Students Have Online Chat With Lawmaker

In honor of Black History Month, fifth-grade students at Payne Elementary School in Inglewood joined students in Florida, Indiana, Massachusetts and West Virginia on Tuesday for a chat over the Internet with Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles).

The session was the first time the Inglewood students had gone online since the school was equipped with Internet software last week.

Marlene Lopez asked Waters how she was going to help children become successful. Waters responded by explaining President Clinton’s education package.

Nancy Muniz asked Waters if she wanted to be president. Muniz said Waters didn’t answer the question because another student had apparently already asked it, although she couldn’t remember the answer.

For most of the students the chat was their first experience on the Internet. Supt. McKinley Nash said the district has raised nearly $2 million for technology programs and is setting up a foundation to generate private funds.

“The greatest inequity in schools today is the lack of accessibility that poor children have to computers,” Nash said. “We want to level the playing field.”