Queens Schools To Get An Upgrade

Students in Queens are being provided with new classroom equipment in order to try to improve the educational attainment levels in the area.

Ruben Wills, Jamaica City Councilman, announced that 23 public schools in the area are to get new video teleconferencing equipment and smart boards in order to facilitate improving standards. The initiative is part of an ongoing distance learning program.

“The program is going to raise the standard of education,” Wills said. “It’s like giving these kids a passport every time they go to school.”

Wills is currently in talks with some Caribbean countries in order to set up similar programs where students will be able to communicate with their peers as well as professionals in their respective fields.

The program, entitled “Classrooms Without Walls”, is scheduled to be up and running in September. The program is projected to cost $250,000 which is to paid via Wills’ capital funding.

“It’s being launched in a minority community where there has traditionally been a disparity in education,” Wills said.

Angela O’Dowd, principal of Public School 62 in Richmond Hill, has said that the technology will assist classroom lessons and can also be used to speak to experts in the field via a smart board.

“The classroom walls are not borders,” she said. “We have a world now where with the click of a button we expand the notion of knowledge and learning.”

Leroy Comrie, Councilman for St Albans, has stated that he too is looking at similar way to provide distance learning programs for students in his area.

Phillip Harris, executive director of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology, has said that schools across the country are already using similar systems, particularly in the area of science and social studies.

“When you’re reading about what’s going in Europe, it’s dated,” he said. “The technology allows students to be knowledgeable, current and informed about the world in which they live.”

Members of the City Department of Education said the agency is currently looking to transfer the initiative in to other schools.

“Distance Learning is an exciting new addition to the rich work many schools are doing with technology and communication,” agency spokesman Matt Mittenthal said in a statement.