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Dust hung sedentary in the air as sunlight streamed through a window in room 307 at P.S. 72, an East Harlem elementary school. A glare reflected off an unused computer monitor. Next to it, an old IBM, which seemingly hadn't stirred in years, served as a resting pad for dirty chalkboard erasers.

Two years ago, District 4 was a leader throughout the city when it came to incorporating technology into its curriculum. But because of personal changes and budget constraints, the effort has stalled and it is now treading water. And, with technological evolution forging forward, the district may soon drown.

"I think we've just stepped into the doorway," said Ms. Iva Smith, a 22-year veteran special education teacher at the school. "It should be something everyone is using in their teaching. It shouldn't be just one computer in a classroom or just one computer teacher teaching a computer course."

Smith described a project-based approach of incorporating computers into everyday school learning. By teaming up with the Harlem Center for Education, Smith said last year she took students to Central Park where they studied and took pictures of birds. Then, they came back to the classroom and researched the birds on the Internet. They learned to type a report in a word processing program and how to make a web page mixing the pictures and text all together.

This year, however, the grant money, which allowed the relationship between the school and the education center, has run dry.

Smith sat at a small round table with four fifth graders, Michael, Amy, Alicia, and Carol. They are part of her afternoon special education class. She drew sentence structure exercises on the back of their math problem handouts and asked them to fill in the details with their pencils.

"I like the internet," Michael said without looking up from his worksheet. "I go there to play education games and to get help with my homework."

Amy pointed at the computers collecting dust in the corner. "The internet isn't hooked up yet," Former Manhattan School District 4 Director of Information Technology John Ferro said, "It's one thing to have a four computers in a classroom, but if the teachers and students don't know how to effectively integrate them into everyday curriculum, then they may as well not even be there."

Ferro was referring to Project Smart, a program designed to put at least four computers in each classroom and train both teachers and students in a project-based curriculum how to use the technology to enhance everyday learning.

"I was learning right along with the students," Smith said. "Computers were new for me too." Last year, she said someone would come in once a week to help facilitate lessons.
"Technology is a tool," Ferro said. "It's not an end all. We're not just talking about how to do word processing," Rather, the goal is to make technology an inherent part of the day so the children and teachers are familiar with the processes. "Like how a teacher would put a tape into a video machine."

The benefit is making what children are learning in school relevant to the real world, Ferro said.

Amy said she wants to be a teacher when she grows up, Alicia a doctor, and Carol, a nurse, like her mother.

"How to find information and present it to other people so it's clear is what translates to the business world," Ferro said. "those are the skills children need."

Before Ferro retired last year, the New York City Central Board of Education and the Office of Instructional Technology recognized District 4 as a leader because he and other teachers, who also have since retired, developed applications and partnerships with other districts, he said.

Now, however, the District has slipped in the ranks. The district did not replace Mr. Ferro with a dedicated position, rather they doubled up Ms. Donna Balter's responsibilities. She also heads the math department.

"I'm not a techie," Balter said. "But I know how to organize and manage."
She said she has a lead technical administrator who has two subordinates. Together, they are responsible for the upkeep of all networks and computers in 24 schools.

"If a computer goes down, that's pretty much it for it," Smith said. There's a maintenance sign up list in the principal's office, but she said no one uses it because the matters are never addressed anyway. "If a printer runs out of ink, we, the teachers replace the cartridge with our own money."

At this point, it's difficult to go beyond a maintenance level, Balter said. "With the stock market and the budgets the way they are, and with losing the teachers who spearheaded projects in the past, we just have to get through this time.
Time is one thing that is on her side, Balter said.

"It's a generation thing. Once younger teachers come in who already have computer knowledge and familiarity with the machines, it will be more normal for them to use them in everyday learning activities," she said. "Give it ten years."

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