DATE: Saturday, September 13, 1997          TAG: 9709130012

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B9   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Opinion 

SOURCE: Kerry Dougherty 

                                            LENGTH:   75 lines

VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOLS: "COMPUTERS FOR KIDS," THE ULTIMATE BEACH RECYCLING PLAN A GROUP OF DESERVING KIDS WOULD HAVE THEIR NAMES PUT IN A LOTTERY FOR FREE COMPUTERS.

A few months ago, my husband finally faced a sad fact of life: One of his most beloved possessions is obsolete.

His Apple computer.

After years of loyal service and a coveted place next to his desk at work, the old Macintosh SE he bought a decade ago has become the Philco of computers. A relic. An electronic paperweight taking up space in his office.

So he brought Old Faithful home.

``What are we going to do with it?'' I asked as he lumbered through the door carrying the computer.

``Maybe the kids will want it,'' he panted hopefully.

They glanced up from their Packard Bell pentium computer long enough to say ``No thanks.''

``We could sell it,'' I suggested, but he shook his head with resignation and said it's not worth anything, and software is hard to come by anymore.

``We could donate it, surely some computerless person might want it.''

``Nah, it's too obsolete.''

And so, the little rectangular computer sits in our spare room, an irritating reminder of our disposable society that turns today's must-haves into tomorrows who-wants.

Imagine my excitement, then, when Virginia Beach School Board member Rosemary Wilson phoned this week to float an idea she's been noodling with called ``Computers for Kids.'' As she talked I kept seeing that little Apple computer with its darkened screen.

Simply stated, Wilson wants to start a program to recycle the school system's cast-off computers. She wants to find a way to give them to children from families without the money to buy computer equipment in the first place.

Wilson got the idea when some school officials were talking about auctioning off the system's old and obsolete PCs. More than 1,000 of them. School officials told Wilson the machines were of little value, worth perhaps $10-$40 at auction.

As Wilson envisions it, the schools and other city agencies could hang on to obsolete equipment until the end of the year when a group of deserving kids would have their names put in a lottery for free computers. Wilson suggests selecting children off the free-and-reduced-lunch list - slightly more than 25 percent of the 77,000 students. Those eligible for the lottery would have to have good attendance.

``I wouldn't want it to be tied to grades,'' Wilson says of the computer giveaway. ``Something like good attendance would be great because any child can accomplish that goal and it might help curb absenteeism.''

Don Peccia, the school's associate superintendent in charge of the budget, says he thinks the ``Computers for Kids'' idea is exciting.

``Some of the computers are of limited value,'' he conceded. ``But maybe an old computer, on which a child could learn keyboarding and basic word processing, is better than none.''

Peccia goes further. He thinks computers could be collected from a variety of sources: city agencies, businesses that are upgrading their computer systems, families with outdated computers an software.

``It could be the ultimate public-private partnership,'' he said. ``And it would be a way of volunteering for those who can't find the time to go into the schools.''

The Virginia Beach Education Association has offered to help with the administration of the program, says Wilson. Maybe the community's many computer wonks will volunteer to help families set up their new-used computers.

Wilson admits that her idea is in the embryonic stage. She's looking for further suggestions to help ``Computers For Kids'' get off the ground.

I can't offer her anything but encouragement and a few words in the newspaper. And an old Macintosh SE computer that would love to find a new home. MEMO: Ms. Dougherty is an editorial writer for The Virginian-Pilot. ILLUSTRATION: Drawing

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