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

DATE: FRIDAY, August 6, 1993                   TAG: 9308060111
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURA WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

SCHOOL TV FUNDS SOUGHT

Educators, business leaders and community members have been invited to a breakfast fund-raiser at Lord Botetourt High School this morning to raise money for the new technology.

The system would allow teachers in one school to see and speak to students at another through two-way television monitors, said Garland Jones, assistant superintendent for curriculum for the Botetourt County school system.

He said the county applied for a $183,000 federal grant but will not hear until mid-September whether it will get the funding. If it does, the Roanoke and Botetourt Telephone Co. has promised to contribute another $35,574.

But Jones said the schools need more money than that. The grant, if it comes through, would connect Lord Botetourt High School, James River High School, the Botetourt Technical Education Center and the community college. He'd like to add the middle and elementary schools to that list.

He said the technology would be used to expand course offerings at all the county schools. For example, a German class taught at one school could be expanded to others without hiring another teacher. The system also would allow for team teaching and for expanding adult education classes.

If Botetourt gets the money it needs, it would join Lee County, Abingdon and Bristol in installing the new technology. Those localities will begin using interactive television systems this fall in pilot programs sponsored by C&P and United Inter-Mountain telephone companies.