By PAT NEWMAN
pnewman@thecitizennews.com

With the tap of a stylus, Fayette County's assistant principals will soon be able to access the files and schedules of any student in their schools from anywhere in the building with the soon-to-be-purchased “school pilot.”

The hand-held device, comparable to the popular “palm pilots,” was recommended for inclusion in the 2001 budget by Wayne Robinson, director of secondary school operations and facilitator for the district-wide emergency management plan. “To me it would be a tremendous help to our schools,” Robinson told the school board Monday night. “We have a great safety plan, and we want to make it better.”

Currently in emergency situations that require school evacuation, school officials must have emergency numbers and information readily available on each student. The information is now contained in five or six notebooks which are removed from the building on a cart. The “pilot” would eliminate the bulky notebooks and allow assistant principals, the designated emergency managers in each school, to keep up with their students anywhere.

Robinson proposed buying one “pilot” per school at a total cost of $31,000. The device itself sells for about $400, but the software is a pricey $1,000.