Camden improves technology to start school year

Camden schools will have more laptops this year and better wireless Internet access, school officials said Tuesday at the last board meeting before the start of school.

Camden district public schools start on Tuesday. Three charter-like Renaissance schools, the first in the state, will be open as of Wednesday.

Kipp Cooper Norcross Academy welcomed 100 kindergartners last week. Mastery and Uncommon Schools both start Wednesday. Mastery will open with 300 students at Pyne Poynt Elementary School, which also will house district students, and a second school in Cramer Hill for 100 students in kindergarten through second grade.

At Tuesday's board meeting, Camden School Superintendent Paymon Rouhanifard said he was eager for the year and announced 2,300 new laptops and improved wireless bandwidth in the 26 district schools.

The technology was funded with $1.4 million in state and federal grant dollars. Rouhanifard said it was the first step in a larger plan for technology expansion.

Teachers and school-based staff also will have access to a new district technology help desk throughout the year.

"Fair access to modern computers and fast Internet across the district allows us to better support our staff, while also making sure our students have the tools to graduate college- and career-ready," Rouhanifard said in a statement.

The meeting also drew members of the teachers' union who have opposed privately run, public Renaissance schools in the city. They circulated fliers for a Sept. 10 Camden Education Association meeting to be held in the Collingswood ballroom in the Scottish Rite Theatre on White Horse Pike.