Grant helps district add computers.(Neighbor)

Byline: Russell Lissau Daily Herald Staff Writer

The computer labs at West Oak Middle School and Diamond Lake School have an extra splash of color this year, courtesy of 50 new iMac computers.

The bright blue machines were added to the Diamond Lake Elementary District 76 schools courtesy of a $53,500 grant from the Illinois Board of Education and a matching expenditure by district officials.

"It helps us a lot," said district Business Manager Laurie Pechauer. "It allows us to spend some money that otherwise we wouldn't have been able to spend."

Twenty-five Apple iMacs were added to the labs at both schools. Diamond Lake serves third-, fourth- and fifth-grade students, while West Oak serves sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders.

In addition, $5,000 was set aside for printers, software and other computer-related materials for Fairhaven School, which serves kindergartners, first-graders and second-graders.

Older computers that were in the labs have been transferred to classrooms throughout the district, so nearly every classroom now has a computer.

That's a great improvement for students and teachers, school board member Hal Morris said.

"It gives every child an opportunity to become conversant in the technology," Morris said. "And it allows the teachers to use them every day in their lessons, not just in special trips to the computer lab. It becomes part of their program."

The grant also provides enough money for every teacher and administrator in the district to participate in training sessions that will teach them how to use the new technology and the Internet in their lesson plans.

"Teachers have to be comfortable in order for children to be comfortable and to use this successfully," Pechauer said.

The training sessions will be held this month and will be led by Steve Baule, the director of technology at New Trier High School in Winnetka.

The school board had planned to spend money on technology and staff development this year, so the purchases do not take away money from any other part of the budget, Pechauer said.