Charter School Issues Laptops to Its Students

Everywhere you looked at Animo Leadership High School on Sunday there were laptop computers.

All 140 students at the new charter school serving the largely Latino community of Lennox were issued their own laptops to use for the school year.

Fiorella Hernandez, 14, and her mother, Ana, were among those who went through a two-hour class to learn how to use her new Apple Computer iBook.

“It’s going to be so nice to have one at home, especially, because they get so much homework, and I can use it to check her grades and progress,” Ana Hernandez said.

Hernandez lives near Los Angeles International Airport in Lennox, an unincorporated county area that has been plagued by gangs, poverty and a high dropout rate.

To help those children, political activist Steve Barr, who co-founded the 1990 Rock the Vote registration drive for young people, started Animo in August. The school only has a ninth-grade class, although it plans to add a class each year.

Providing laptops to its students, many of whom can’t afford to buy their own, was part of the school’s plan.

“It’s getting to the point that if you’re not computer literate, you won’t make it in college and you won’t make it out in the professional world,” said Principal Carlos Jimenez, who believes the laptops also will help the parents.

“Many of the parents here are immigrants who didn’t have much chance to learn about computers, and they don’t have access to computers,” Jimenez said.

In class, the laptops are linked to wireless modems. At home, students plug them into phone jacks. While students can use them for homework, parents can log on to monitor their children’s grades and communicate with their teachers.

The kids giggled when the teachers said parents can use the laptops to keep tabs on them.

“It’s all great if you’re a good student,” said Ricky Barron, a freshman who has little to worry about. When he clicked on the page showing his grades, they were all A’s.

Gayle Dawson, who came with her 13-year-old granddaughter, Jasmine, said keeping an eye on her progress will be a big help.

“It’s going to give the parents more control and the ability to find out grades along the way rather than wait until report cards when it is too late,” she said.

Some teachers are even planning to forgo books. Science teacher Juan Hernandez said he plans to have his students link up to Web sites, some of which allow the students to talk to scientists.

“It’s going to enhance classroom participation,” he said.

The school uses classrooms at the University of West Los Angeles and is a collaboration between Barr and the Lennox School District.

The district has had a lot of success educating its mostly Latino students from kindergarten through eighth grade. But when the kids get to high school, about half drop out, school officials said.

Animo, Spanish for courage, was designed to help rescue some of those students.

It is difficult to get into the school. Students were chosen by lottery, and there is a waiting list of more than 40.

The school gets state funds, but because it doesn’t have as much overhead as most, it can afford to spend more money on teachers and classrooms, said Barr.

Animo’s teachers are paid about 10% more than most public school teachers. The laptops, which are leased for four years, cost about $90,000 per year.

Barr said he believes the laptops are essential.

“A lot of schools today have a computer room, but I think today computers are like a pencil,” he said. “They’re a tool that needs to be in the classroom.”