Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, November 23, 1993 TAG: 9311230092
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURA WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Meanwhile, at the Fleming-Ruffner Magnet Center - where a student can earn a pilot's license before a high school diploma - teachers still run inky, purple copies off on duplicator machines.
Students at other schools study archaic computer programs long ago discarded by the business community. Still others flip through typewritten card catalogs considered dinosaurs in today's high-tech society.
"There's general agreement that there's this disparity," said Roanoke School Superintendent E. Wayne Harris.
Created in part by federal grants that channel disproportionate amounts of money to some schools, Roanoke's technological disparity problem hovers near the top of the new superintendent's priority list. It ranks high, also, among the budget priorities set by individual schools.
Harris said he knew he had to bring the school system up to date technologically when he arrived on the job July 1 to find what he refers to as "an antique" computer sitting on his desk.
"There is a certain level of technology that we need to have in every office, in every school, in every building," he said.
And it's not there.
Harris has been calling on everyone from school maintenance workers to principals to help him figure out how to get it there.
Monday, the second of two focus groups - including teachers, parents, school administrators and support staff - gathered at James Madison Middle School to outline the range of technology used in city schools today and how that should change in the future.
Those who attended applauded the new superintendent's vision but acknowledged the task would not be an easy one.
"I think the biggest challenge is the fact that we as adults didn't grow up with computers," said Sherry Boone, a representative for Roanoke's Central Council Parent-Teacher Association.
"It takes extra effort for us to learn technology," she said.
And money. Others at the meeting said the schools often purchase expensive, modern equipment but don't get the training they need to use it. In some cases, it sits in boxes gathering dust.
"We hope that someday we'll be able to use all the technology we have today," said Patrick Henry math teacher Ben Bazak, when reading his group's technology wish list.
Harris said he will weigh heavily the school system's technological needs when proposing his first budget to the School Board next month.
In addition to the two focus groups - which brought suggestions from nearly 100 people - he plans to form a technology committee including representatives from local universities, the business community, central administration staff, school teachers, principals, parents and students. The committee will be asked to develop short-range and long-range technology plans for the entire school system.
Harris said he hopes they'll develop a short-range plan by early May.
He has no idea what it will cost, he said.
"I'd be afraid to even guess."
Already, the School Board has approved a $60,000 request from Harris to place facsimile machines and computer modems in every school - equipment he hopes will be installed by February.
But the plan will extend well beyond computers, Harris said, to new phone systems, satellites, laser disks and other state-of-the-art equipment for both faculty and students.
"There's nobody who's not going to be touched."
by CNB