Premier Event at Maranacook
New Brunswick chief looking at laptops
Copyright © 2002 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
AUGUSTA — New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord joined Gov. Angus S. King to tour Maranacook Community Middle School on Wednesday to get a first-hand look at the state's laptop program.
Staff photo by JIM EVANSWill Longfellow gives a short slide show presentation with his laptop Wednesday during a visit to Maranacook Community Middle School by Gov. Angus King, in background at left, and New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord, next to King. The premier visited the school to learn more about the Maine Learning Technology initiative, which provides computers to seventh-graders in the state. click to enlarge 
King, left, and Lord peer over the shoulders of Maranacook Community Middle School students. The students are, from left, Jeff Goggin, Longfellow and Alyssa Woodcock. click to enlarge
Lord and several other Canadian officials spent time in seventh- and eighth-grade classrooms to see how the students use the computers.
Teachers and students touted the benefits of the program.
Guidance counselor Maggie McKinney said she can see a difference between classrooms that use laptops and those that don't.
"The learning in the two seventh-grade classrooms with laptops is far deeper than what I'm able to do without it," she said.
Lord and King also signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Wednesday, pledging to work together on border development, making pharmaceutical drugs more affordable, on fishing issues and to help each other in times of emergency.
But both men made it clear that Lord was in Maine primarily to learn more about the laptop program.
"I saw it in their eyes, I saw it in their faces. (Students) were happy," Lord said following his visit.
Lord said New Brunswick is thinking of adopting a similar program and commended King for his leadership in making the laptop program a reality.
The Readfield school is working to find a way to allow the students to take the computers home with them at night. For students, the laptops are an incentive to behave, administrators say.
"If you misbehave with a laptop, you lose your laptop," seventh-grader Patsy Frey said.
Frey demonstrated one of her projects for the Canadian delegation. Each student in the class was assigned to make a presentation about a "vacation" they had taken, including how much money it cost, facts about their destination, and journal entries.
In the eighth-grade class, students did presentations about the upcoming elections. Will Longfellow and Jeff Googin shared a Web site they created about U.S. Rep. Tom Allen, who is running for re-election in the 1st District.
During the classroom tours, Lord asked the students whether the laptops make learning more engaging. Students in both classes said they do.
Students asked Lord if elections in Canada are similar to those in the U.S.
"There's a lot less mudslinging in Canada than in the U.S.," Lord said.
King asked the students to be careful with the laptops, and he encouraged parents, adults without children and legislators to visit their local school to learn more about the program.
"You can't describe it adequately," he said. "You have to see it in the enthusiasm of the students and the teachers."
Seventh-grade teacher Suzanne Caron said the computers help children with disabilities and have made a difference in the quality of her students' work.
"They take more pride in the appearance of their work," she said.
McKinney, a veteran teacher, said she's a believer in the value of laptops.
"I wasn't totally in support of the laptop program until I saw it," she said.
Susan M. Cover — 623-1056 scover@centralmaine.com