WESTLAKE VILLAGE : City Gives Computers to Elementary School

The city of Westlake Village has donated five computers and two printers to White Oak Elementary School to help enhance the school’s computer education program, city officials said Tuesday.

The computers and printers, which until recently were used at City Hall, are incompatible with the city’s new computer system, said Mike Mathews, assistant to the city manager.

“It’s nice to take equipment that we weren’t using and be able to give it to the students,” Mathews said.

In exchange for the computers and printers, he said, the city will be allowed to use the school’s auditorium for city functions.

Donald Zimring, assistant superintendent for the Las Virgenes Unified School District, said the computers will be a welcome addition to the school.

The district, he said, recently launched a campaign to upgrade the district’s high-tech education programs. But the fiscally strapped district can’t afford the cost of keeping up with the rapid changes in technology.

He said the district--which has been forced to cut about $4 million from its budget over the past five years--can’t afford items like CD-ROMs, on-line learning such as the Internet, or interactive CDs. The district cannot afford satellite learning and the use of cable in the classroom as well.

The Las Virgenes Technology Foundation, a parents booster organization, recently held a $50-a-plate dinner to raise money to purchase some of the needed items.

The city, according to Mayor Doug Yarrow, upgraded its computers to speed up the system and provide a network operating system for the city’s seven full-time employees. He said the new computers, which have color monitors, contain software for word processing, spreadsheet and database management.