(from Bloomberg Technology) Five years after opening, the high-profile for-profit venture AltSchool is showing losses, scaling back ambitions for opening elementary schools around the U.S., and planning to close at least one location, in Palo Alto, California, at the end of the year. The company has built at least nine grade schools in California and New York, some equipped with ceiling-mounted video cameras, an abundance of computers, custom apps, robots and 3D printers. The setbacks come in spite of tuition around $30,000 and spending at a pace of about $40 million a year.
The startup will shift its focus to selling technology to other schools — a direction that CEO Max Ventilla said had long been the priority. The company charges $150 to $500 annually per student to sell its technology to outside schools.
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