Students will use the Toshiba Satellite 2210XCDS laptops in
school and at home to heighten learning in language arts, math and
science, officials said.
"If we see this is something that
enhances academic performance, this would be something extended
throughout the district," Mayor John DeStefano Jr. said Thursday.
Parents and students are scheduled to attend a training
session at 11:30 a.m. today in the library media center at Clemente.
"This puts technology in the family," said Sherri Killins,
the president and chief executive officer of Empower New Haven.
Students will be learning how to use the laptops in school
until early October, when they will start bringing them home,
officials said.
"Teachers are just going to integrate the
technology into the regular curriculum," said Roberto Clemente
Principal Leroy Williams.
NoteSys LLC, a leading national
provider of portable computer and wireless technology to schools,
has started training teachers.
NoteSys and the Area
Cooperative Educational Service are partners in training students
and parents on basic computer skills, e-mail use, Internet
connectivity and Microsoft Office 2000 applications.
"We’re
encouraging parents and siblings of the child who has it to also use
it. We hope that the whole family will grow with the focus being on
literacy," Williams said.
The laptop pilot program was
initiated by Empower New Haven’s "High Visibility Projects
Committee" as a way to give students access to technology and to
raise awareness of the organization’s mission.
Empower New
Haven administers the city’s federally funded Enterprise Zone,
which drives programming for job training, social support services
and economic development.
Jerome Tureck, chairman of the EZ
Education Committee, said the Board of Education contributed
$100,000 to the $341,000 project because federal dollars were
restricted to students who live in the six zone neighborhoods:
Dixwell, Dwight, Fair Haven, Hill, Newhallville and West Rock.
School board funds will cover students who don’t live in
those neighborhoods so all fifth-graders at both schools can have
laptops.
Bill Graustein gave $17,500, Roberto Clemente made
a $271,000 in-kind donation and Troup provided $402,435 worth of
in-kind services. Microsoft donated its software, valued at $3,500,
officials said.
Killins said the program still is facing a
$21,500 shortfall.
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