Committee to look at Braille School residential program

The future of the residential program at the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School will be discussed by a study committee in the coming months.

The Iowa Legislature, at the end of this spring's session, directed the state Board of Regents to form a committee to examine possible changes to the structure for providing residential services to blind students on the Vinton campus. The regents must submit by Aug. 31 recommendations to the Legislative Council.

The directive has led to rumors the Braille School is closing, said Patrick Clancy, the school's superintendent and administrator of the Statewide System for Vision Services. Clancy has informed school staff and parents about the study, in an effort to calm some fears.

Change is being considered, but no decisions will be made until August, Clancy stressed.

“Any change that might happen would be further out than next year,” he said. “None of the possibilities are reality yet.”

Several legislators wanted the study of the residential program because of low enrollment numbers and high costs, Clancy said. The Braille School this semester has nine students in the ongoing residential program. There are also a number of short-term residential programs held on the Vinton campus, such as a just-concluded two-week session on assistive technologies attended by five students, he said. The Statewide System of Blind Services, of which the Braille School is one component, serves about 400 children across Iowa.

“I think that what we will definitely find during the study is a strong commitment to meet the needs of individuals who are blind and visually impaired and to provide the full continuum of services,” Clancy said.

The study committee is still being formed, but it will include at least one state regent, staff from the Braille School and parents of students who use the services. The group will hold its first meeting April 22 in Des Moines.

Diana Gonzalez, chief academic officer with the Board of Regents office, said the group is charged with looking at all of the possibilities for the residential program.

“I don't think there's any preconceived idea or foregone conclusions,” she said.

The 159-year-old Braille School has seen shrinking residential enrollment, down from about 160 a few decades ago. The declining numbers are part of the transition to a new statewide system that serves more students in their home communities and schools. The school's state appropriation this year was about $5.5 million, of which about $2.7 million supports the residential program.