When the iPad 2 launched earlier this year, Apple offered a program to donate your first-generation model, where Teach For America would in turn use them in some of the poorest schools across America -- and now, more than 9,000 units have made their way across 38 states.
CNNMoney is reporting that Apple has donated more than 9,000 first-generation iPad models to the members of Teach For America, a foundation with a direct link to the company -- Steve Jobs’ wife, Laurene Powell, sits on their board of directors. So when the iPad 2 launched earlier this year, Apple offered to accept donations of the first-gen models in their retail stores, where they would then be donated to teachers in low-income communities.
While that program ended on August 31 and no one is sure exactly how many units Apple actually collected in total, the company has distributed the more than 9,000 units across 38 states over the past two weekends. Of course, one iPad per classroom is probably several less than the ideal, but it’s certainly a start.
Judging from the teachers’ initial reactions, it’s already having a big impact. “Katie Remington (Middlebury '10) picked up hers -- a refurbished model that looked like new -- on Sunday and brought it to the inner-city high school in St. Louis where she runs the science department,” CNN Money reports.
"So far," she wrote after the first day, "I've figured out it can make them finish their work fast for 'iPad time.'"
Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter
