When a group of teachers told the parents at last year's Stratford Landing's October PTA meeting that the computers in the classrooms and computer lab were outdated, everybody was shocked. A flood of questions followed.
'How could this be?' 'Don't we have a budget for this?' 'Doesn't the county have to buy them for us?'
The answers were disturbing. Not only was there no money in the budget, but Stratford Landing wasn't even on the three-year plan for a technology upgrade.
It was fortuitous that Kathryn Gaddy was at the meeting. Instead of taking pity, she took action. Knowing how much it would cost to purchase new computers, she asked if it would be worthwhile to have people donate used computers. The answer was yes, as long as they were at least a Pentium II and had at least 450mhz of memory. Working with the PTA, Gaddy put out a call to parents in the school, asking if they knew of any companies who were replacing their computers. By Christmas break, they had 31 "gently used" computers in the school, and, thanks to the help of parents who helped installed them, a fully-operational computer lab for 28 students.
Since December, two more computers have been donated and some of the parents contributed money to purchase a new computer for one class as a Christmas gift. The PTA was able to purchase 12 new computers for the school using last year's technology fund dollars and teachers' "wish list" allowances [at the teachersí request.]
Annie Stewart, PTA President, said, "My daughter, Caitlin, was just commenting on how fast the new ones [computers] are."
Stewart credits the success of the program to Gaddy, and said, "Her driving influence made the difference."
LAST WEEK, ANOTHER 100 computers arrived at the school. This was due to the persistence of Stratford Landing father Jeff Burcham. He knew that they were replacing the computers at The Naval Reactor Program, a joint program of the Departments of Energy and Defense, and asked if he could have them for the school. They arrived last Friday— and not only were the computers donated, but the services to move them were as well.
Gaddy said, "Office Movers donated their moving services to us twice—the first time when we received 25 from the law firm [of Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky], and yesterday when we received 100 from Navy. They are the epitome of corporate responsibility in my book—delighted to help and expected nothing in return."
Connie Goodman, assistant principal at Stratford, thought that it fitting that the arrival of the 100 computers came on the 100 Days (100 days of being in school).
"One hundred computers for 100 days—isn't that great?" said Goodman.
Another big activity that Gaddy has been working on this school year has been kicking off the 40th Anniversary celebration with a fund-raising campaign to further support the school's technology needs. As of Friday, Feb. 13, $3,780 has been contributed by 67 Stratford Landing families and a neighborhood association. This is in addition to the $2,950 contributed by three families before the holidays — bringing the total to $6,730 raised to date for the 40th Anniversary Technology Fund.
Money collected from this fund will be used to purchase hard drives [the government is required to remove them]; audiovisual teaching aids [to replace broken and outdated equipment]; and updated educational software for the new computers.
"This is part of a comprehensive plan to address all of the technology needs of our school in one year," said Gaddy who has extended the anniversary fund-raising campaign into mid-March.
Gaddy said, "If you or your family has not yet contributed to this important fund, please consider it now. Every dollar raised will go toward purchasing much-needed equipment and software. All of the individuals and families who have given their time, effort and money in support of these two efforts will be recognized in a final report at the end of March," she said.
"In the meantime, the generosity and commitment to excellence within our school is simply staggering. I doubt that any school in the region can claim this kind of involvement by parents, teachers and staff."