The First 100 Days - Family Computing and K-Power Magazine ...

HOME-SCHOOL CONNECTION
THINKING BIG
Parents and teachers at an Atlanta elementary
school break all records to "Go Computer."
BY BETH POWELL
It was standing room only in the
auditorium of Atlanta's E.W. Oliver
Elementary School last fall on the
night school computer purchases
were discussed.
The school, a bold, modern struc
ture, is nestled among the well-kept,
tree-lined neighborhoods just south
of Atlanta's airport, which have at
tracted the city's upper middle class.
At Oliver, parent involvement has
always been high, but this event was
different. Parents responded "as
soon as they knew what our goal
was," said Assistant Principal David
Knowlcs. "There were at least 500
parents there, and this is in a school
with only 660 students," he said.
"We were all amazed."
Knowles was soon to learn that
he'd only seen the beginning of par
ent interest. At that September
meeting, all 500 parents voted to be
gin a fund-raising campaign with a
goal of S3,000. That would allow
them to purchase the four Apples
the school had been renting for a
year.
The Clayton County School Board.
which oversees Oliver and 39 other
schools in its district, had begun
purchasing computers, but junior
and senior high schools were given
first priority. That just wasn't good
enough for the parents at Oliver.
"We're hearing it from everywhere
that our children will be behind by
the time they graduate if they don't
learn about computers," said Cathy
Gebhardt. PTA budget and finance
director and mother of fifth-grader
Andrew. Her concerns were echoed
by a number of Oliver parents, all of
them determined that every child in
the school would have the opportu
nity to learn to operate a computer—
not just occasionally, but on a week
ly hands-on basis.
So one month after their meeting.
450 parents set out to sell sausage
and cheese products through a mar-
BBTH poweli. is a freelance writer living in
Jacksonville, Florida. She is a regular
contributor to Jacksonville Monthly
magazine.
22 FAMILY COMPUTING
The apple of his eye: Dennis Woods visits the Oliver computer lab lo watch his son Jeffrey at work.
keting firm that had decided to test
Oliver as its first school client. It
was an experiment that paid off
quickly. In one week Oliver boosters
had turned in S35.000 and made a
profit of S15.500 expressly for school
computers, more than five times
their goal.
"Nobody—as far as we know in
Clayton County—had ever seen sales
over S10.000 for campaigns like
this," Knowles said. "Everybody was
in awe." The fund-raising campaign
was so successful that Oliver parents
and teachers were voted the top PTA
in Georgia for the 1982-83 school
year. But the result that really mat
ters to them is that Oliver now has
12 Apples.
Although other schools in the
Clayton County district are using
computers, most of the elementary
schools of similar size to Oliver aver
age only two or three computers for
the entire school. And the programs
offer students only a few minutes at
a time at the keyboard. Many of the
junior highs offer computer training
only as an elective or as a special
math course.
At Oliver now. all students are
guaranteed at least 45 minutes each
week on the Apples. In addition, gift
ed and disability classes each get an
extra 45 minutes a week. Even so.
Danette Surama, a fifth grader, says
she's "always glad" when her mother
comes late in the afternoon to pick
her up after school. That way. she
explains, she can spend more time
"getting to my programs."
Oliver has joined the Minnesota
Educational Computing Consortium
(MECC), a service that offers a series
of hundreds of grade- and subject-
coniinued on page 26