trip at Tuesday night’s board meeting. An executive summary of the agenda item said the “Apple Executive Briefing program” will be sharing innovative best practices and policy ideas on utilizing new technologies to enhance education. Apple recommended a group of no more than 15 people from the area’s education, government, and business sectors.
The group of 13 people will brief Apple representatives for no more than 30 minutes, according to the summary of the trip. The following questions were drawn up during a pre-trip December 16 meeting:
- How do we re-train for coding and digital jobs?
- How do we grow our capacity to educate and train the students who want to learn coding and gaming?
- How do we do more virtually?
- How do we use technology to educate and not only for information?
- How do we stop the trend of being behind other countries?
- What are the biggest challenges for each of the institutions in getting ahead of the curve?
Justice said the questions, sent to board members on Christmas Eve, “can easily be answered using Skype technology.”
“After all of that I still am not sure of Apple’s or the group’s purpose for attending outside of sharing information for a possible products sale down the line,” Justice said. “That I gather from the normal business practices of any large company inviting a group such as this to their ‘campus.’ Other companies and nonprofits could also be just as reliable a source of information for future use of technology in our schools and region and they could come to us for the ‘sale.'”
Ultimately Justice considers the trip an inefficient use of government funds and is unhappy with the “lack of transparency that has taken place during this process on the part of Ms. Estep or Mr. Beaulieu.”
Mark Darrough can be reached at Mark@Localvoicemedia.com or (970) 413-3815.
