Students to Update District’s Computers

When it was time to update nearly 100 computers, a local school district tapped a skilled resource--its own students.

The Las Virgenes Unified School District hired a group of students during the holiday break to help configure new computers for its updated student information system, which keeps track of data such as student grades and attendance.

This week and next, the students are putting in eight-hour days downloading software and installing memory chips into the computers, which will be placed in each of the district’s schools. Officials hope the project will also help avoid any potential Y2K problems, so that the system will continue to run after Jan. 1, 2000.

The students are earning about $12 an hour and getting real work experience with computers.

“They’re all whiz kids and they know what they are doing,” said Mark Petrusson, the district’s management information systems instructor.

Petrusson said the students have worked for the district as part of a computer class that performs trouble-shooting duties and helps teachers with computer problems. “These are the cream of the crop,” he said, about the three students working Tuesday.

One of the students, Manu Narayan, a 17-year-old senior at Agoura High School, said he owes his interest in computers to his father, who makes Web pages. Manu said he plans to study computer engineering in college, though he hasn’t had much formal training.

“I haven’t really taken any classes, I just learned through experience,” Manu said.