JOHNSTON, Iowa — A committee studying education services for the state’s blind and deaf students does not favor an option that would consolidate services for those populations at one new centrally located site.
The group also does not want to combine services into one site at the former Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School in Vinton.
Options that remain on the table for consideration include having five regional sites around the state for deaf and blind students, which may or may not include a residential option; keeping services headquartered at both Vinton and at the Iowa School for the Deaf in Council Bluffs; having a single campus where services are provided for both populations at the deaf school in Council Bluffs; and centralizing the administration and coordination of the services for both populations.
The various options still on the table would either save between $287,000 and $2.4 million, with the most savings if there is no residential model, or would cost up to $3.9 million in additional money, under one of the scenarios that would establish regional centers and keep a residential school model, the committee heard during its monthly meeting Monday in Johnston.
The state Board of Regents oversees the state’s two special schools, and it charged the feasibility and planning study committee with looking at the effectiveness and efficiency of those services. Patrick Clancy, superintendent of the School for the Deaf and head of the statewide Iowa Educational Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired, said the committee hopes to make recommendations to the regents in December after meeting again in November. The intent of the changes, Clancy said, is “not to take away from the continuum of services for the students,” but to fill in the service gaps. This is the first study to look at services to both blind and deaf student populations together, Clancy said.
After the committee meeting Monday, a public hearing was held via the Iowa Communications Network at seven sites around the state, including Vinton. It’s the third public hearing the committee has held during the process, and 50 people spoke from the various sites. Graduates and supporters of both the deaf school and the former Braille school made impassioned pleas to save the programs that target those populations, and several among the speakers said they do not want to see services for those two populations consolidated.
The National Federation of the Blind of Iowa is “categorically opposed” to any merging of programs for blind students and deaf students, said group President Michael Barber of Des Moines.
“We have unique needs, just as the people who are deaf have unique needs,” he said. “We’re urging you not to merge these programs.“
Past changes have narrowed the options for blind and visually impaired students, several speakers said, and they don’t want to see that trend continue. A study several years ago resulted in the closing of the residential school for blind students. The Vinton campus is now the headquarters of the statewide system for vision services, which serves hundreds of students around the state, and also hosts weekend and summer programs for those students.
Numerous Iowa School for the Deaf graduates talked about how that school changed their lives and helped them succeed, by giving them a population of fellow deaf students with whom to interact and use sign language. They urged the committee to recommend keeping the residential deaf school open.
Committee members said financial savings aren’t the only consideration. Their first priority is looking at the services provided, what is needed and the best ways to do that equitably around the state, members said.
