[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 70 (Monday, May 21, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5264-S5265]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               TOWNS COUNTY MIDDLE SCHOOL LAPTOP PROGRAM

 Mr. MILLER. Mr. President, I want to affirm what TIME magazine 
has written in its May 21, 2001, issue: Towns County Middle School in 
Georgia is one of America's ``educational pioneers.''
  In my native Towns County, the digital divide has become the digital 
opportunity. Every middle school student in the county totes a laptop 
computer from school to home, courtesy of a Federal grant and local 
donations. Classroom wiring connects the laptops to the Internet, and 
teachers incorporate the Web into lesson plans. At home, students 
question teachers online about homework, and teachers email missed 
assignments to students who are out sick.
  In a section called TIME's Schools of the Year, the magazine called 
this 265-student school ``one of the best-wired middle schools in the 
U.S.'' and cited it as one of two middle schools in the Nation that has 
``found the most promising approaches to the most pressing challenges 
in education.''
  Principal Stephen Smith convinced me as Governor that giving take-
home

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laptop computers to all middle-schoolers in Towns County would greatly 
enhance learning. We obtained a grant from the Appalachian Regional 
Commission and local donations to make this happen, and the program has 
succeeded beyond anyone's expectations. Test scores and attendance have 
increased, while discipline referrals have dropped. In addition, 
parents have become more involved in the school and more of them are 
earning their GEDs, and borrowing their kids' computers for 
assignments.
  I am very proud of the achievements at Towns County Middle School, 
and I congratulate Principal Smith, his teachers and all the students 
and parents on this national recognition.

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