This is one of those stories where you really wish the commercial press would tell the whole story - or at least link to things. On the surface, it's a good news story: the Philadelphia school board plans to invest some $75 million in new technology in 50 of its 275 schools, with plans to support all of them at a cost of $1.5 million per school (you will only be able to click to this item once - it's one of those fake links that makes you register if you ever go back). I can't cover everything in this one short item, there's so much. Microsoft is involved; they launched a pilot project here, which is the basis for this new program. But Philadelphia is also where a private company called Edison Schools manages - with limited success - a number of schools, where the state directed funding to benefit these schools, where the University of Pennsylvania, which offers training to teachers in the Edison schools, brought in commercialized Napster over student objections. So what is this $75 million, really? A much-needed infusion of funds? Or something else entirely? I wouldn't be so cynical, but when you cover so much of this, you get that way.
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