COMPUTERS PRIORITY FOR SCHOOLS : SIMI DISTRICT INVESTING IN CLASSROOM TECHNOLOGY.

Byline: Alicia Doyle Daily News Staff Writer

Although a state report released this week shows many California schools underequipped to prepare students for today's technology, Simi Valley schools are above the national average in matching kids with computers.

``I'm sure there are districts much farther ahead of us, others much farther behind,'' said Lowell Schultze, director of information services for the Simi Valley Unified School District. ``I consider us in the middle and working toward the top.''

There are roughly 700 computers in classrooms throughout Simi Valley's 18,300-student district, Schultze said, averaging 25 to 27 students per computer. The district is planning to install an additional 150 computers this summer, and another 150 by June.

The ratio of computers to students is above average compared to most schools in California, which provide one computer for every 73 students, according to a report compiled by a task force convened last fall by state Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin.

The report, put together by 46 teachers, technology experts and business executives, outlines in its report the poor state of technology in schools today. The task force says $11 billion should be spent over the next four years on computers and technology for classrooms in kindergarten through 12th grade.

In overall spending per student, California ranks 33rd nationwide with a mere $3 per student set aside for technology each year, the report states.

Over the past three years, Simi Valley's school district has spent roughly $1 million on technology in the classrooms, Schultze said, using special improvement funds and money earmarked for technology.

``Many students have more technology in their home than we have at some of our school sites,'' Schultze said. ``Most schools are trying to catch up.''

Each of the district's secondary schools has a computer lab, each equipped with 30 to 35 IBM clone computers, Schultze said.

The community has also helped make the technological push, with volunteers, local firms and area businesses donating equipment and time to gear schools for the future.

Last year, students, teachers and parents from Abraham Lincoln Elementary held an auction to help raise $30,000 for school computers.

In March, more than 25 business and community leaders donned the hats of computer technicians during NetDay '96 to help wire Garden Grove Elementary as a link on the Internet.

And in June - with the help of volunteers - students at Hollow Hills Fundamental School communicated via satellite with students at Madrona Elementary in Thousand Oaks through a 30-second bite on the airwaves.

The first satellite experience was made possible by professionals in the technology industry who donated their time and equipment for the student broadcast.

School officials are making a big push to link Internet access districtwide, a task which will involve running cables and wires through Simi Valley's 25 schools, Schultze said.

``It's among one of our top priorities,'' Schultze said. ``Technology, like education, is a source of information for our students.''

Elementary students will use the Internet to do research, communicate with their counterparts around the world and tap into various resources.

Students in the upper grades will go on line to research current events or use the electronic resource as a reference library, while younger students will use the Internet for activities such as communicating with pen pals across the country.

By June 1997, district officials hope to have four computers installed in each kindergarten and first-grade classroom to start up the Writing to Read Program - an IBM program geared toward kindergartners and first-graders to teach them writing, reading and fundamental computer skills.

And at the city's new magnet school scheduled to open this fall at Sequoia Junior High, technology will envelope core academic subjects, including the arts, library resources, office management and telecommunications.

School board President Judy Barry believes the district is on the right track toward equipping schools for the future.

``Technology is one of our top priorities,'' Barry said. ``That's the direction the world is headed in. We need to stay on top of it.''