US/ND-5: Re: Week Four Assignments

Re: Week Four Assignments

Kevin Conde (KevinC@sutter.k12.ca.us)
Tue, 24 Sep 1996 16:06:16 -0700 

At 12:58 PM 9/24/96 -0700, St. Francis School wrote:
>Kevin Conde wrote:
> 
>> The question asked for week four was "How can schools and libraries share
>> services with each other and with other community groups? How can these
>> activities be structured so as to foster competition among
>> telecommunications providers?"
> 
>I would also like to add, "How do independent schools and parochial
>schools fit into the picture?"  Too often, I find them ignored with the
>attitude, "It was their (the parents) deicison to send their children
>to pivate school. They have the money, let them pay."  I feel that this
>is a short sighted view.
>
>Comments please.
>
>Diane Seagle
>Computer Specialist
>St. Francis School (not catholic)
>Goshen (near Louisville) Ky
>
A school is a school and a kid in need of an education is a kid in need of
an education.  All children need access to this technology.  I think you
would be shocked to find that your situation is not all than uncommon in
public schools.  Near by there is a large school district that shall remain
nameless that has a very large population of students that come from below
the poverty line.  The district is not a rich district.  The families within
the district that are not below the poverty line are lower middle class at
best.  What has started to become an issue is that the schools in one area
of the district are fairly well equipped with computers and networks.  The
rest of the schools are not.  The "have" schools in this case are the
schools with a lot of Chapter One money, and the "have nots" are the schools
in the part of the district where the middle class taxpayers live.  A lot of
the parents that send their kids to schools that don't receive much Chapter
One money are beginning to become enraged because their kids do not have
access to modern computers and networks.  They want to know why their kids
don't have equal access to tax dollar supported high tech equipment.  I
don't have an answer for them.

Kevin Conde
Technology Coordinator
Sutter County Schools
916-822-5115, x 103, 916-822-5165 (fax)