Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 10, 1994 TAG: 9409130012
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
The School Board saw the IBM ThinkPad in action at its meeting last Thursday night.
Part of the county's technology plan - one of four plans being used by the state Department of Education as a model to show other school divisions - is to equip teachers with their own computers. But the School Board was unable to get funding for such purchases in its budget.
The price for this computer is usually upwards of $3,500, and the one being offered to teachers will have about $500 worth of extra software. School officials are still negotiating with IBM but the price to teachers, on a payroll deduction plan that can go from one to three years, should not be higher than $2,600.
``We wanted to find ways of getting computers into the hands of teachers,'' Superintendent Bill Asbury said. ``We found a way to link up with the people who make the instrument that we think will revolutionize education in the classroom.''
Teachers will not be required to buy the computer, but Asbury said they will be encouraged to consider it.
``Before we do much more with kids, teachers have to become experts with this,'' he said. ``It's a tool they're going to need.''
Teachers will be able to link with their school's computer from home at night, prepare lesson plans including computer graphics and displays projected from the computer onto a screen during class presentations, and tap into the Internet for data from such places as the Smithsonian Institution or libraries across the country.
They can update their lesson plans with the latest information from practically anywhere in the world, Asbury said. ``You can use it for your own personal purposes as well as professional.''
The school system wants to sign up as many teachers as possible. ``That will be our strength in negotiations to get our price lowered,'' Asbury said.
The instrument has a removable hard drive that can be upgraded, and can be linked to monitors, printers and even cellular phones. It will carry a 24-hour maintenance contract, and problems can be diagnosed by hooking the computer to a telephone and letting the maintenance technician take it over from a remote location, work with its software and fix the problem.
Teachers have already been inquiring about the deal, which had to be presented first to the School Board.
``In fact, we're having to hold them back,'' Asbury said.
In other business, the School Board received a certificate from the Virginia Council on Vocational Education recognizing the work of the Pulaski County Advisory Committee in the county's vocational and technical education program.
The board also expelled a student for the breaking and entering and arson that occurred at Pulaski Middle School last spring, as well as for assaulting another student. The board heard an appeal from the student's parents in closed session, but upheld the staff recommendation for expulsion.
The board learned that opening week enrollment showed 5,188 students attending county schools. Its budget is based on an estimated enrollment of 5,080, which will probably come pretty close since the county traditionally loses about 100 students during the school year.
``Our pupil-teacher ratios in the lower grades are probably the best they've ever been,'' Asbury said. ``In many cases, they're lower than 20 to one.''
The reason for that is the board's new Critical Years/Critical Skills program, aimed at making sure youngsters are grounded in the skills they will need in later grades and testing to make sure they have mastered those skills before they move on. About 75 5-year-old children took part in the program's ``Jump Start'' two-week summer classes aimed at giving them mastery of some basics as simple as knowing their home addresses before school started.
``The Jump Start program was a tremendous success,'' Asbury said. ``We're real encouraged with what we saw.''
The Pulaski County Melodies, an elementary-grade county choir, has been invited to sing in the State Music Convention at Williamsburg in November. School officials have authorized the overnight trip, but now must seek about $5,000 in donations to cover it for the 46 pupils and their chaperones.
by CNB