Coronavirus Latest: Philadelphia Superintendent William Hite Speaks On Plan To Get Chromebooks To Students Learning From Home
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The School District of Philadelphia has approved funding to buy laptop computers for students to use at home. CBS3's Jim Donovan spoke with Superintendent Dr. William Hite about the plan.
He says on Thursday night, the Board of Education jump-started a plan to get Chromebooks in the hands of any student in the School District of Philadelphia who says he or she needs one.
"Now, we are jump-starting that with the purchase of 50,000 [Chromebooks] that should arrive to us sometime early next week," Hite said. "That gives us the opportunity to get into schools to count how many we have in schools that could be distributed to the students and the 50,000 will make up the difference."
He added that the school district is doing training for teachers who will be using remote learning platforms.
The School District of Philadelphia anticipates that parents will begin receiving notifications the first week of April, with the distribution of the computers likely coming the following week.
Hite also mentioned that early next week, a date will be coming out of the earliest they will be able to return to school.
"It will likely be beyond the April 6 date but we have to talk with the board and multiple layers of government to determine if this will first be extended," he said. "Everyone fully expects this to be extended for a longer period of time."
Watch the video to hear the full interview.