Best Buy gives $250,000 for school equipment

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Best Buy Co. on Monday said it will give a total of $250,000 to three Kansas City-area schools that plan to use digital cameras, iPods, scanners and other high-tech equipment in the classroom. The company, which has given $10 million in awards to school districts since 2003, reserved its top award this year for the Kansas City School District and its Reaching Out with Opportunities in Technology for Students, or ROOTS, program. The ROOTS program is being rolled out initially in three schools, which plan to use digital equipment to create monthly podcasts and digital portfolios that highlight student achievements, share immigrant students' experiences and build on an oral history project.

School superintendent Anthony Amato said he hopes to see many parts of the ROOTS program spread to all of the district's schools.