By Rachel Kalina
The new additions will be used Hewlett-Packard Impresario computers, complete with keyboards, monitors, printers and other necessary parts. The district will also get free software licensing for the computers through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Lori Stanislaus, mother of three Malverne students and the vice president of the Malverne Athletic and Educational Foundation, learned last month of a 1996 executive order that says federal agencies must donate their used computers to public schools.
"No public school wanted to come pick them up," she said. "I couldn't believe there were free computers just waiting to be had and no school would get them."
Stanislaus, a Social Security Administration employee in New York City, was given a certificate of appreciation at the June 13 Board of Education meeting for her efforts in securing the computers.
"Our hope is that in September, kids will come in and see new computers in the classroom," she said. She also organized a convoy of vans to move the computers to town. They are now sitting in three separate locations, one of them within the high school.
Stanislaus helped found the Malverne Athletic and Educational Foundation last year. The foundation works to get financial support and resources for the schools of Malverne.
"It's a new organization," said Stanislaus, who is also the non-profit, volunteer group's vice president, "but we've got some really good community people there."
The Malverne Athletic and Education Foundation plans to start readying the computers as early as next Saturday.
"It's a big project. I didn't realize how big it's going to be," Stanislaus said.
Because of the Gates Foundation, she will not have to worry about the software licensing, which she said can cost up to $1,000 for each licensed program. The foundation simplifies this problem by giving the schools a complete program disk, which is ready to be popped into the computer and used immediately.
"This was really a nice partnership between federal government, private industry with Gates and the public school system. It doesn't get better than that," Stanislaus said.
She also said that the computers will enable the districts to set up multiple classrooms with computers, which is a great benefit because "kids today have to be knowledgeable about computers."
She cites a school in California that has even stopped using textbooks altogether and relies solely on computers for learning.
"Now maybe [students] can have a couple of computers in every classroom so kids can use them daily and not just once a week," Stanislaus said. "We've got to stay current, [and now] we've got the most current computers and the most current software ‹ so we're competitive."
Stanislaus said she also plans to procure computers from the Social Security Administration's Jamaica office, and eventually she wants to get some laptops.
"It was ours for the taking,² she said of the computers, "and it doesn't stop there."
For more information about the Malverne Athletic and Education Foundation, e-mail Stanislaus at loristanislaus@msn.com.
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