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FUHSD schools eligible for $950,000 tech grant
By Julie Wang
At a time of waning and erratic education funding, the Fremont Union High School District has a new financial ally in the pursuit of updating technology in its schools.
Fremont and Cupertino high schools have been selected to apply for the Digital High School Program grant. If approved, Fremont and Cupertino are eligible to receive more than $950,000 from the state, beginning in February 2001.
The amount each school is eligible to apply for is determined by enrollment. Each school could receive $300 per student.
The Digital High School Program is a four-year program established by the state legislature in 1997. It provides grants to schools selected randomly for technology expansion, implementation, training and support. Eligibility for the grant is determined by enrollment and reported demographic data.
"The whole goal is to put technology in the classroom to provide students with every opportunity possible, and to make it useful for teachers and students," said Mike Isbutt, FUHSD's education technology director.
Pete Tuana, Fremont High's principal, has tentative goals for use of the grant money as well. "We're interested in how we could use computers more effectively in the classroom as a tool, and how multimedia such as digital video can be used," he said
Fremont has organized a committee of students, faculty and parents to assess which areas of the school are in need of technological improvement. Whatever those areas may be, Tuana says, faculty computer literacy is one of the most critical aspects of the grant.
"What we're really concerned about is how effectively technology is used in the classroom," Tuana said.
Barbara Nunes, Cupertino's principal, said the school would use the grant money to increase students' knowledge of technology in multimedia presentations. "We're looking into the Power Point area, researching and word processing," said. "We're also looking into a laptop program that would provide laptops for students to use."
Both schools will send faculty teams to attend a Digital High School conference in October to learn the rules and regulations of the application process.
If both applications are approved, the program will have funded four out of the five FUHSD schools; Homestead and Lynbrook high schools received the grant last year. Monta Vista High School, which was lower on the district's priority list, will become eligible to receive the grant next year.
"In the beginning, you had to prioritize your schools for funding just so that they could spread it out over the years," said Cindy MacArthur, district spokeswoman. " Monta Vista will automatically get it next year. We're really committed to technology in this district, and our schools need all the support that they can get for technology in the classroom."
Once Fremont and Cupertino receive the grant, they become eligible to apply for the Technology Support and Staff Training grant the following year. The TSST grant provides up to $45 dollars per student to be matched by local funds for continued staff training, maintenance, upgrade and student and faculty support.
Now in the third of four years, the program has funded approximately 1,100 out of the 1,700 schools that qualify for the grant, thereby serving 74 percent of California students in grades nine through 12, said Larry Hiuga, California's education technology consultant.
"This is what the high school kids nowadays need," Hiuga said . "The goal is to give money to all 1,700 schools by the end of the fourth year, unless the economy turns sour."
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
