Sprint Provides More Than $500,000 in Free Broadband Service to Help Bridge the Digital Divide for Pomona Students
September 03 2015 - 11:00AM
Business Wire
Today, Sprint (NYSE:S) announced it will begin a four-year
commitment of offering free broadband connectivity to the Pomona,
Calif., Unified School District to 300 students at the School of
Extended Educational Options (SEEO). The high-speed LTE broadband
service will help students stay connected at-home through a Wi-Fi
hotspot. The value of Sprint’s service during the term is estimated
at $576,000.
“This partnership is a novel approach to ensuring that the
learning that takes place in the classrooms continues at home by
making technology and Internet accessible to our unconnected
students,” said Pomona Unified School District Superintendent
Richard Martinez, who has been recognized by the White House for
being a trailblazer in the world of digital education. “I want to
thank Sprint for partnering with Pomona Unified to help us reach
our goal of supporting student learning through innovative
strategies.”
Last year, Sprint pledged to provide wireless broadband
connectivity for 50,000 low-income K-12 students across the U.S. as
part of the White House initiative, ConnectED – a public and
private effort to get technology into classrooms and into the hands
of teachers and students to help bridge the “digital divide.” SEEO
is one of the first schools to come online with Sprint.
Sprint has a long history of supporting initiatives that use
innovative technologies, services and devices to enhance
educational opportunities. With access to high-speed broadband,
students can obtain more rigorous and engaging classes, new
learning resources, rich visualizations of complex concepts, and
instruction in foreign language.
“Digital literacy is more important than ever to produce the
future leaders of tomorrow,” said Jim Spillane, director of the
ConnectED program at Sprint. “Students are at a significant
disadvantage without access to the Internet, and Sprint is proud to
provide the technology these students need to access the most
current educational resources and to achieve their highest
educational potential.”
SEEO, a charter school for seventh through twelfth-graders, is
known for a demanding academic program that includes language arts,
math, science and history, world languages, and leadership. The
majority of students do not have access to the Internet at home,
thereby limiting student opportunities to complete homework
assignments, research next-level learning, and apply for jobs.
About 55 percent of the students qualify for free and reduced lunch
and 25 percent of students are English learners.
"SEEO is extremely grateful for Sprint's generosity and for this
opportunity to give our students the digital access they
desperately need," said Tom Sweeney, SEEO principal. “These
services provide our students an enhanced educational experience
and a foundation for greater opportunities when they leave this
school and pursue careers.”
The ConnectED initiative, launched by President Obama, is
designed to prepare students for the digital economy of the future
and to enrich K-12 education for every student in America. More
than $750 million in private-sector commitments will deliver
cutting-edge technologies to students, including devices, free
software, teacher professional development, and home wireless
connectivity. American companies, including Sprint, have answered
the president’s challenge to “dig deep” in support of ConnectED to
expand opportunities for students and to train a 21st century
workforce.
To learn more about the Sprint ConnectED program visit:
www.sprint.com/connected.
About Sprint
Sprint (NYSE: S) is a communications services company that
creates more and better ways to connect its customers to the things
they care about most. Sprint served more than 57 million
connections as of June 30, 2015, and is widely recognized for
developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies,
including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in
the United States; leading no-contract brands including Virgin
Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national
and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1
Internet backbone. Sprint has been named to the Dow Jones
Sustainability Index (DJSI) North America for the past four years.
You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or
www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150903005382/en/
SprintMarci VerBrugge-Rhind,
913-794-6319Marci.j.verbrugge@sprint.com
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