Peabody High School students will help the city of Pittsburgh evaluate video conferencing technology under a program sponsored by the Pittsburgh Technology Council, officials said yesterday.

The students toured the city's computer department yesterday, and will now start a 12-week classroom effort to help pick a system that would allow Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and other officials to communicate face-to-face with one another and with peers across the state or country without leaving the City-County Building.

It's the first time that the council's five-year-old Adventures in Technology program has linked students to a government. Typically, it connects high schools with businesses.

City Information Systems Director Howard Stern said his department has long wanted to implement video conferencing, but hasn't had time to evaluate the available systems. Now, the students will do that.

"Computers is basically where the new age is headed," said Deandre Jackson, a Peabody junior from Garfield who will work on the project.

The project is backed by the Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board with funding from the Lois Tack Thompson Fund of the Pittsburgh Foundation.