New Florida private school promises a computer at every desk By Kimberly Miller Boca Raton News   BOCA RATON, FL - When a child is playing baseball he doesn't say he is learning to play baseball -- he's just playing baseball. That philosophy is one of the driving forces behind a new private school opening in Boca Raton whose aim it is to bring the 21st century to its students, one child at a time. Grandview Preparatory School is scheduled to open its doors this August with tennis courts, a swimming pool and the real kicker -- a computer at every student's desk. ``What is different about our school is what I call a seamless integration of technology,'' said Grandview Headmaster George F. (Jeff) Devin. ``A computer is probably the best teaching tool ever invented. So when you walk into one of our classrooms there will be students reading about history and science but also taking virtual filed trips with their computers to places around the world. ``This removes the teacher from the center of the learning process,'' Devin said. ``They become more of a guide.'' That's not to say that the computer will take the place of the teacher. The school should open with about 25 instructors and 100 students in grades pre-kindergarten through ninth-grade. But because all students learn at different levels and speeds, the individual computers will allow the children to move ahead at a comfortable pace, eliminating the frustration felt by children who either have to wait for the class to catch up or who have to struggle not to be left behind. ``With the computers, children can be turned lose with a body of knowledge,'' Devin said. ``Stalling any child's learning process can be disastrous.'' The approach is definitely innovative. Each student will create their own CD-ROM that will carry a portfolio of their work, including pictures and videos they make while on field trips. In the school's master computer, each child will have a personal file where parents can dial in direct to view writing assignments and read teacher's comments. Parents can also write notes to the teachers and do teleconferencing. ``That's the whole power at this school -- the communication,'' said Linda White, Grandview's director of electronic learning. ``Here parents will be able to hook into the main computer and find out exactly what is going on.'' White compares the technology at Grandview to bringing a library into the classroom. ``We want to tap into the community,'' White said. ``The school will no longer be the only source of information for our students. The world will be at their fingertips.'' Coupling a ``conservative'' curriculum with high technology, Devin said Grandview is bringing the best of both worlds to students. Grandview Preparatory School was the dream of Boca Raton residents Caroline and Gene Ehlers, who will not only have daughter Jackie Westerfield serving as an administrator at the school but also will have two children enrolled. But the dream didn't come easy. Besides the search for a ``visionary'' to head up the school and qualified teachers, the Ehlers were faced with a zoning battle that pitted them against at least 90 residents from neighborhoods surrounding the 7 1/2-acre site. Nestled between Spanish River Boulevard and NW 36th Street at the site of the former South County Jewish Federation, residents complained that traffic from the school would overload NW Third Avenue and cause a dangerous situation. But Devin said the school intends to keep its enrollment under 600 -- the zoned capacity -- even when it opens its full high school in the next three years. ``We're not in this to be big,'' Devin said. ``We are going to maintain the integrity of small classes and proceed cautiously.'' Although Devin said the school is looking for a range of children from different ethnic backgrounds and learning capabilities, he is reserving the right to be picky and students must do well on an admissions test. ``However, we are not the school for just the child who scores in the 90 th percentile,'' Devin cautions. ``I always say if you want National Merit Scholars, admit them. I think the measure of a school is what it does with its children.'' It's a tough line to walk. Private school competition has become so extreme that no less than 15 private or parochial schools are doing business in Boca Raton and its western suburbs. About 34 percent of the students in Boca Raton are being taught in private schools. A conservative estimate puts private school enrollment at 5,080. Another 300 students attend the Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale, about 25 percent of its enrollment. In the last three years private-school enrollment in Florida has grown almost 20 percent to more than 246,000 students, or 10.2 percent of all Florida students in grades kindergarten through 12, according to the state's Department of Non-Public Schools. Private and parochial school enrollment accounts for about 11 percent of enrollment nationwide. Palm Beach County has nearly 20,000 students enrolled in non-public schools, third only to Dade and Broward with 50,000 and 30,000 respectively. And experts in the field of private education predict that enrollment will only grow in coming years. ``I think there is a great disappointment in the public school system and parents feel like they can't get the kind of trust they need or the education that they desire,'' said Donna Brinkle, a commissioner on the Board of Private Education, a private accrediting agency. ``You would be surprised the sacrifices that parents will make to ensure their children receive and adequate education.'' The $7,000 annual tuition at Grandview Preparatory is not a huge stretch for Delray Beach pediatrician Dean Katzin and his wife Nena. But it is a necessity. For Dean Katzin, public school was not a consideration. ``I just wanted a better education for my children than what I got when I went to public school,'' said Katzin who has enrolled his 5-year-old daughter, Devyn, in first grade for next year. Although Katzin said he did not do much comparison shopping, what he heard about Grandview sounded like a match. ``I see a lot of kids and as a pediatrician obviously I hear the worst and the best about all the schools,'' Katzin said. ``This seemed like a new organization with a new approach. It's not overrun with oodles of kids and we really liked the fact that every kid will have a computer at their desk.'' Grandview must be in operation before an accreditation team can move through. Devin said the Florida Council of Independent Schools, which accredits 140 schools throughout Florida, will make its first visit in October, and again in April of 1998. Full accreditation takes three years enabling students who enter this fall as freshman to graduate from an accredited high school program. Grandview will begin its own testing Sept. 2, its first day of school. Devin said he is confident that Grandview's unique approach to education will bring it nothing but success. ``We have not modeled ourselves after other schools in the area,'' Devin said. ``We have a whole different mission.'' Visit Boca Raton News, FL, on the World Wide Web.