Some Schools Feel Burned By ZapMe! Offer

By Mary Ann Zehr

If he had his way, Bryon S. Anderson would send the 15 free Pentium II computers his school received recently back where they came from—the ZapMe! Corp. in San Ramon, Calif.

Plymouth Middle School in Plymouth, Minn., where Mr. Anderson works as a media specialist, accepted the computers last year as part of a nationwide rollout by ZapMe!, a leading provider of Internet access in schools. The company promises technical support along with free state-of-the-art computers and high-speed, satellite-directed Internet connections, in exchange for exposing students to advertisements through a small window on the computer screens.

But ZapMe!'s technology simply...