Latest news with #Schlott
The Star
7 days ago
- Business
- The Star
In Vermont, pay phones return free of charge in cellular dead zone
Patrick Schlott repairs an old payphone in his basement workshop on July 16, 2025, in Williamstown, Vermont. — AP TUNBRIDGE, Vermont: An electrical engineer by trade, Patrick Schlott has spent countless hours tinkering with new and old technology. But it wasn't until he found himself living in rural Vermont that he realised his penchant for repairing old pay phones could provide a public service. "I realised, wow, there's no cell service for 10 miles (16 kilometers) in either direction,' he said. "The community could really benefit from something like this.' Schlott, a full-time engineer at electric airplane manufacturing company BETA Technologies, decided to approach the owners of his local general store with the idea to install old pay phones around town and make them free for public use. After he explained that there would be no cost to the host, North Tunbridge General Store owners Mike and Lois Gross let Schlott install his first phone outside the store. "Everyone's pretty surprised, and they're like, 'Is that a real pay phone? Does that really work?' And I'm like, 'Yeah, but it doesn't cost any money now'," said store owner Mike Gross. "We've had people use it that broke down. It's a great thing because service is so spotty in Vermont.' The first free public phone installation was Schlott's idea, but he says the two other locations, the Latham Library in Thetford and inside an informational booth in Randolph off Interstate 89, came from community members requesting the service. "All the other phones so far have been people reaching out, which is pretty cool,' he said. Schlott buys the old pay phones, which can range in cost from US$100 to US$500, at flea markets, from internet listings or at auction and fixes them up in his basement workshop. All that's needed to install one of his phones is an Internet connection – no coins necessary. "Basically, there's a small piece of equipment that converts an internet telephone line to an analogue line that these phones can operate off of,' he said. Along with covering the costs, which are about US$2 to US$3 a month for each phone line and less than US$5 a month for calls, Schlott acts as the operator for each phone and can field or transfer calls, helping users when needed. If a user dials zero, the phone will ring Schlott's personal cellphone, though he uses an app to keep his number private. So far, the phone at the Latham Library location has seen the most use. According to Schlott, 370 calls have been made since the phone was installed five months ago, filling a need for students without cellphones to call their parents for after-school pickups. Hannah McClain is a regular at the North Tunbridge General Store and says she finds comfort in knowing the phone is there whenever her 16-year-old daughters might need it. "It does make me feel safer if the kids are out and about, that if they had an emergency up this way that they could stop and use this. I think these are a great service,' she said. Schlott is seeing increased interest in the service, with another free phone install in the works at the Brownell Library in Essex. For now, he plans to continue covering the costs associated with each phone, but noted that may change as the project scales. "It's cool to see something retro that has that old-school appeal but also works. To actually hear it ring, to pick it up and have a dial tone, I think there's real power in that," he said. "And I don't think they should end up in a landfill. They should be recycled and put to good use.' – AP
Fox News
07-04-2025
- General
- Fox News
Harvard's remedial math course reignites concerns over test-optional pandemic policies
Some students at Harvard are playing catch-up on a year-long remedial math course aimed at rectifying a "lack of foundational" skills believed to be exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, but some, like New York Post opinion columnist Rikki Schlott, say scaling back or eliminating standardized testing is responsible for such skill gaps instead. "Without any SAT or ACT scores on their applications, no wonder kids without basic math skills were able to slip through the cracks. The school should have seen this coming," she wrote in a piece published Saturday. Schlott went on to mention that college readiness exams, like the SAT, are key tools said to determine "college and career success," according to the College Board, which spearheads the test. If students' abilities were tested on these key measurements, she argued, there would be no need to reinforce fundamentals. Schlott also critiqued an emerging narrative among some in the academic community who claim standardized tests are relics of racism, and scrapping the practice is a promising way to "help lower barriers to accessing higher education for historically excluded populations." A 2021 article from the National Education Association (NEA) teachers' union, for instance, explored the "racist beginnings" of standardized testing, quoting activist and author Ibram X. Kendi as saying, "Standardized tests have become the most effective racist weapon ever devised to objectively degrade Black and Brown minds and legally exclude their bodies from prestigious schools." Harvard's Director of Introductory Math, Brendan A. Kelly, told The Harvard Crimson upon the addition of Math MA5 — an in-depth Introduction to Functions and Calculus I — last fall, that the pandemic created skill gaps that were difficult to overcome, and the course was the school's way of helping students "step up to their aspirations." "Students don't have the skills that we had intended downstream in the curriculum, and so it creates different trajectories in students' math abilities," he said. The skill gap issue reflects a broader concern spawned by lengthy lockdowns, the sudden transition to a remote learning environment and chronic absenteeism that combined to create plummeting reading and math scores that have yet to recover. The outlet reported in September that the year-long course meets five days a week to ensure students' development. The university website says the "Extra support" will target "foundational skills in algebra, geometry, and quantitative reasoning" to help students "unlock success" in Math MA, the regular math course. Harvard reinstated standardized testing requirements for students applying for fall 2025 admission. Fox News Digital reached out to Harvard for comment, but did not receive an immediate reply.
