Winnetka : Computers, Training Donated to School

Ten IBM-compatible computers, a dot-matrix and a laser printer, a file server, software and intensive training are all part of a donation to Sutter Middle School from a Van Nuys branch of telecommunications giant Electronic Data Systems.

The used goods will arrive Saturday morning along with a dozen EDS volunteers who will instruct Sutter teachers about the ins and outs of the computers and programs.

The teachers, in turn, will pass their knowledge along to students using Sutter’s Media Tech Center--a computer room used for individualized exploration and big projects rather than simple word processing.

Sutter Principal Carolyn Baker said the computers--either 286 or 386 models--would be a boon for students who don’t have computers at home.

“Computers are going to be part of their lives,” Baker said of the 1,150 sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders at the Winnetka school. “They have to be comfortable with them for their jobs.

Through the tech center, students will gain marketable skills, she said.

“When they’re applying for jobs, they can say, ‘I know Lotus,’ ” Baker said.

The donation is part of EDS’s Global Volunteer Day, spokesman Jim Gibson said.

“This is the beginning of a relationship,” he said. “The first day is Global Volunteer Day. From there [each EDS branch] will participate in an ongoing effort to increase community members’ awareness of computers and how they can affect their lives positively.”

Principal Baker, although personally timid around computers, said she can’t wait for computers to arrive, because the school’s two present computer labs are overloaded during lunch and after-school hours.

“Just this week at lunchtime, all the Macs were full and there were kids waiting,” she said. “This doubles the number of kids who can be working.”