Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 9, 1991                   TAG: 9102090073
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-5   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: PULASKI                                LENGTH: Medium

COMPUTER LEARNING LABS WILL COME FROM UTAH

Wicat Systems Inc. of Oren, Utah, will supply integrated learning systems for the 12 schools under a $920,000 contract recently approved by the county.

A $2 million bond issue to equip all county schools with computers was the only one of three approved by voters in a Nov. 6 referendum. Parent-teacher groups and others had pushed for its passage.

It will make Pulaski County's the first public school system in the state with a computer-assisted program from kindergarten through high school.

Approval of the contract followed a six-month evaluation by county school officials. The evaluation included placing a 64-station Wicat learning lab at Pulaski County High, a lab from Josten's Learning Corp. of Arizona at a middle school, and a lab from Computer Curriculum Corp. of California at an elementary school.

A committee of teachers, administrators and staff members evaluated all three labs and chose Wicat's.

"We were impressed with the breadth of Wicat's courseware and the flexibility of the management system," said Phyllis Bishop, assistant superintendent for instruction.

She said all 6,000 students in the county would have access to a Wicat lab. "We figure our student-to-computer ratio will be about 17-to-1, one of the best in the nation."

The School Board will consider sites within buildings for the labs at its meeting Thursday. Wicat must then draw diagrams for wiring the computers in those locations. Bids will then be advertised for the wiring. "It's a long process," Bishop said.

School officials hope computers may be installed at one or two schools by spring, but it will take until late summer to finish most of the work.