Schools get town's computers

The staff at John and Mattie Washington Preschool try to teach their charges academic and social skills that will ready them for school. And now they will be able to track each child's progress more easily, courtesy of the town of Kiawah Island. The town's government donated several of its Dell computers, keyboards and printers to Angel Oak Elementary, Mount Zion Elementary, Frierson Elementary and the preschool. Garry Chisholm, the music director at Hebron Zion Presbyterian Church, installs software on one of the computers Kiawah Island Town Council donated to the preschool housed in the church's building. One computer will be used to track each child's progress based on age, and the other will likely be used in a classroom for 3-year-olds. Reverend Henry Rivers, the minister of Hebron Zion Presbyterian Church where the preschool resides, said one of the two donated computers they received will be used as part of the evaluation system used to track the children's individual progress as they develop motor and cognitive skills. The other one will be in the 3-year-olds' classroom, and have a curriculum system installed on it that will help the toddlers learn words and colors. He compared it to the kind of information previous generations picked up from Sesame Street, except with computers, the children manipulate the learning process somewhat. "Computers are basically what we needed more than anything else," he said. "I think it helps them develop the basic skills." The computers were donated as part of a standard rule from the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, a group that establishes state and local governmental accounting standards. Jurisdictions that pass the board's Statement 34 are required to depreciate assets such as technology. "The town implemented GASB 34 in 2005 and adopted a straight line depreciation, which applies a three-year useful life to assets like computers," said Tumiko Rucker, Kiawah's town administrator. In addition to the two computers donated to John and Mattie Washington Preschool, the elementary schools received one computer each and accessory equipment, such as keyboards and printers. But it has not been an entirely smooth transfer because the computers were stripped of their hard drives and other information to prevent confidential information from being lifted from them. Garry Chisholm, Hebron Zion's music director and computer go-to guy, was installing Windows XP Professional operating system on one of the computers last week. Rucker said Kiawah will provide new hard drives and memory for the others at roughly $100 each. The town will also send their information technology employees to install them because some of the schools do not have people on-site that can perform such duties. "The most important asset any community has is its young people. To be able to aid in the education and knowledge of our emerging leaders is of critical importance. We at the town are pleased to be able to contribute in this manner," said Kiawah's mayor, William Wert.

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