School Launches Campaign for Computer Literacy
With federal and private grants and a donation of about 25 used computers from Prudential Health Care, administrators from Napa Street School say there’s no excuse for computer illiteracy among the 850 kindergartners through fifth-graders, their parents and teachers.
By June, school officials say, every student should have a basic familiarity with the Macintosh and IBM-compatible computers in the school’s new lab, which is celebrating its grand opening Friday with business and education leaders, such as school board member Valerie Fields.
“A lot of our students do not have access to computers at their homes,” said Napa Principal Allen Sussman. “To function in today’s society, they need to be extremely literate in computers.”
Teachers and students will use computers during class to help students learn to read and write, said Barbara Hill, the school’s technology coordinator and a third-grade teacher. With parental permission and teacher supervision, upper-grade students will have access to e-mail and, for researching projects, the Internet.
School officials said they will also teach interested parents to use computers, and open the lab for after-school use.
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