Pacific Bell Partnership with SF Unified Schools Assures Success on "NetDay96" and Beyond

Business Wire, March 5, 1996

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 5, 1996--Pacific Telesis Chairman Phil Quigley and San Francisco School Superintendent Waldemar Rojas today announced a long-term partnership that promises to put every public school in San Francisco onto the Information Superhighway within a year.

The initiative begins on March 9, designated as "NetDay96," when volunteers throughout California will work with local school officials and technical experts to wire classrooms for Internet access.

"NetDay is like an electronic groundbreaking that pulls the whole community together," Rojas said. "In San Francisco, NetDay launches our educational technology vision." Rojas cited the significance of Pacific Bell's leadership in pulling together the business community to help the school district achieve its vision.

Standing with Rojas in the library of Malcolm X Academy, a computer magnet elementary school in Bayview/Hunters Point, Quigley pledged that schools serving San Francisco's most economically challenged children will receive top priority.

"Our short-term goal is to place four to five computers in every classroom in each school in Bayview/Hunters Point and connect them to the Internet using high-speed digital access," Quigley said. "Our long-term goal is that every graduating senior in San Francisco will have the computer skills necessary to compete in the 21st Century workplace."

Joining Pacific Bell's pledge to San Francisco schools is Alameda-based Farallon, which will donate five high-speed Netopia Internet Routers on NetDay96 and a site license of Timbuktu Pro collaboration software to every school in the district. Timbuktu Pro is a powerful learning tool that allows students to view lessons on the computer screen of their teacher from their own computers. Further, a teacher can enable the remote control function in the product so that two students at different computers can work on the same document simultaneously. The company also will offer significantly discounted pricing for its networking equipment to schools statewide for NetDay96 and extend it throughout the year to the SFUSD.

Superintendent Rojas welcomed Pacific Bell and Farallon as important resources for meeting San Francisco's educational goals.

"When used properly, interactive technology such as video conferencing and Internet access enhance learning, sharpen critical thinking skills and improve teacher efficiency and productivity," Rojas said. "By focusing first on Bayview/Hunters Point schools, Pacific Bell and other businesses will help close the technology gap among schools serving San Francisco's economically diverse neighborhoods."

Mayor Willie Brown has embraced the effort that begins on NetDay, saying, "San Francisco can lead the state on March 9. Our citizens and our businesses can act together to bring technology for learning to our children."

The San Francisco Unified School District is quickly becoming a model for successfully integrating technology into an urban school system. Teachers and students have embraced technology's potential to improve instruction and communication.

The District's technology plan includes utilizing recycled computers for projects such as the nationally recognized Home Computer Program that provides E-Mail access to students and their families, thereby increasing communication between schools, families, teachers and students.

Many schools have desktop publishing centers, where students produce their own books and language arts materials. District schools have state-of-the-art computer and science labs where students produce their own Home Pages for the World Wide Web, conduct robotic experiments and test scientific hypotheses.

At least 29 San Francisco schools are participating in NetDay96 on March 9, including seven in Bayview/Hunters Point, with plans to prepare most other schools for wiring throughout the year.

President Clinton, who mentioned NetDay in this year's State of the Union speech, is expected to be in California on March 9 with Vice President Gore to help with the statewide effort.

Wiring schools is only the first step toward brining the Internet into classrooms, akin to building driveways that lead "computer vehicles" to freeway on-ramps. Schools still require digital connections, computers and other hardware, software to "surf" the Internet and training and staff development. Rojas and Quigley called on other corporations to join them in making technology in the classroom a priority.

To help provide this kind of support, one NetDay96 focus in San Francisco will be at Galileo High School, where Pacific Bell and Farallon will host "CyberCamp," an Internet training program for teachers, parents and students. In addition, Pacific Bell and Farallon volunteers will be wiring that school for digital access to the Internet.

Across San Francisco, Pacific Bell is providing 203 wiring kits, enough for every public school and all the early childhood development centers affiliated with the San Francisco Unified School District. "NetDay boosts an ongoing process Pacific Bell started with its Education First initiative," Quigley said.