The School District of Philadelphia
Community Technology Initiatives
"Using technology in the home to empower families to improve educational achievement of students"
The School District of Philadelphia's Community Technology Initiative is a series of projects of the School District of Philadelphia. The goal of these projects, taken together, is to improve the educational achievement of students in Philadelphia through the use of technology in their homes. Altogether, they provide a comprehensive and sustainable approach to using technology to better connect families with each other and their schools in the hopes of improving educational achievement in the City of Philadelphia.
Computer Purchasing and Donation Campaign
This project focuses on ways of lowering the cost of technology acquisition to families. Based on direct experience and research conducted within the City, many families have the capability to purchase equipment on their own without subsidy if they are provided with adequate information in which to make the decision. Consequently, this project focuses on ways of lowering the cost of technology acquisition for all families in the city rather than subsidize the cost of technology for a smaller number of families.
The District has negotiated an agreement with local refurbishers that guarantees that the Philadelphia residents will be guaranteed set pricing of $150 per computer if equipment is donated to them in the name of the School District of Philadelphia. Consequently, P4 computers that would normally be re-sold for over $200 would be offered to Philadelphia families for only $150.
If you are interested in donating equipment to the District, please call Jay Cohen at 215-400-5099. We are currently accepting P4 Desktops and laptops. If you have older computers or monitors, please call one of the computer refurbishers below.
For more information on computer refurbishers and
offers go to http://phsc.wikispaces.com/Technology+Info.
Low-Cost Internet Access Program
Any parent who has a child currently enrolled at a Philadelphia Public School which provides free lunch to all of its students (i.e., Universal Feeding School) is entitled to the special Wireless Philadelphia Digital Inclusion rate of $9.95 per month. By the end of the year, this service should be available throughout Philadelphia. Signups are currently being held at the District's Educational Center at 440 North Broad Street at 9:00 on Tuesday mornings. For more information, go to http://www.wirelessphiladelphia.org.
If you are interested in acquiring low-cost Internet access, but do qualify for the Digital Inclusion Rate mentioned above, please go to http://phsc.wikispaces.com/Technology+Info.
Familynet - Online Resources for Parents
The School District offers the ability for parents to view their children's grades, test scores, attendance and other enrollment information via the FamilyNet web site. If you are a parent of a child attending a School District of Philadelphia Public School, then you can sign up at www.phila.k12.pa.us/parents/familynet. If you have a group of 10 or more who would like a free training and presentation, please call Jay Cohen at 215-400-5099 or email at jcohen@delawarevalley.org and mention familynet in the subject line.
To get instructions on signing up click here.
To sign up for Familynet (if you need a username and password) click here.
To go to FamilyNet (if you already have a username and password), click here.
Bring a Computer - Ask a Question Workshop
The School District is currently sponsoring a low-cost computer repair workshop for families. The idea behind this workshop is to provide a way for families to fix their non-working computers without spending a lot of money. For the cost of $5 for District families and $15 for non-District families, a computer user can go to Nonprofit Technology Resources during a regularly scheduled Saturday workshop and have technology volunteers help the computer users fix the computers themselves. For more information, please call Nonprofit Technology Resources at 215-564-6686.