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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 1, 1994                   TAG: 9406010094
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

DONATED COMPUTERS HELP SCHOOLS

Jonathan Barrickman helps his classmates design a city. They decide where the fire station, police station and other facilities would be built.

The fifth-graders at Crystal Spring Elementary School in Roanoke gather around computers, full of excitement about this new technology that helps children to better understand the components of a city.

Jonathan, who has had a personal computer for several years, offers tips to his classmates as they try to build a community within budget limits set by the computer program.

Another Crystal Spring class is studying zoos and using a computer program that provides information about the Mill Mountain Zoo and dozens of others throughout the country.

Still another class uses multicolored computer programs to better understand tropical rain forests. Even kindergartners at Crystal Spring are using computers.

The South Roanoke school has the pilot program in a campaign to persuade Roanoke Valley businesses to donate used computer equipment.

The Roanoke Regional and the Salem-Roanoke County chambers of commerce are soliciting donations.

John Saunders, chairman of the Roanoke Valley Technology Upgrade Drive, said Tuesday that the chambers hope to acquire 2,000 to 3,000 computers for the schools.

Crystal Spring Elementary has received 125 used computers valued at more than $100,000. The school system supplied the software necessary to run the equipment and taught the teachers how to use it. Parents and the PTA donated more than $8,000 to buy monitors, computer tables and other needed equipment.

Principal Marsha Christy said that at least three computers have been placed in each classroom and have been integrated into the regular curriculum.

The school had an open house Tuesday to show off the equipment to parents and others who wanted to see how it is being used.

Saunders' son, Martin, a second-grader at Crystal Spring, is one of the students benefiting from the technology.

Saunders, a recent Roanoke School Board appointee, said the computer campaign will expand the learning opportunities of the valley's children and promote a closer working relationship between the schools and businesses.

Superintendent Wayne Harris has proposed a $7.5 million plan for upgrading the computer technology in city schools over the next five years. If the chamber campaign is successful, it could reduce the amount of public funding that would be needed.

by CNB