A new tool being used in local classrooms could help bridge achievement gaps between urban and suburban schools.

Students in the Rochester City School District had a chance to try out a videophone Tuesday. They connected with a special guest.

Superintendent Jean-Claude Brizard visited third graders at School 22 without leaving his office.

He has a videophone at his desk. Around lunchtime Brizard called the videophone in the library at School 22. He was able to see and hear students and they were able to see and hear him.

They had a chance to ask their superintendent questions for the first time.

“I asked him when he's coming to visit us,” said Janiece Dorman.

“(I asked) if he know how to talk in Spanish,” said Taiwan Melendez.

"(I asked) if it was hard being in charge of schools," said Janelisse Lugo.

The videophone pilot project is a part of Kidbridge, a program developed by the Rochester Education Foundation. The six-year old program focuses on leveling the playing field for kids from all schools.

Karen Guidarelli is leading the project.

"We can connect classrooms to each other, mentors to classrooms and then community groups to each other," she said.

Videophones have been installed in Victor and Pittsford schools as well as two Rochester schools.

Brizard says he would be interested in investing in the phones or tools like it.

“There's tons of technology out there for education. We've not learned to leverage enough of it,” he said. “We've got to make classrooms much more dynamic and allow kids to go beyond their walls in their schools in their classrooms.”

Guidarelli hopes more videophones will be put in businesses and museums across the country. She says it's a tool that will bring students closer to the world.

"(We want) to get kids to communicate together and help them understand that there is life outside their own neighborhood," she said.

The students will get to use the videophones for free for the next 90 days. The phones cost about $300s each. Twenty videophones have been donated for the pilot program by 5Linx. The company is based out of Henrietta.

News 8 is one of the businesses selected to be part of the video-phone pilot project.