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Published on 11/23/1998 All articles from this issue

The FCC awards Internet grants to three local school districts

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By Linda Taaffe / Town Crier Staff Writer

Schools Roundup

The Los Altos and Cupertino Union elementary and the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High school districts were among the six districts in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties this month to win funding from the Federal Communications Commission. The grants will support Internet access on their campuses.

Twenty-nine schools in the area applied for the funding, which will be used to subsidize the costs of telecommunications services. The Cupertino School District, which includes about 754 students from Los Altos, will receive $104,422 in discounted telecommunications services; the Los Altos School District will receive $3,981 in discounts; and the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District will recieve $440 in discounted services.

School officials say the discounts will allow students greater access to the Internet.

Dave McNulty, principal at Oak School in the Los Altos School District where about 400-500 district computers are hooked up to the Internet, said the terminals are used daily by students and teachers for classwork as well as for e-mail to update parents.

Through the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which established the Education-rate program, schools and libraries receive a reduced rate for Internet access. The discount is funded by a fee on telecommunications providers who received regulatory fee reductions in 1996 as a result of deregulation.

The school districts listed above were among those to receive the first wave of funding. The FCC will award additional grants over the next several weeks, according to a press release issued by congresswoman Anna Eshoo.

St. Simon student helps collect supplies for Honduras

While most people merely talked about the devastation Hurricane Mitch reaped on those living in Central America last month, 8-year-old Chad Centofante decided to help out the homeless and hungry he saw on television.

The St. Simon third grader organized a school-wide collection earlier this month to send to victims in Honduras.

"People were talking about wanting to help, but how it would be too much trouble," Chad said. "So I took the job."

After asking his principal for permission to organize a school-wide drive, Chad said he worked with City Team Ministries in San Jose to collect items specifically needed for the Honduras victims, such as first aid supplies, toiletries, bottled water, and baby food and clothing.

Chad said he made announcements at school and sent letters home to his classmates. He spent his lunch breaks and some after-school time collecting goods from each classroom and sorting them into labeled boxes in a storage area at the school through the week-long collection Nov. 16-20.

Chad said through the drive he collected more than 100 boxes of needed goods in addition to $400, which he brought to City Team last Friday. Chad said they items were sent out that night to 11 churches in Honduras for distribution.

Chad's mother, Bridget, said the student response was overwhelming.

"When he asked for help, every student in his class raised their hands to volunteer," she said. "I think for them to see another student doing this is what helped so much. All the pennies, dimes and nickels came from students themselves. They gave from their piggy banks."

Chad said he asked that if students gave money that it come from their own allowance "so it would mean more."

First-grade teacher Ann Straw said it is unusual for a student to take the lead, "especially such a young child, and to carry it through. He didn't only think about helping, but he went to the next step and did something about it," she said.

Chad said he plans to hold another collection. "I thought about doing it year round, but I would have to give up all my breaks." He paused, the wheels in his mind spun, and he continued, "Oh yeah, maybe we could do it in shifts."

In brief: About 150 students from the Fremont Union High School District, which includes Homestead High School, visited every fifth grade class in the Sunnyvale and Cupertino Union school districts during Red Ribbon Week Oct. 26-30 to make anti-drug presentations. First graders at Los Altos Christian School, above, wrote get-well cards to a classmate who is in the hospital with bone cancer, and sent them to him via 48 helium balloons, which they released into the air Nov. 18. First graders at St. Simon School in Los Altos collected enough nickels and dimes to provide a Thanksgiving dinner for a family of 10 through the Thanksving Build-A-Box program sponsored by local Realtor Art Scott.