LXNY -- New York's Free Computing Organization Press Release LXNY Continues Board of Education Campaign The Board of Education of the City of New York has created several ambitious plans to provide computing resources and limited Internet access to its school population, including 1,300,000 students and their parents. Following the report of the new Committee on Technology (chaired by Board Member Ninfa Segarra), on 24 January 2001 the Board issued Request for Proposal 1B548. LXNY discusses this plan in our communique' entitled: "Bulletin -- New York City Board of Education Computer RFP". LXNY is an educational organization dedicated to spreading knowledge of the free software movement to computer users and to the public at large. LXNY was founded in 1994 by Robert F. Young, who resigned in October 1996 to work full-time as President of Red Hat, Inc. Since then, LXNY has been managed by Michael E. Smith and Jay Sulzberger. LXNY has been actively volunteering in the schools for sev- eral years. We work through the Schools and Libraries Pro- ject, headed by Lucia and Randy Wright, http://www.lxk12.org. This work has been written up, e.g., in the newsletter of the United Way. In 1999, Jay Sulzberger, LXNY Corresponding Secretary, was a recipient of the first Linus Torvalds Community Service Prize (sponsored by IDG). Members of LXNY attended the meeting of the Board of Educa- tion on April 12, 2000, where the first plan was presented, and the September meeting when the reorganization and revi- sion were enacted. At another meeting, LXNY briefly addressed the Board of Education about the need for free software in the schools. We are currently working to per- suade the Board to build the Cyberspace foundation of the school system out of free software and open standards. Details of the plan can be obtained through the Board of Edu- cation. Contact Victoria Streitfeld (718) 935-2912 (day), (917) 952-6575 (evening). www.nycenet.edu (MES) Michael E. Smith Jay Sulzberger http://www.lxny.org