D.C. Project Connects Schools and Families
The District of Columbia Public Schools joined the Foundation for Educational Innovation (FEI) and its coalition of public/private alliance members -- including Eastman Kodak Co. -- to kick off a pilot program that will serve as a model for using technology to reform education.
District Superintendent Franklin L. Smith and executives from several businesses participated in an "electronic ribbon cutting" at the new FEI Technical Learning Center (TLC) at Roper Middle School. Roper is the first of three district schools in this project that will connect students, teachers and families to the latest technology-based educational tools and to the Internet.
Besides a matching grant award from the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, FEI has forged alliances among industry leaders, including Bell Atlantic-Washington, D.C.; Novell, Inc.; Ventana/University of Arizona; and the JASON Foundation for Education.
Kodak has provided the learning center with a Kodak Digital Science DC40 camera -- a point-and-shoot digital camera that captures color pictures and downloads them directly to a computer -- as well as a ColorEdge 1550+ copier/printer.
The firm also has introduced technology that allows people to access Photo CD images over the Internet. Eastman Kodak, Rochester, NY, (800) CD-KODAK, www.kodak.com.