Plan would end long-term residential program at Braille School

The traditional long-term residential program for students at the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School in Vinton would end by fall 2012, under a draft proposal approved by a Braille School study committee Thursday.

The proposal would not close the Vinton campus, which would remain as the headquarters for the Statewide System for Vision Services and also as a location for short-term and summer residential programs for blind and vision-impaired students. But the plan would mean big changes to the services provided to students at the 15o-year-old school.

The study group will vote on final approval of its proposal at a meeting July 1. The recommendations then go to the state Board of Regents for discussion at an Aug. 5 meeting.

At Thursday's study group meeting, supporters of the change said it will mean much of the $2.2 million now used for the Braille School can be used to provide better services to blind and vision-impaired students around the state, in their home school districts or at regional sites. More teachers can be hired and learning programs expanded, they said.

“We're not talking about a location, we're talking about education,” study group member Mary Jo Hainstock, Vinton-Shellsburg schools superintendent, said.

But other members who wanted the Braille School's long-term residential program to remain an option said they fear the change will decrease the quality of services for some students.

“I think we're losing a big resource,” Dana Cheek, Nevada resident and parent of a blind sixth-grader, said. “It all seems like information was presented … that the plan was always to close the Braille School. Some students, I think, are going to miss out.”

Of the nearly 25-member study group, only three – two parents and a Braille School graduate - voted to keep the Braille School as a long-term residential option, as it is now.

The study group adopted a draft proposal that includes eight recommendations. That will be brought back to the July 1 meeting for any changes before a final vote. Among the recommendations in the draft plan: provide services as near to a student's home as possible; reallocate resources dedicated to the Braille School to strengthening the statewide system; partner with other providers to offer regional options when long-term residential services are needed for students; and change the name of the school and the statewide system to better reflect the mission.

The study group heard from parents and graduates of the school, both in person and via e-mails and letters, who testified about the difference the Braille School made in their lives. Several said they think too many families don't know about the school option, which could play a role in the declining enrollment. They also said some students can't get comparable services in settings other than the Braille School.

The state appropriation this year for the Statewide System of Vision Services was $4.9 million, about 45 percent of which supported the Braille School. Enrollment at the school was nine students in 2009-10, down from 34 students in 2005, with a cost-per-student of about $246,o00. About 400 students are served through the statewide system.