ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, December 6, 1995 TAG: 9512060072
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
Franklin County fourth- and fifth-graders: Clear some space in the classroom for some new computers.
The county Board of Supervisors approved a $463,000 request Tuesday from the School Board for 184 computers and 46 laser jet printers.
Each fourth- and fifth-grade classroom in the county's 10 elementary schools will have four computers and a printer, including existing equipment, said School Superintendent Len Gereau, who attended the supervisors' meeting.
Fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms will be equipped so students can meet new state educational standards, he said. Those standards include beefed-up computer skills for fourth- and fifth-graders.
In order to meet the requirements - student testing will begin in the spring of 1997 - Gereau said the school division must move now to make sure adequate equipment is in place.
He said teachers will go through a rigorous training program early next year to establish a computer curriculum for students.
"We see this as a real necessity to put our students in a position to compete," Gereau said.
The supervisors agreed to fund $83,542 of the total cost during this fiscal year, with the remaining $380,000 balance to be paid over a five-year span starting in July 1996.
The board approved the request on a unanimous vote.
Gereau said the computer initiative matches the plan for the county's new Center for Applied Technology and Career Exploration, a $6 million state-of-the-art learning laboratory that eighth- and ninth-graders will use. The center will be built on a site off North Main Street in Rocky Mount.
The school should be completed by the fall of 1997, Gereau said.
In other items from Tuesday's meeting, the board:
Learned from Franklin County Chamber of Commerce Director Brian Duvall that the organization will feature a county home page on the Internet;
Greeted assistant County Administrator Bonnie Newlon. A Roanoke native, Newlon served as Cumberland County's administrator for the past 14 months. She replaces David Laurrell, who recently accepted the administrator's job in Campbell County;
Agreed to enter negotiations with Boones Mill regarding a state grant for a new town water system. The town - with limited staff capabilities - has asked the county to serve as the grant administrator.
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