Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 21, 1994 TAG: 9409230011
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DUBLIN LENGTH: Medium
School officials in Pulaski County have no problem with that. The more teachers who sign up for the purchase of the IBM Thinkpad computers, the lower the negotiated price should be for each one.
Right now, that price is about $2,622, but Superintendent Bill Asbury is not ruling out further reductions if the number of buyers goes up. The figure is based on at least 100 buyers, and 187 school employees had expressed interest.
The county has 365 teachers, and Asbury anticipated interest growing among them as those who have tried the computer spread the word about its possibilities to the others.
Two representatives of Radford city schools attended last Thursday's session at Pulaski County High School for teachers to ask questions, watch a computer demonstration and try using one themselves. Montgomery County has approached Pulaski about joining in the deal.
School employees can buy more than one computer if they wish. ``Whether they're for friends or family or you want three so you can have one everywhere you go, that's your business,'' Asbury said. ``We're just interested in trying to supply them to teachers. That's the bottom line.''
School officials hope to get the total number of orders by Friday. Then Jim Sandidge, manager of information services for Pulaski County Schools, will contact IBM and get the final negotiated price.
Teachers will be able to take classes on using the computer at the Southwest Virginia Governor's School on the Pulaski County High School campus, ``and that'll be free to you,'' Sandidge told the teachers at Thursday's session. ``There might be a waiting list.''
Asbury has been using a personal computer and is enthusiastic about its possibilities.
``It's made my life at work incredibly better than it otherwise would be,'' he said, allowing him to take the work home, relax and kick off his shoes ``and not have to replicate it when I get back to the office.''
The reason the school system chose a laptop rather than a desktop model is portability. School officials want teachers to take the computers home and get familiar with them. A laptop with a modem can also be used from any telephone connection.
Adding network cards and modems allows the devices to connect with all the school system's existing networks as well as VAPEN and the Internet. They can be upgraded with more memory, hard drives and even CD ROMs.
by CNB