Students in the Greenup County School District are going to upgrade them, then students will be allowed to take them home to use for homework or for whatever else families can use them for.
The Dell and Compaq computers are surplus machines that normally would be scrapped by Greenup County schools because they no longer meet the district’s technology requirements.
Now, however, under a program called Computers4Kids, they will be refurbished by Greenup County High School students.
The students, seeking to gain certification in information technology, will install new memory, reformat the hard drives, and make whatever other upgrades are needed. The refurbished computers will then be given to local families free of charge to help in the education of their children, according to Tony Carr, information officer for Greenup County Schools,
Funding for the program will come from ConnectKentucky and AT&T, which is providing a grant.
Mary Pat Regan, president of AT&T in Kentucky, credited state Rep. Tanya Pullin, D-South Shore, for pulling the program together.
“She’s constantly looking for ways to link businesses and organizations to help strengthen education in her district,” Regan said in a prepared statement. “And supporting education is our key philanthropy focus. Our goal is to help students succeed, in school, in the workforce, and in life.”
At 1 p.m. Tuesday, Pullin and Regan will join school officials and ConnectKentucky Executive Director Rene True at Greysbranch Elementary School in Lloyd. At that time they will present the first 150 computers courtesy of the Computers4Kids program.
“These computers would be just expensive garbage without AT&T’s help,” Pullin said. “I appreciate their commitment to education. In particular I appreciate this grant, which will benefit so many Greenup County students.”
Connect Kentucky and Lexmark International Corp. have also teamed up to provide 150 new all-in-one printers to Greenup County Schools to be distributed with the computers, Pullin said.
The Family Resource and Youth Service Center at each school will join to identify families who will most benefit from the computers and printers. More will be distributed in the coming months as they become ready.
Post a Comment
