From the October 25, 1996 Daily Report Card:
-> *6   SPRINTING TO SAFETY:  A SPRINT TELECOMMUNICATIONS VENTURE
->    A $200,000 Sprint Spectrum program provided by American
-> Personal Communications has improved teacher-parent
-> communication, school safety and security at two Washington, D.C.
-> schools (AMERICAN PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS press release, 10/24). The
-> Sprint Spectrum Scholar Access Program is the first-ever
-> public/private partnership designed to introduce 100% digital
-> wireless communications into the classroom, notes the release.
->    According to American Personal Communications data, teacher-
-> parent communication at Dunbar Senior High School has improved by
-> 200% and nearly doubled at Fletcher Johnson Elementary School.
-> Calls to administrators and other  teachers also increased after the
-> Sprint program was introduced at both schools.  A pilot
-> program was tested last spring, and the full-fledged program was
-> launched earlier this month.
->    Ms. Twyman, a kindergarten teacher at Fletcher Johnson
-> Elementary School explains how the system has helped her.
-> "Having instant access to Sprint phones has been especially
-> valuable to those of us in early childhood classes.  We have the
-> ability to contact parents immediately in an emergency without
-> leaving the child.  If the child gets hurt on the playground or gets
-> sick, we can get in touch with the parent.  It also allows the parent
-> to talk to the child, which helps eliminate some
-> fears. ... "
->    Other teachers note that they have better access to security
-> in the event of disciplinary problems.  One class used the phones to
-> contact an area stock broker who taught the students how to
-> read stock reports in the newspaper.
->    American Personal Communications reports that teachers at
-> these two schools have 7.5 more hours of classroom time because they
-> no longer are forced to leave a class to make or receive
-> calls, wait for one of the three lines formerly available to
-> Dunbar teachers to free up or try to squeeze in calls between
-> class periods.
--- PCBoard (R) v15.22/M 10
---------------