School District of Philadelphia Uses Digital Signage to Promote Get Healthy Philly

Horizon Software International, provider of K-12 food service technology, announces the implementation of 100 digital signs throughout the School District of Philadelphia’s K-12 school cafeterias.

The SourceBoard solution will allow schools within the district to better communicate with students and faculty through digital signs placed in front of meal lines. In addition, the digital signs will assist with promoting various initiatives important to the school district.

Horizon partnered with Touchtown, Inc. (www.touchtown.us) to offer this digital communication medium that allows schools to broadcast nutritional information, menus, organization news, activity announcements, videos and more to HDTVs strategically placed throughout their facilities. SourceBoards in the School District of Philadelphia help students not only to understand the nutritional values of the foods they are eating, but also to make more informed decisions on their food choices.

“The School District of Philadelphia’s application of SourceBoard, to promote ‘Get Healthy Philly’ that promotes a healthy, active and smoke-free environment, shows the District is on the cutting edge by using technology to communicate with their students, parents and faculty. Their leadership in piloting this product demonstrates the visionary insights of their team,” says Randy Eckels, President of Horizon.

The ease of use and implementation was paramount for choosing Horizon’s SourceBoard for the School District. “The smooth implementation of the SourceBoards into the 85 schools shows that the product is easy to execute. The support received throughout the entire process has made this project a huge success in our district, and the value of the solution aligns with our continued focus on nutrition education for our students,” says Wayne Garsela, Senior Vice President of Food Service at the School District of Philadelphia. “We think it’s a step in the right direction for helping our students understand the importance of staying healthy by maintaining a balanced diet and participating in physical activity.”

Horizon SourceBoards integrate with the Horizon POS system, which allows SourceBoard to pull menu information directly from the POS system. The SourceBoard content manager comes pre-loaded with nutrition education content that makes it very easy for the district to provide this information via digital signage to students and faculty.