DISTRICT GEARS FOR INTERNET : CONEJO UNIFIED SET TO WIRE UP CAMPUSES.

Byline: Enrique Rivero Daily News Staff Writer

In a major step toward jumping onto the information superhighway, the Conejo Valley Unified School District expects to choose a contractor to wire about half its campuses for the electricity needed to run a multitude of computers.

Calling it a big move in its long-range technology goal, the district has asked for bid proposals for the electrical wiring necessary to run computers in the classrooms. About $1.2 million has been set aside for the wiring project for 10 Conejo campuses, covering about ``half the population'' in the approximately 18,000-student district, Superintendent Jerry Gross said.

``We've just begun to firm up our plans on technology, and we're going to make some major moves in the next four or five weeks to wire up all the schools,'' Gross said.

On Tuesday, district officials met with seven companies interested in doing the job for a pre-bid meeting during which company officials were taken on a tour of three schools to get a sense of what needs to be done, he said. ``It's going to be a big deal,'' Gross said about the district's plans. ``It's our biggest deal in technology in the last three or four years.'' Ten schools have been targeted for this project, said Sean Corrigan, director of planning and facilities for the district. They are the three high schools; the four middle and intermediate schools; and Manzanita, Westlake and Park Oaks elementary schools, he said.

The bids for the project are due Dec. 9, and the school board is expected to vote on a contract at its Dec. 12 meeting, Corrigan said.

``And now we're developing a budget and funding plan for the remaining elementary schools,'' he added.

The project is part of the district's overall technology plan, one of seven long-range priorities listed in the strategic plan for 1994 to 1999, Gross said.

It calls for the development and implementation of a comprehensive technology plan and reads as follows:

``A well-defined, integrated technology plan will provide students and staff with the tools necessary to access and manage information and develop student skills needed to prepare for future education and career opportunities.''

Most schools have some limited computer capabilities, according to school officials. Gross has said that every school in the district has at least one e-mail access.

But this move will set the stage for making the Internet and a host of other computer-related systems readily available to all the students. Before this can be done, however, campuses' electrical systems must be upgraded, Corrigan said.

``The current situation is that the schools are underpowered,'' he said. ``Especially some of our older schools, which may have only one outlet at each end of the room.

``You can't run a number of computers that way.''

The wiring project should start just after the New Year and be completed by the end of 1997, he said.

The plan, ultimately, is to have all 28 schools in the district fully equipped to handle computers: Each teacher's desk will be connected to a computer, and up to eight computers will be in every classroom, Gross said. Schools will eventually also be wired for the latest in television and telephone technology and perhaps even with fiber optics ``if the schools wanted to move in that direction,'' Gross said.

``In the next 18 months, we will be set up for the next 20 years: That is our mission,'' Gross said.