Chicago Public Schools and kCura Announce 2014 kCura Gives / CPS Technology Grant Recipients
Local software company partners with CPS to provide tech overhauls to two local schools as part of annual grant program
Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and kCura, developers of the e-discovery software Relativity, today announced the recipients of a new annual technology grant. The kCura Gives / CPS Technology Grant provides selected schools new technology and related resources over the course of three years.
This year’s recipients are Martha M. Ruggles Elementary School and Josiah L. Pickard Elementary School. Both schools were selected based on their commitment to technology and to their students. This was evidenced by their vision and goals, engagement with faculty and students, and focus on results, along with their current technology needs.
Through the grant, Pickard and Ruggles are eligible for $250,000 in technology upgrades over the course of three years, receiving the first $100,000 for the 2014-2015 school year. kCura and CPS will partner with each school to develop specific milestones for implementing technology each year, such as teacher trainings or student computer usage. Upon completion of each year’s milestones, the schools will receive additional funding for the subsequent years until they receive the full $250,000 grant. Additionally, kCura and the schools’ communities will work together during service days to install the new technology and assist with other needs at the schools.
The goal of the partnership is to meet the schools’ technology needs in a sustainable way, providing them with the necessary infrastructure, hardware, software, and training to succeed in the long-term.
“We’re excited that kCura is making critical investments in our schools, allowing them to provide students with more access and more practical experience via technology,” said Lachlan Tidmarsh, CIO of CPS. “We’re committed to working closely with Pickard and Ruggles to make sure their IT infrastructure is ready for the new technology, and that they can support it for years to come.”
While kCura will continue to offer the grant to a new school each year, kCura and CPS plan to open the kCura Gives / CPS Technology Grant up to other organizations. Those organizations would simply need to contribute funds and select a school, and could then work with CPS to implement those funds over the course of three years to better set schools up for continued success.
“We believe technology has the ability to change the world, and it’s important to us that all students have access to technology, no matter what,” said Andrew Sieja, president and CEO of kCura. “The great collaboration between CPS and our team is giving students at Pickard and Ruggles the tech resources to help them get to the next level, and we’re looking forward to continuing and growing this program for years to come.”
For more information on kCura Gives—kCura’s community outreach program dedicated to supporting technology for primary and secondary education—click here or contact Shawn Gaines at sgaines@kcura.com.
About CPS
Chicago Public Schools serves 400,000 students in 658 schools. It is the nation’s third-largest school district.
About kCura
kCura are the developers of the e-discovery software Relativity. Relativity has more than 95,000 active users worldwide from organizations including the U.S. Department of Justice and all of the top 100 law firms in the United States. kCura has been ranked the 100th fastest-growing technology company in North America on Deloitte's Technology Fast 500 and named one of Chicago's Top Workplaces by the Chicago Tribune.
Press Contacts
Joel Hood
Chicago Public Schools
(773) 553-1620
Shawn Gaines
kCura
(312) 870-5536
sgaines@kcura.com
Tags: