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2theadvocate.com | Education | Deaf, blind school merger proposed — Baton Rouge, LA
A cost-cutting move to merge the campuses of the state schools for the deaf and the visually impaired is being met with some enthusiasm as school officials promise to retain the separate identity and mission of each school.
To cut costs, the Louisiana School for the Visually Impaired will be moved from its historic campus into modern but underutilized buildings at the Louisiana School for the Deaf, Gov. Bobby Jindal announced Friday.
Relocating LSVI from its location at 1120 Government St. to the deaf school’s 116-acre campus on Brightside Drive will save the state $4.05 million next fiscal year and $4.6 million each year thereafter, Jindal said in a news conference.
Despite the new proximity, the schools will maintain their integrity as separate institutions serving different populations, Liz Moore, interim director of the state’s Special School District, said in a letter to parents.
“We do want to have two separate schools and we want the identity and history of the schools to remain,” Moore said.
The schools will share security, human resources and maintenance costs as well as some administrative oversight, Moore said, but will retain separate dormitories and classrooms.
While exact plans have yet to be hammered out, combining the schools’ business offices and food services has been discussed, Moore said.
The move is planned to be completed before the start of next school year, Moore said.
A task force of parents and members of both the deaf and blind communities has been formed to make suggestions about the move, Moore said.
In addition, Moore said she visited the Arkansas Schools for the Deaf and Blind, also housed on one campus, with Janet Ford, the director of LSVI, in early March.
Trips to Florida and Alabama, which also have combined campuses, are planned, she added. Kansas and Oregon are planning similar moves.
A certain level of cooperation already exists between the two Baton Rouge schools, which share bus routes to shuttle boarding students to their homes across the state.
In addition to funds saved by the move, LSVI’s budget will be cut $1.78 million and the deaf school’s $975,000 next fiscal year, which begins July 1, said Rene Greer, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Education.
Yvette Jackson, whose 5-year-old daughter, Aubrey, attends the deaf school but also has impaired vision, said she was thrilled upon hearing of the move.
“We think it’s a terrific idea,” she said. “They made a great business case for it and for us it resolves the question of ‘Where do we put Aubrey?’ ”
Jackson added that she thinks the move will ensure the future existence of both schools.
“I didn’t see the schools surviving independently and I think this action sort of secures their spot,” she said. “Most people say this should have been done a long time ago.”
Chris Sonnier, president of Eagle Eyes, the parent-teacher organization at the Louisiana School for the Deaf, and father of an 8-year-old boy at the school, echoed those sentiments.
“I think it can be a positive thing for both schools, especially if it will help ensure the long-term survival and success of both schools,” Sonnier said.
Regan Barrilleaux, the mother a 9-year-old who has attended LSVI for almost three years, was also pleased.
“If they can save some money by putting these two schools on the same facility, that means more money for the children,” she said.
Barrilleaux said her son attended the deaf school for a year and a half, so she’s already familiar with the campus.
“It’s a gorgeous school,” she said.
Pam Allen, president of the National Federation for the Blind of Louisiana, stressed the need for each school to have its own leadership.
“(They should) maintain separate principals for the two schools so that the unique needs of each population would be met,” Allen said in a telephone interview from her office in Ruston.
The idea of moving LSVI to the deaf school’s campus has come up several times since the 1980s. In 1982, a legislative budget committee refused to approve a plan for LSVI to buy 40 acres off O’Neal Lane for $300,000.
An official instead suggested that LSVI be moved to Brightside Drive, which would “save the state, at the very minimum, the cost of a new blind school campus plus countless dollars down the road if a joint physical operation were instituted,” Tom Colten, then undersecretary of the Department of Transportation and Development, wrote in a letter to the budget committee.
In some ways, the move marks a return to the schools’ roots: Louisiana opened its first school for deaf and blind children in 1852. The schools were separated in 1870.
A cost-cutting move to merge the campuses of the state schools for the deaf and the visually impaired is being met with some enthusiasm as school officials promise to retain the separate identity and mission of each school.
To cut costs, the Louisiana School for the Visually Impaired will be moved from its historic campus into modern but underutilized buildings at the Louisiana School for the Deaf, Gov. Bobby Jindal announced Friday.
Relocating LSVI from its location at 1120 Government St. to the deaf school’s 116-acre campus on Brightside Drive will save the state $4.05 million next fiscal year and $4.6 million each year thereafter, Jindal said in a news conference.
Despite the new proximity, the schools will maintain their integrity as separate institutions serving different populations, Liz Moore, interim director of the state’s Special School District, said in a letter to parents.
“We do want to have two separate schools and we want the identity and history of the schools to remain,” Moore said.
The schools will share security, human resources and maintenance costs as well as some administrative oversight, Moore said, but will retain separate dormitories and classrooms.
While exact plans have yet to be hammered out, combining the schools’ business offices and food services has been discussed, Moore said.
The move is planned to be completed before the start of next school year, Moore said.
A task force of parents and members of both the deaf and blind communities has been formed to make suggestions about the move, Moore said.
In addition, Moore said she visited the Arkansas Schools for the Deaf and Blind, also housed on one campus, with Janet Ford, the director of LSVI, in early March.
Trips to Florida and Alabama, which also have combined campuses, are planned, she added. Kansas and Oregon are planning similar moves.
A certain level of cooperation already exists between the two Baton Rouge schools, which share bus routes to shuttle boarding students to their homes across the state.
In addition to funds saved by the move, LSVI’s budget will be cut $1.78 million and the deaf school’s $975,000 next fiscal year, which begins July 1, said Rene Greer, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Education.
Yvette Jackson, whose 5-year-old daughter, Aubrey, attends the deaf school but also has impaired vision, said she was thrilled upon hearing of the move.
“We think it’s a terrific idea,” she said. “They made a great business case for it and for us it resolves the question of ‘Where do we put Aubrey?’ ”
Jackson added that she thinks the move will ensure the future existence of both schools.
“I didn’t see the schools surviving independently and I think this action sort of secures their spot,” she said. “Most people say this should have been done a long time ago.”
Chris Sonnier, president of Eagle Eyes, the parent-teacher organization at the Louisiana School for the Deaf, and father of an 8-year-old boy at the school, echoed those sentiments.
“I think it can be a positive thing for both schools, especially if it will help ensure the long-term survival and success of both schools,” Sonnier said.
Regan Barrilleaux, the mother a 9-year-old who has attended LSVI for almost three years, was also pleased.
“If they can save some money by putting these two schools on the same facility, that means more money for the children,” she said.
Barrilleaux said her son attended the deaf school for a year and a half, so she’s already familiar with the campus.
“It’s a gorgeous school,” she said.
Pam Allen, president of the National Federation for the Blind of Louisiana, stressed the need for each school to have its own leadership.
“(They should) maintain separate principals for the two schools so that the unique needs of each population would be met,” Allen said in a telephone interview from her office in Ruston.
The idea of moving LSVI to the deaf school’s campus has come up several times since the 1980s. In 1982, a legislative budget committee refused to approve a plan for LSVI to buy 40 acres off O’Neal Lane for $300,000.
An official instead suggested that LSVI be moved to Brightside Drive, which would “save the state, at the very minimum, the cost of a new blind school campus plus countless dollars down the road if a joint physical operation were instituted,” Tom Colten, then undersecretary of the Department of Transportation and Development, wrote in a letter to the budget committee.
In some ways, the move marks a return to the schools’ roots: Louisiana opened its first school for deaf and blind children in 1852. The schools were separated in 1870.