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

DATE: FRIDAY, September 16, 1994                   TAG: 9409160049
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: New River Valley bureau
DATELINE: TAZEWELL                                 LENGTH: Short

GRAHAM, TAZEWELL SCHOOLS GET LINKED

More high schools and a community colleges have been linked by fiber optics, as proposed by Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, more than two years ago.

Electronic classrooms connecting Graham and Tazewell high schools with Southwest Virginia Community College got their link Thursday.

``Within the next two weeks, sites at Grundy High School in Buchanan County and Richlands High School in Tazewell County will be added to the network,'' Boucher said Thursday. ``In addition to these sites, electronic classrooms linking Abingdon High School and Virginia Highlands Community College in Washington County and Virginia High School in Bristol are being activated today.''

A year ago, the first part of the network was activated with two Lee County high schools being linked to Mountain Empire Community College in Wise County.

The project started when Boucher asked educators and telephone company representatives to develop plans to network all high schools and community colleges in the 9th Congressional District.

``My goal is to link together all 83 of these institutions from the Cumberland Gap to the Roanoke Valley,'' he said. ``Through our efforts together, Southwest Virginia is becoming a national leader in the uses of informational technology for educational purposes.''

by CNB