Optimum Lightpath rewards New Jersey teachers with money

New Jersey teachers have had it hard lately. Their union has been at war--and is losing in more ways than just public perception--with Gov. Chris Christie; and, due to a snafu, they lost millions of dollars of federal funding.  

While not making up that whole gap by any means, Cablevision Systems' (NYSE: CVC) Optimum Lightpath business unit has made things a little sunnier for 10 state districts that were bequeathed $10,000 each in technology grants.

"Every bit counts," said Julia McGrath, Optimum Lightpath's senior vice president of marketing and business development. "I think there's a huge upside to what these schools can do with their grant dollars."

The 10 winners were among 166 applicants both inside and outside Cablevision's footprint in the Garden State who submitted ideas to Cablevision for what they'd do with $10,000.

Two themes permeated the applications, she said. First, there was distance learning--"and they weren't really talking between (neighboring) Bergen and Passaic County, they were more like let's talk between here and China and really try to educate the student population on cultural differences," McGrath said. The second theme was using broadband in conjuction with existing classroom technology such as smart boards. "It really is beyond what typical learning environments are in most school systems and districts ... taking things to the next technological level."

For more:
- see this news release

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