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.

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