Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 11, 1995                   TAG: 9501110058
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: MELISSA DeVAUGHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FLOYD                                  LENGTH: Medium

PHONE CO-OP GIVES FLOYD SCHOOLS BIG TECHNOLOGY BOOST

The contribution from the Citizens Telephone Cooperative, which serves 6,000 customers in and around Floyd County, comes on the heels of major renovations made at the four county elementary schools and the high school. And the timing, said School Superintendent Terry Arbogast, couldn't be better.

"The wiring is already in place through the renovation to the schools," that has taken place over the past year, Arbogast said. "We had no way of knowing how we'd fund the next part and this correlates extremely, extremely well with what we're trying to do."

The money will be used to install a media management system, which would enable teachers in every classroom at every school to push a button to retrieve teaching materials.

For example, if a teacher wanted to use a laser disc to teach a lesson on wild animals, she could push a button which would then transfer the information to the school library. The media specialist in the library would retrieve the appropriate information and supply it, via television screen, to the classroom.

"The money will allow us to manage all electronic materials through a central point," Arbogast said. "All the media would be handled through the library, and everything coming into the school will go through that gateway." Money also will be used to buy the necessary hardware needed to implement the program.

"We're [asking ourselves], 'Where is the information highway in Floyd County?'" said Jim Newell, general manager of the Citizens Telephone Cooperative. "We're the telecommunications center in the area and we're contributing this money as an investment in the students of Floyd County."

"This contribution mirrors our technology plan and we are truly excited about it," Arbogast said. "This is the kind of partnership the community needs - when you keep people informed you get the public support."

Arbogast expects the new system to be in place by the fall.

The Citizens Cooperative also announced plans to bring the information superhighway to as many Floyd Countians as possible by offering low cost access to the Internet. Internet users will get a special local monthly rate instead of the long-distance rate that is traditionally charged.

"The Internet service that permits computers to communicate with one another will be available sometime during the second quarter of 1995," Newell said. It will start with the schools, but eventually be offered to any Citizens Cooperative customer, he added.