SOUTHERN SCHOOLS Grant will buy seniors laptops

The wireless Internet connection can be accessed only while students are in school.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
HIGHLANDTOWN -- Seniors at Southern School District will be getting early graduation presents, of sorts.
A nearly $200,000 state grant is enabling the district to buy laptop computers for each of its 58 seniors, who will be issued the devices in January.
The seniors won't be allowed to keep the laptops after graduation. The devices will be passed on to the next senior class, Superintendent Jeff Weekley explained.
Uses: The students will use the laptops for routine classroom assignments, as well as two special projects, Weekley said.
One effort will entail designing a Web page for the school district.
Besides information about the schools, the Web site also will contain a link to a virtual chamber of commerce to be created by the seniors.
Students will be working with area businesses on that aspect of the project, Weekley said.
Also, the students will create a program that scrutinizes drainage into Highlandtown Lake.
The watershed management program will examine streams and water runoff that affect the lake's environmental health.
Wireless connection: Among the computers' features will be a wireless connection to the Internet, meaning users can explore cyberspace without having to physically hook into a telephone line.
The wireless connection can be accessed only while students are in school, Weekley said.
Students will be allowed to take the nearly $900 laptops home. But to do so, they and their parents must sign a form making them responsible for taking care of the device.
The grant, which is state-administered federal money, will pay for more than computers.
It also will be used to buy software and hardware necessary for the wireless Internet connection and other jobs the computers will be expected to perform.
Also to be purchased with the grant will be printers and digital cameras.
leigh@vindy.com