The Hayden School District has received 30 computers from Routt County, putting Jim Earley closer to his goal of a 1-1 student-to-computer ratio.

The district’s technology director said the used computers, which are an addition to 10 the county already donated, would be divided between the high school’s general and business computer labs. The district’s current student-to-computer ratio is about 1.7-to-1, Earley said.

“Even though we’re a small school, I would like them to have every technological advantage of a larger school,” he said of Hayden students.

The 30 computers are Gateways with 17-inch flat-screen LCD monitors, Earley said. He estimated their worth at more than $6,000. They will replace older machines, which will be used elsewhere in the district, he said. High school science teacher Dean Massey asked the county for the donation.

“He used his own vehicle, his own gas and his own muscles to help me move the computers out of the basement of the county building, into vans and then over here,” Earley said.

The county donates computers to local entities, typically nonprofit groups, each year, said Tim Winter, county director of purchasing, building and plant. Routt County replaces machines at its various departments on a four-year schedule, Winter said. It gives away, sells or recycles about the same number of computers each year.

“We’ve, over the years, donated to a lot of organizations, and it’s mostly by request,” he said.

The computers run fine, Winter said, particularly if the user needs them for only basic purposes.

“It’s a good program to get them out in the community for someone else to use,” he said.

Earley said the district has been ramping up its technology since he took his position. This will be his fourth school year.

Student interest in technology also is growing, he said. During the 2006-07 school year, a computer repair class attracted only two people, Earley said.

But last year, he held a Web design contest with paid prizes. It was a success, he said, and now the district offers a design class that has filled up. Earley plans to make the district’s Web site part of that class. He aims to host it on-site and have students maintain it.

He also plans to take the money the district would have spent on site hosting and maintenance and give it to the students.

“At the end of the semester, everyone who had a ‘B’ average or better in Web design : we’d take that money, and each student would get a check,” Earley said. He also plans to put miniature four-computer labs with subject-specific software in each classroom.

One student who has shown a clear interest is Earley’s summer assistant, 16-year-old Ryan Mahaffie. He’ll be a junior this year and plans to go to college and study animation.

“Right now, I sketch,” Ryan said. “But I plan to get into digital art.”

In the meantime, he’s Earley’s right hand. The two hope to have the new computers up and running by the start of school, Sept. 2. From there, Earley will plug away solo.

He spent more than $100,000 on technology last year. He’d love to spend more.

“The only thing that’s been holding us back from going hog wild is budget constraints,” Earley said. “You only have so much money.”

– To reach Blythe Terrell, call 871-4234

or e-mail bterrell@steamboatpilot.com