THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 6, 1996 TAG: 9604060007
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
Opened three years ago, Norfolk's $12.5 million Ruffner Middle School was designed to be ``the school of the future'' and equipped for the telecommunications era. But the school was not wired with fiber-optic cable for speedy multimedia interaction with the world outside.
The extraordinary partnership of Norfolk City Hall and schools, Tidewater Community College, the U.S. Navy and assorted private enterprises has remedied that deficiency. Next September, Ruffner will open as a 21st-century school. Countless educators will envy and strive to emulate it.
When the International City/County Managers Association ends its four-day 1996 workshop and conference on April 30, Ruffner will possess 320-plus Pentium-powered Dell personal computers linked to the global Internet - the information superhighway.
When the ICMA workshop ends, the Dell PCs will be removed, with those reserved for the school being stored until reinstallation in the summer and the balance being dispersed throughout Norfolk - to other public schools' libraries (``media centers''), the public-library system, youth community centers and City Hall.
The mass installation at Ruffner has been designated as a Cox Communications Model Technology School. The Dell PCs linked to the information superhighway will stimulate Ruffner students to acquire knowledge and skills essential to thriving in workplaces - indeed, in a society - radically changed by information technology.
Ruffner already has personal computers - 386s, mainly, which won't be discarded but will be distributed to other city schools, and 35 Macintoshes, which will stay at Ruffner.
Cox Communications accurately views its donation to the city of 400 personal computers valued at $1.3 million as an investment in the future - its future no less than the futures of thousands who will be empowered by learning with their aid. Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim said the technology gift transported Norfolk ``farther along than ever toward its goal of becoming a `smart city' (that) will become famous for its successful application of information technology to benefit all of its citizens.''
The gift celebrated at Ruffner this week is a very big deal. Ruffner gained national attention a few months ago when the Clinton administration spotlighted the student-uniforms policies of eight schools nationwide; Ruffner's 987 students began wearing uniforms last year. Now the school will command respectful attention far and wide as a learning institution endowed with a high-speed integrated telecommunications network that is, as Cox Communications General Manager Franklin R. Bowers asserted, ``considered sophisticated today even in advanced business and industry installations like Research Triangle Park in Raleigh/Durham.'' Ruffner students will be able to connect with students and teachers at colleges and universities as well as other public and private schools on the network. They will be able to tap a universe of information.
Ruffner Principal Pamela Hoffler-Riddick said at the Thursday ceremony at which the ICMA workshop and Cox's gift were announced: ``This equipment will enhance student skills development in electronic learning, commerce, multimedia and the advanced Internet. All this is a means to enhance their marketability/employability while transforming public-school education.''
That is the best of news for everyone who will benefit directly from the new technology and also for Hampton Roads, a region intent on accelerating economic development and improving the lives of all. by CNB