Iowa study panel mulls future of Vinton special school

DES MOINES – A legislatively mandated study panel Thursday began mulling future options for residential programs and other services provided through the Iowa Braille and Sight-Saving School in Vinton under the direction of the state Board of Regents.

The main focus of the nearly two dozen committee members at their initial meeting was the future of the residential program at the Vinton school, but proposed alternatives also carried implications for the Iowa School for the Deaf in Council Bluffs.

Included among the proposed alternatives for campus-based services in Thursday's “very preliminary” discussion were ideas to combine “low-incident sensory impairment residential services” onto one campus at the existing Council Bluffs or Vinton locations or onto one campus in a central location – with Des Moines, Ames, Ankeny and Johnston thrown out as possible suggestions.

Other possibilities included continuing current long-term and short-term service options at the Vinton facility or just a short-term option of up to a year; developing a residential school option more central to the state or in each of the state's four quadrants in partnership with other providers; developing a state-run school in central Iowa; contracting for residential services with other state schools for the blind; or eliminating the Vinton school and providing services for blind or visually impaired students closer to where they reside.

“My preference at this point would be very much to lean towards still having vision services centered from the Vinton campus,” said Patrick Clancy, superintendent at the Braille and Sight-Saving School and administrator of the Statewide System for Vision Services.

Clancy said Thursday provided an opportunity to “put everything on the table,” but the most feasible options appeared to be maintaining the status quo, partnering with another provider in central Iowa or developing a residential option in each quadrant in partnership with other providers. He said he did not support merging the two schools on the Council Bluffs campus and hoped that option would be dropped.

“If I had a recommendation, my recommendation would be to keep the facility in Vinton at least for the foreseeable future, at least a number of years.

The operation of a statewide system needs a center for a location and we have that center,” he said in an interview. “My preference at this point would be very much to lean towards still having vision services centered from the Vinton campus.”

The Iowa Legislature last session directed the regents to form a committee to examine possible changes to the structure providing residential services to blind students on the Vinton campus. The regents must submit by Aug. 31 recommendations to the Legislative Council.

Lawmakers sought the study because enrollment at the Vinton school, founded in 1860, has dipped from 34 in 2005 to nine students in the ongoing residential program this semester – at a cost of $246,341 students based upon $2.2 million in campus-based expenditures. The enrollment is down from about 160 a few decades ago, committee members said, and the declining numbers are part of the transition to a new statewide system that serves more students in their home communities and schools.

Along with the residential program, there also are a number of short-term residential programs held on the Vinton campus. The Statewide System of Blind Services, of which the Braille School is one component, serves about 400 children across Iowa.

State Rep. Dawn Pettengill, R-Mount Auburn, whose House District 39 includes Vinton, said some of the options under study would require action by the full Legislature, not just the 24-member Legislative Council that handles pertinent issues during the interim between annual sessions.

“I'm very concerned that we're trying to go around the law,” said Pettengill, who attended Thursday's meeting – the first of up to possibly four meetings to formulate findings to report to the regents by their August meeting.

Regent Rose Vasquez, a member of the study panel made up of special school administrators, state and local education officials, parents of vision-impaired students and other stakeholders, said she was encouraged by the broad array of expertise and the information provided at Thursday's meeting.

“There's no preconceived notion,” she said. “It's wide open.”

Michael Barber, president of the National Federation of the Blind of Iowa, said he was hopeful the study panel could find the best solution for Iowa children and youth who are blind or visually impaired with additional disabilities that require direct and indirect educational services.

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