PLACENTIA / YORBA LINDA : 14 School Computer Labs Get $630,000 in Upgrades

State-of-the-art computer labs have been installed at 14 Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District campuses in the past three months, part of an ambitious project that school officials say brings many improvements for students.

The new computers and software, installed at a cost of $630,000, have features that make them superior to previous labs at the schools, said Dennis Steinwand, the district’s education technology specialist.

“The old computers only produced text. Now we can use graphics, color, multimedia with sound, we can access CD-ROMs,” Steinwand said. “We moved from the middle of the pack to the front with these labs.”

At Van Buren Elementary School, students using a computer to write stories and reports can print them on paper that has the same wide lines as the paper they use to write on, an advantage for beginning readers.

The computers can use a variety of CD-ROMS, computer disks that contain moving graphics, pictures and sound. Using CD-ROMs, students can hear John F. Kennedy deliver a speech, listen to a piece from Mozart or hear the proper pronunciation of a word while they see it on the screen, Steinwand said.

The district used new equipment and software combined with existing computers from middle schools and high schools to create new labs at Golden, Glenknoll, Sierra Vista and Wagner elementary schools. Morse, Glenview, Fairmont and Woodsboro elementary schools also received existing computers, enhanced with new software and equipment.

New equipment was installed at each of the districts three high schools, as well as Bernardo Yorba and Yorba Linda middle schools and Van Buren Elementary School. The district will continue to upgrade equipment and software at remaining schools throughout the school year.