🚀 go-pugleaf

--============_-1306123376==_ma============
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Hi All!!
    I thought many of you would be interested in knowing about Boston
Schools' wonderful accomplishment.
Stan
*****************************



Joint Venture Will Make Boston First
Big City in U.S. to Network Every School

The gulf between students who have a home computer and those who dont is
one of the most troubling inequities in the education systemIt isnt just
that the have nots are forced to turn in work that is less polished. They
also are falling behind in computer skills they will need in college and
the job market, and they are unlikely to be exposed to as many facts and
ideas as classmates who can navigate the Internet.                 -- Class
Problems for Computer Have Nots by David Nakamura, The Washington Post,
March 11, 1998

Boston will become the first large urban school district in the nation to
network every school and library when it celebrates Boston Net Day on
October 26, 1998.

The achievement is a major milestone in a two-year-old public/private
partnership that has attracted more than $26 million in outside funding to
bring computer technology to Bostons 64,000 students and 4,800 teachers.

Concerned by the growing disparities in access to new technology between
urban and suburban populations, Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino in 1996
announced his plan to install one computer for every four students and wire
all schools, libraries and community centers to the Internet by 2001. Also
that year, President Clinton and Vice President Gore unveiled a challenge
to wire every school in the U.S. to the Internet by the turn of the
century. In October, Boston becomes the first major urban school district
in America to meet that challenge.

According to researchers, 70% of Americas families with incomes over
$50,000 have computers in the home. But 90% of Boston students lacked
access to computers at home when the initiative began. Now, every student
will have a chance to use technology as a learning tool and prepare for
productive lives in a city where 60% of all jobs will require technology
skills by the year 2000.

Over 100 business partners, including 3Com, Intel, HiQ and Microsoft, have
joined government and the community, including labor unions such as the
I.B.E.W., to make Bostons goal a reality.

Corporate donors also helped to create the first free training facility to
help teachers incorporate technology into their curriculum, to supplement
traditional chalk and talk teaching with new interactive learning
applications. And the Boston Teachers Union encourages every teacher to
undertake a technology assessment and develop a plan for utilizing new
school technology.

Business executives say they invested in Boston because of Mayor Meninos
and the appointed School Committees commitment to education and because of
confidence in Bostons Superintendent of Schools, Thomas Payzant. The
Superintendent points to the new technology as another vehicle to reach
higher standards of teaching and learning in the classroom as well as
greater accountability throughout the system.

The networking of every school and library in Boston will connect students
and teachers to educational resources outside the classroom. It will equip
students with new tools to enrich learning. It will provide teachers with
new ways to motivate students. It will allow greater use of e-mail to
enhance communication among educators and parents. And it will enable
schools to benefit from the Citys new contract with Cablevision, which
commits the cable company to provide every school and library with free
high-speed Internet service for the next ten years.

For more information, please contact Steve Gag, Mayors Office,
617-635-2338,
<mailto:steven.gag@ci.boston.ma.us>steven.gag@ci.boston.ma.us  One City
Hall Square, Room 608, Boston, MA  02201
--============_-1306123376==_ma============
Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii"

<!doctype html public "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN">
<html><head><style type="text/css"><!--
blockquote, dl, ul, ol, li { margin-top: 0 ; margin-bottom: 0 }
 --></style><title></title></head><body>
<div>Hi All!!</div>
<div>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I thought many of you would be interested in
knowing about Boston Schools' wonderful accomplishment.</div>
<div>Stan</div>
<div>*****************************</div>
<div><br></div>
<div><font size="-3" color="#000000"><br>
</font><font size="-1" color="#000000"><b><br>
</b></font><font size="+2" color="#000000"><b>Joint Venture Will Make
Boston First<br>
Big City in U.S. to Network Every School</b><br>
</font><font size="-1" color="#000000"><br>
The gulf between students who have a home computer and those who dont
is one of the most troubling inequities in the education systemIt
isnt just that the have nots are forced to turn in work that is less
polished. They also are falling behind in computer skills they will
need in college and the job market, and they are unlikely to be
exposed to as many facts and ideas as classmates who can navigate the
Internet.<x-tab>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</x-tab><x-tab>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</x-tab>&nbsp;&nbsp; -- Class Problems for Computer Have Nots by
David Nakamura, <i>The Washington Post</i>, March 11, 1998<br>
<br>
Boston will become the first large urban school district in the
nation to network every school and library when it celebrates Boston
Net Day on October 26, 1998.<br>
<br>
The achievement is a major milestone in a two-year-old public/private
partnership that has attracted more than $26 million in outside
funding to bring computer technology to Bostons 64,000 students and
4,800 teachers.<br>
<br>
Concerned by the growing disparities in access to new technology
between urban and suburban populations, Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino
in 1996 announced his plan to install one computer for every four
students and wire all schools, libraries and community centers to the
Internet by 2001. Also that year, President Clinton and Vice
President Gore unveiled a challenge to wire every school in the U.S.
to the Internet by the turn of the century. In October, Boston
becomes the first major urban school district in America to meet that
challenge.<br>
<br>
According to researchers, 70% of Americas families with incomes over
$50,000 have computers in the home. But 90% of Boston students lacked
access to computers at home when the initiative began. Now, every
student will have a chance to use technology as a learning tool and
prepare for productive lives in a city where 60% of all jobs will
require technology skills by the year 2000.<br>
<br>
Over 100 business partners, including 3Com, Intel, HiQ and Microsoft,
have joined government and the community, including labor unions such
as the I.B.E.W., to make Bostons goal a reality.<br>
<br>
Corporate donors also helped to create the first free training
facility to help teachers incorporate technology into their
curriculum, to supplement traditional chalk and talk teaching with
new interactive learning applications. And the Boston Teachers Union
encourages every teacher to undertake a technology assessment and
develop a plan for utilizing new school technology.<br>
<br>
Business executives say they invested in Boston because of Mayor
Meninos and the appointed School Committees commitment to education
and because of confidence in Bostons Superintendent of Schools,
Thomas Payzant. The Superintendent points to the new technology as
another vehicle to reach higher standards of teaching and learning in
the classroom as well as greater accountability throughout the
system.<br>
<br>
The networking of every school and library in Boston will connect
students and teachers to educational resources outside the classroom.
It will equip students with new tools to enrich learning. It will
provide teachers with new ways to motivate students. It will allow
greater use of e-mail to enhance communication among educators and
parents. And it will enable schools to benefit from the Citys new
contract with Cablevision, which commits the cable company to provide
every school and library with free high-speed Internet service for
the next ten years.<br>
<br>
For more information, please contact Steve Gag, Mayors Office,
617-635-2338, </font><a
href="mailto:steven.gag@ci.boston.ma.us"><font size="-1"
color="#000000"><u>steven.gag@ci.boston.ma.us</u></font></a><font
color="#000000">&nbsp; One City Hall Square, Room 608, Boston,
MA&nbsp; 02201</font></div>
</body>
</html>
--============_-1306123376==_ma============--