While parents spend months and sometimes years fundraising to put up-to-date technology in the classroom, the federal government will be delivering previously loved computers, laptops and LCD monitors to the doorstep of three North Vancouver schools.
Carson Graham secondary and two private schools - Lions Gate Christian Academy and Alcuin College for the Liberal Arts - will receive a total of 66 pieces of hardware, which is part of the Computers for Schools program and a $36-million investment by the federal government across Canada.
"To succeed in today's economy students need access to the Internet and the opportunities that our digital world can provide starting at a young age," said Andrew Saxton, MP for North Vancouver, in a media release.
The program is an initiative that takes surplus computers donated by the federal, provincial and
territorial governments and private businesses, then repairs and refurbishes them before donating them to schools, public libraries and Aboriginal communities.
In an email to the North Shore News, Saxton said the program works on an on-demand basis. Schools submit a request for the equipment and program officials determine specific needs and whether or not there's an equipment match.
But one North Vancouver parent would like to know more about how those schools were chosen over others to receive the muchneeded hardware. Jane Lagden-Holborne, chairwoman of the North Vancouver Parent Advisory Council that acts as a volunteer liaison between PACs and represents parents' concerns at a district level, said she was unaware of the federal program, which would go a long way to filling a dire need for new technology in classrooms across the school district.
"It'd be interesting to hear from the MP's office and find out how this opportunity was made known to schools, or how
they were selected," she said. "I hadn't heard of that at all."
Fundraising for new computers has usually been left up to the parents, Lagden-Holborne said, despite technology being a curriculum priority. "Any new machines come through PAC fundraising," she noted.
For example, in the past school year one of her son's secondary school tech teachers said he needed new drafting software in order to teach the course, Lagden-Holborne added.
"I think that the amount of money (school districts) get to run the operation goes to salaries, naturally of the staff, and then maintaining the school," she said. "As far as (technology) funding goes, should that come from the provincial government? Well, perhaps."
Since its inception, the Computers for Schools program has provided more than 1.3 million computers to schools and not-for-profit learning organizations in Canada. Last year, nearly 7,500 computers were provided to schools across B.C., including First Nation communities.
