The Merriman Park neighborhood association sent out an SOS: please donate any “retired,” relatively new computers to L.L. Hotchkiss Elementary School, which is trying to replace 30 ancient IBM 386’s Pentium III’s that the teachers are using. We were more than happy to help out, especially in this giving season, but the plea raised a question. With all the taxes paid in to support the Dallas Independent School System–and with DISD’s billon-dollar-plus budget–how come it’s up to homeowners to supply schools with the likes of pencils, toilet paper and computers? Have a feeling that’s exactly the sort of question Bruce Parrott, our new District 3 board member, will begin asking soon.
5 comments
386s? Are they still running DOS apps or are they up to 3.1? Something stinks about this.
When my youngest started the term at her middle school, we were asked to supply five reams of plain paper (per student!) to the school for use in the office etc.
Yeah, I think we have a problem here.
I think the word in need of defining is “using”.
Glenn, what are they using the 386s for? Classroom instruction, office work/class prep?
Can you use your journalistic skills to ask this simple question before posting such a lame request?
I think they’re using them for taking up space in a storage room, perhaps for the last 15 years, and now needing to unload to make space for a new staff member’s office.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but there’s no software that will run on a 386 with the support that a public entity would need.
Sorry, you whiff on this post.
@Brent D.: Thanks for raising the point. After re-reading the “SOS” referring to the 386’s–and some notes based on my talk with the neighborhood webmaster in charge of this project–I alerted the webmaster to your concerns, and he’s just responded this way: “There was some confusion in the e-mail that was sent out. The computers being replaced are Pentium 3, not 386. They are still usable but just barely. Each classroom has one of these computers, primarily for the teachers, doing grades, etc., and may also be used for in-class instruction. When we spoke with the school’s new technology coordinator, she said she was shocked at the classroom computers. They are not consistent with what other schools in the district have. Having just started recently, she didn’t know how the school had been overlooked.”
People, people! DISD $$$ goes to NEW construction, not to school supplies, teachers, equipment, upkeep, etc. Sheesh!