[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 48 (Tuesday, April 22, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3458-S3459]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           SUPPORTING NETDAY

 Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise today to alert this body 
to a very special event, which took place this past weekend, called 
NetDay. NetDay, which began in 1996, is a unique partnership between 
the public, private and educational communities with the common goal of 
fitting K-12 classrooms with the technological infrastructure needed 
for the 21st century.
  In the beginning of this year, on behalf of myself, Senator John 
Warner, Senator Conrad Burns, Senator Charles Robb, Senator Patty 
Murray, and Senator Barbara Boxer, I introduced Sense of the Senate 
Resolution 51, celebrating the success of NetDay activities and 
encouraging all schools to participate in 1997 NetDay activities, 
including the projects which took place this past weekend. As I did in 
February of this year, when I introduced the NetDay resolution, I would 
like to again commend the organizers and volunteers of NetDay, an 
excellent example of individuals creating a stronger community with the 
goal of increasing the quality of their schools.
  The success of this weekend was impressive. Although it is still too 
early to cite official statistics of Saturday's event, NetDay 
organizers have stated that ``schools up and down the State, in 
isolated towns in the north, farming towns in the central valley, and 
hundreds in urban communities all participated in NetDay.'' In 
addition, the 38 empowerment zone schools of the Los Angeles Unified 
School District were involved in NetDay activities and future planning. 
Last year alone, NetDay was successful in bringing out more than 
100,000 Americans, including 50,000 Californians to volunteer in their 
neighborhood schools. These students, teachers, parents, and friends of 
the schools, came to wire classrooms and school libraries throughout 
the Nation. Thousands of individuals accomplished their goal to install 
communications cables, connect wires and switches to upgrading their 
schools for the 21st century.
  The success of NetDay is significant. Last year, over 25,000 
elementary, junior and senior high schools were wired. I expect these 
numbers to dramatically increase as NetDay organizer compile results 
from Saturday's activities. Throughout the United States, volunteers 
climbed ladders and got on their hands and knees to install the wiring 
infrastructure needed to connect thousands of elementary and secondary 
school classrooms with contemporary technology.
  As I have mentioned in earlier floor speeches, NetDay began in 
California on March 9, 1996. The term was coined by cofounders John 
Gage of Sun Microsystems, one of the Nation's leading technology 
companies and Michael Kaufman of KQED, a California public broadcasting 
station. Mr. Gage and Mr. Kaufman saw this initiative as a day where 
hundreds of Californians came out to an ``old fashioned barn raising 
for the modern technology age.''
  Just as volunteers would gather in the Nation's early years, with 
neighbor helping neighbor, to build homes, barns or community 
buildings, California's NetDay volunteers gather in support of 
neighborhood schools. Amazingly, and to their surprise, NetDay 
succeeded in one year in wiring 3,500 schools efficiently and cost-
effectively, establishing and improving our classroom information 
infrastructure up and down the State.
  However, as our classrooms continue to modernize and improve their 
technological infrastructure there is much work to be accomplished, 
both in California and throughout the Nation. Consider the following:

  According to the Department of Education half of our K-12 schools 
lack full access to advance technology in the classroom.
  Ninety-five percent of those K-12 schools who want to but are not yet 
wired, do not have the needed budgetary resources or organized 
volunteer base to wire their schools.
  Rural areas and regions with high poverty continue to have less 
access to advanced educational technology compared to their suburban 
and urban counterparts.
  These few points illustrate that there is still much to be done in 
our children's classrooms. NetDay organizers are committed to working 
with under served neighborhoods and ensuring that the appropriate 
resources, both in volunteers and computer wiring kits, are channels to 
these communities. In addition, this year's NetDay will focus on 
communities that did not fully benefit from last years initial set of

[[Page S3459]]

projects and activities. In all, NetDay continues to save schools and 
taxpayers millions of dollars in educational technology startup costs, 
while training and equipping teachers with the knowledge needed to be a 
successful and integral part of the technical educational experience.
  According to NetDay organizers, this year's relationship between 
private business, the labor community, and neighborhood schools is 
stronger than ever. Business sponsors and corporate volunteers will be 
instrumental in making NetDay a successful reality. The small, and 
large, companies continue to supply the project the needed computer and 
wiring equipment, and have also encouraged their employees to work with 
their children's or neighborhood schools. In addition, the labor 
community will continue to go into schools across America, where they 
are committed to work with private partners in ensuring that their 
local schools have the educational infrastructure needed for a well 
trained work force for the 21st century. The most valuable asset of 
NetDay continues to be the commitment of thousands of volunteers who 
will work in their community schools.
  As the communities throughout America celebrate their NetDay 
accomplishments and prepare for future activities for this year and 
beyond, it is my honor to once again, recognize the NetDay cofounders, 
Michael Kaufman and John Gage, and organizers, Ann Murphy and Teresa 
Wann, and the dozens of corporate sponsors and business partners, and 
the thousands of students, teachers, parents, and school administrators 
for their achievement. The success and commitment they have shown to 
America and my State of California should be applauded.
  My colleague and cochair on the U.S. Senate information technology 
caucus, Senator John Warner, Senator Conrad Burns of Montana, Senator 
Charles Robb of Virginia, Senator Patty Murray from Washington, and my 
California colleague Senator Barbara Boxer join me in supporting the 
advancement of educational technology by sponsoring this resolution. 
Together, we urge our Senate colleagues to affirm congressional support 
for preparing U.S. classrooms with the needed technological 
infrastructure for the 21st century.
  I invite my Senate colleagues to join this public-private partnership 
effort and I congratulate all the volunteers who participated in NetDay 
1997 and encourage them to keep up the commendable and exemplary 
work.

                          ____________________