New laptop program updates Santa Rosa
By Michelle Knight knight@theacorn.com

Santa Rosa Technology Magnet School is a hotbed of online activity this year.

Last Tuesday, the first day of school for the Pleasant Valley School District, Santa Rosa added about 490 seventh graders to the campus and expanded its laptop program.

Each student is loaned a laptop to use in sixth grade and throughout their middle-school years at Santa Rosa. Their parents are asked to donate $400 a year to the program, and at the end of three years they can buy the computer for $1.

The district recently approved a $62,000 lease for 60 Dell laptops for incoming sixth graders.

Jerri Lejeune, a sixth-grade English teacher, said the laptops have changed the way she teaches.

She said they give the students continuous and instant access to research on the Internet and software tools for writing and giving classroom presentations.

"It's a great motivator for writing," said Lejeune, who has her students make frequent journal entries on the laptops.

"The kids are having a great time with it," she said. "It really helps keep their attention focused and they like learning that way."

The laptops have influenced the way students learn as wellWhen studying science, they've simulated earthquakes and performed virtual experiments.

In math, students who find a particular concept difficult to grasp can use the laptop to go to a website for help. Others can access websites that offer more of a challenge.

"The laptop helps us individualize education a little bit more to the student's exact needs," Lejeune said.

Teachers and parents also benefit from the program. Teachers can instantly check, via e-mailthe work of students they suspect aren't paying attention in classand they have access to almost immediate academic data when talking with students' parents.

"It's a real good tool for me to keep the kids accountable immediately instead of waiting until the end of the day," Lejeune said.

Additionally, Santa Rosa is moving toward reducing the number of books it issues students. This fall, an online version of a new social studies book will be available. Lejeune said it will have interactive maps and links

o additional research informa

ion. A hard copy of the book will also be kept in the classroom.

To inaugurate the program last year, the district paid about $65,000 to lease 66 laptops. The school has reimbursed the district $30,000 so far through parent donations.

Principal Thomas Holtke said

he goal is to reimburse the dis

rict completely and have the program become self-sustaining in five years. He expects to accomplish this through parent dona

ions and several fundraisers planned throughout the year.

Scholarships are available for parents who find it difficult to pay

he suggested donation, he said.

"We won't run out of scholarships," Holtke said. "That's why we're fundraising."

Originally a kindergarten

hrough-fifth-grade school, Santa Rosa Technology Magnet added sixth graders last year. The school will welcome eighth-grade students to the campus next year.