As schools rush to embracecomputer tablets as teaching tools, glitches have officials in a few districts rethinking the usefulness and even security of the latest technology trend.

The highest-profile snafu came in Los Angeles, where a $1 billionprogram -- funded by voter-approved bonds -- to provide Apple Inc. iPads for K-12 students came under fire after some students sidestepped the securitysystem and accessed social media, online games and other content that was supposed to be blocked.

The Los Angeles Unified School District temporarily took back thousands of tablets from students at three high schools and required the devices to remain on-campus in all 30 schools where the effort had been rolled out. School board officials called a special meeting for Oct. 29 to assess the $50 million first phase of the program ahead of votes to fund the second and third phases.

Los Angeles school board member Bennett Kayser said the district's initiative was 'hastily planned' and several 'red flags' were overlooked, such as the potential expense of lost or stolen devices and questions about the completeness of the installed curriculum software. 'Technology is a tool, not an end unto itself.'

The fitful Los Angeles rollout comes as K-12 schools nationwide are expected to spend $9.7 billion on technology in 2013, up from $6 billion in 2003, according to the Center for Digital Education, a national research and advisory institute specializing in education technology trends and policy.

Advocates say new technology may allow teachers to better target students' individual academic levels and learning styles, and engage students who often are bored by the more traditional style of teaching. For example, teachers can watch students writing essays in real time and shoot one a note if she failed to write a proper introduction and another a separate note if she used improper punctuation.

Leslie Wilson, of the Michigan-based One-to-One Institute, a nonprofit that helps districts implement programs that assign a digital device to every student, said students must learn to be 'creators and producers, not regurgitators and consumers' of information, and technology can hasten those skills. She said laptops, tablets and other such devices can benefit students if they are chosen with student achievement in mind, rather than on the 'glitziness' of the product.