2 SCHOOLS TO GET TECHNOLOGICAL LIFT.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

Two local high schools will receive a combined $763,800 to improve classroom technology under a $100 million statewide grants program announced by California schools Superintendent Delaine Eastin.

Saugus High School and Bowman Continuation High School were selected to get $300 per student in funding from the Digital High School program. They are two of 216 high schools across California that will split $100 million in funds set aside by Gov. Pete Wilson and the state Legislature in the current state budget.

The goal is to integrate computers and technology into all California public high schools over the next four years, so students will graduate with the necessary skills to go directly into the work force or to do well in college.

With nearly 400 students, Bowman High has about two dozen computers for the teens' use. ``As with so many schools, one computer in the classroom just doesn't cut it,'' said school Principal Richard Artzer.

That's why winning the grant meant so much to Bowman students and staff, he said.

``At continuation school in particular, one of the biggest barriers is getting kids to come to school,'' Artzer said. ``Technology is one of those things that serves as kind of a hook.''

Meanwhile, the grants will bring $642,600 in upgrades to Saugus High and its 2,140 students, said Principal Cheryl Brown.

School faculty, staff and administrators had been seeking public and private funds for technology improvements without success until the Digital High School program came along. ``We have written and submitted so many grants and been denied,'' Brown said.

``These (funds) are going to allow us to ensure that our graduates are computer literate, and that's the whole goal of the millions of dollars that Gov. Wilson signed into law,'' she said.

Brown said she didn't know how much of Saugus High's grant would be spent on infrastructure improvements - such as installing more phone jacks, coaxial cable and electrical wiring. ``This school wasn't wired to handle this,'' Brown said.

``We want to make sure that, with our purchases of hardware, the electrical can sustain it.''

Based on the ratio of students to computers, Saugus and Bowman were chosen to receive the first round of grants, said Leslie Crunelle, assistant superintendent of educational services for the William S. Hart Union High School District.

``The intent of the (state) legislation is to fund all high schools (in California) over a four- or five-year period to the same extent - that is, $300 per student,'' Crunelle said.

Both schools must submit some required paperwork to the state, and it will be reviewed first by an education technology task force and then the state board of education. ``It looks like funding will not . . . be released until at least March,'' Crunelle said.