Schools' latest upgrade; New computer labs

A $500,000 grant means five Citrus elementary schools will get the labs as part of a push to improve technology.

By BARBARA BEHRENDT

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 15, 2000

INVERNESS -- As Citrus County schools enter the third and final year of their $8-million technology upgrade, officials received good news this week concerning five of the district's elementary schools.

State Education Commissioner Tom Gallagher announced that Citrus would receive just more than $500,000 of the $18-million available statewide this year from the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund. The fund is part of a $2-billion federal program that started in 1997.

The targeted schools are Hernando Elementary, Floral City Elementary, Crystal River Primary, Homosassa Elementary and Forest Ridge Elementary, which is slated to open next month.

"We've very excited about this," said Mike Geddes, the school system's coordinator of instructional technology.

The money will provide those schools with new computer labs, which will allow instructors to establish what are known as "integrated learning systems." Such systems evaluate students' abilities, then design remediation programs as necessary.

Technology upgrades already have changed the learning environment, Geddes said. A few years ago, Citrus students might have reached for a pen to write a report; these days, they reach for a computer keyboard and design a PowerPoint presentation.

"We're already beginning to see pretty significant impacts in our classrooms," Geddes said. "Students are doing it almost unconsciously, using instructional technology."

This school year will be the third and final year for the district's push to upgrade technology. The School Board is using money from recent bond issues, state funds earmarked for technology and its own general fund dollars.

The goal: To improve the student-to-computer ratio from 20-to-1 to 5-to-1. The schools receiving the extra state money will have ratios closer to 3-to-1.

The technology push will add 2,200 "functional" computers, up from 720 three years ago. To be considered a functional computer, the machine must be capable of connecting to a network and also feature Internet and multimedia capabilities.

The school system also has added staff -- technical support and trainers -- to complement the new hardware and software. The 1,000-plus teachers have undergone training.

The district's efforts, combined with this extra state money, likely will help Citrus enter the top third or top quarter of the state's school districts in terms of technology quality, Geddes said.

"Technology is such an integral part of our culture that we'd be doing a disservice to our students if we didn't send them out into the community with computer skills," he said.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.