Free Computers To Arrive At Deer Park School Next Fall

Officials at Deer Park Middle School are getting excited about a number of computers coming their way - for free.

Deer Park Principal Brent Seedall said by fall the school should have five or 10 extra computers hooked to the Internet and ready to go, thanks to a company called ZapMe!

“It’s a great way to get more technology into the building,” said Seedall, who noted that the school currently has about 70 computers. “With more computers, that’s another tool to help kids be successful. It gives them more access.”

California-based ZapMe! was founded in 1996, and started donating computers to schools in 1998. Sponsored by dozens of companies, like Toshiba, Kodak and Dell, and the Army, Navy and Marines, ZapMe! provides desktop computers with 17-inch monitors, laser printers and high-speed Internet connections via roof-mounted satellite receivers, all at no cost to schools.

The catch is that ZapMe! computer screens show constant advertisements in a little box at the bottom of the screen. With computers in about 1,400 middle and high schools around the U.S., the company has attracted its share of critics who say the ads are inappropriate and have no place in the classroom.

But others say there’s really nothing to lose.

“From what we’ve seen, the ads are not intrusive,” said Bev Read, library technician at East Valley High School, which has had ZapMe! computers for about three weeks. “There have been no complaints about the ads - they’re just a small window on the screen.”

Read did mention, however, that the computers had been down for several days due to satellite problems.

But if the schools are unhappy with the ZapMe! computers, they don’t have to use them.

“At any time, if we don’t like them, we can tell ZapMe! to come and get them,” Seedall said.

Spokane area schools with ZapMe! computers include the East Valley School District and Northwood Middle School in the Mead School District. The Coeur d’Alene School District has them as well.

DP students earn kudos, training

Members of the Deer Park High School newspaper staff and their adviser attended the National Scholastic Press Association’s Spring Convention April 9 in Anaheim, Calif.

Randy Vinneau, a member of the Stag staff, was awarded honorable mention for review writing. For the competition, students were given a presentation and then had 70 minutes to write a story, which was judged by newspaper professionals and journalism teachers.

For three days, the students attended sessions on the art of journalistic writing, photography, advertising and how to put together a student newspaper and yearbook. Deer Park’s Ben Bray, Joanne Mattausch, Holly Mueller and Vinneau were among 4,700 high school journalists at the convention.

Free immunization clinics in Mead

Rockwood Clinic North and Mead School District Health Services have teamed up to provide free immunizations to kindergartners starting school this fall, and to fifthgraders who still need the second dose of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine before entering sixth grade.

The clinics will be Tuesday from 9:30-11:30 a.m. at Brentwood Elementary School, and from 1-3 p.m. at Evergreen Elementary School; April 28 from 9:30-11:30 a.m. at Colbert Elementary School, and from 1-3 p.m at Meadow Ridge Elementary School; May 2 from 9:30-11:30 a.m. at Midway Elementary School, and from 1-3 p.m. at Shiloh Hills Elementary School; and May 9 from 1-3 p.m and 4-7 p.m. at Farwell Elementary School.

The later session at Farwell is offered for parent convenience and for students who miss the clinics in their buildings.

Special education open house

Spokane School District 81 will host its second annual Special Education open house April 27 from 5-8 p.m. at the Special Education Assessment Center, 3102 E. Trent Ave.

The open house will showcase the district’s programs that are designed to aid students requiring extra services.

Special Education Supervisor Mike Ainsworth said the district offers the open house so the general public can learn more about what it takes to provide an education for special education students, and so that the families in the area with disabled children have the opportunity to know what educational resources are available to them.

Poetry reading at Whitworth

Whitworth College’s Department of English will feature award-winning poet Jane Hirshfield as its 2000 Endowed English Reader. She will read from her works April 28 at 7 p.m. in the campus center. After the reading she will answer questions from the audience and sign her books.

The reading is free and open to the public.

EWU junior named to “Who’s Who”

Kristi Leitch has been named in the “Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges” 2000 edition, which honors outstanding college and university students throughout the United States.

Leitch is a junior at Eastern Washington University, majoring in reading education. She has a 3.3 grade-point average and is the treasurer of the Eastern Reading Association. She also is a Girl Scout volunteer and a reading tutor at Ridgeview Elementary School.