Board approves School District of Philadelphia’s request to purchase up to 50,000 Chromebooks to support remote learning

Philly School District working to get students laptops, internet

FOX 29's Kelly Rule has the latest.

PHILADELPHIA - The Board of Education approved an action item Thursday that allows the District of Philadelphia to purchase up to 50,000 Chromebooks to support remote learning while schools are closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The digital divide in Philadelphia has been long standing, with many communities having access to in-home computers and internet services for their children while many still do not,” said School District of Philadelphia Superintendent William Hite. “This inequity is a significant barrier to our goal of helping all students in every neighborhood reach their full academic potential.”

A computer is great and all, but it’s practically useless without an internet connection these days. It's something many students do not have and something Hite plans to address.

“We’re working with providers to do that and we know that Comcast is here in the city and has expanded to two months of free service that they provide, but we’re also talking to all of the other providers to ensure that children will either have access to a modem or if they don’t have a modem we’ll be providing mobile hotspots," Wite told FOX 29 Wednesday.

Philadelphia School District looking to get tools to help students learn

Philadelphia School District is looking to go to the board for laptops to help students learn during stay-at-home order for COVID-19. FOX 29's Marcus Espinoza reports.

The superintendent and Mayor Jim Kenney were at Webster Elementary on Wednesday to visit a meal site and give an update on the school districts latest efforts. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has suggested Easter as a possible return to work date for the country, but the mayor disagreed.

"We’re going to follow medical advice. medical experts, disease experts are going to tell us when we’re going to go back to normal. The president certainly is not going to tell us that and we’ll follow our medical experts," Kenney said.

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