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The Columbus Dispatch : Schools for blind, deaf will keep separate campuses
State officials laid out plans publicly yesterday to rebuild schools for the blind and the deaf in a project that will maintain the programs' separate campuses but merge services to save costs.
The $44 million state-funded project will replace 50-year-old buildings on the adjacent campuses of the Ohio School for the Deaf and the Ohio State School for the Blind. It also will bridge a ravine that separates the two North Side campuses.
Leaders of the schools, the design firm and the Ohio School Facilities Commission presented details of the revamped campuses in a public forum at the school for the blind last night.
The project features more space, newer technology and better accommodations for the students' disabilities. Connecting the campuses will allow more cost-effective delivery of certain services, such as maintenance and food, school officials said.
Construction of the academic buildings is expected to begin by October. The project, which will allow students to share facilities but attend separate academic programs, will be completed by the end of 2010, according to current timelines.
Alumni groups protested original plans to merge the campuses. Opponents maintained that the needs of blind students and deaf students are too disparate to be served by one campus, and they feared that the students' inability to communicate easily would create safety issues.
But the new plan has been more palatable, alumni of both schools said yesterday.
"In terms of sharing services, that hasn't been a problem as long as it doesn't affect the learning or safety of the students," said Evette Simmons-Reed, first vice president of the alumni association for the school for the blind. She noted as a positive the expected savings that would come from combining some of the schools' operations.
The project is being designed by Ohio firm SHP Leading Design. International construction company Bovis Lend Lease is managing the project.
The schools' campuses are neighbors on more than 200 acres; the entrance to the school for the blind is on N. High Street, and the entrance to the school for the deaf is on Morse Road.
The planned bridge connector will reduce the trip from one campus to the other to about a half-mile. Now, it is about 2 miles on public roads, officials said.
Upgrades will add about 85,000 square feet -- the area of about one and a half football fields -- in academic and residential space to each school.
The school for the deaf has about 170 students; the school for the blind has about 130. The dormitories will have 80 beds for each of the schools, which draw students from around the state.
The plans feature new facilities for the school for the blind's music program, and dormitories will be configured like a neighborhood, said Cynthia Johnson, interim superintendent of the school for the blind.
"It's designed like a community which is important for mobility of our students," Johnson said. "This gives them a safe environment in which they can learn those traffic patterns before going out into the community."
She hopes the expanded classroom space will allow for creation of a preschool program.
Edward E. Corbett, superintendent of the school for the deaf, could not be reached yesterday for comment.
State officials laid out plans publicly yesterday to rebuild schools for the blind and the deaf in a project that will maintain the programs' separate campuses but merge services to save costs.
The $44 million state-funded project will replace 50-year-old buildings on the adjacent campuses of the Ohio School for the Deaf and the Ohio State School for the Blind. It also will bridge a ravine that separates the two North Side campuses.
Leaders of the schools, the design firm and the Ohio School Facilities Commission presented details of the revamped campuses in a public forum at the school for the blind last night.
The project features more space, newer technology and better accommodations for the students' disabilities. Connecting the campuses will allow more cost-effective delivery of certain services, such as maintenance and food, school officials said.
Construction of the academic buildings is expected to begin by October. The project, which will allow students to share facilities but attend separate academic programs, will be completed by the end of 2010, according to current timelines.
Alumni groups protested original plans to merge the campuses. Opponents maintained that the needs of blind students and deaf students are too disparate to be served by one campus, and they feared that the students' inability to communicate easily would create safety issues.
But the new plan has been more palatable, alumni of both schools said yesterday.
"In terms of sharing services, that hasn't been a problem as long as it doesn't affect the learning or safety of the students," said Evette Simmons-Reed, first vice president of the alumni association for the school for the blind. She noted as a positive the expected savings that would come from combining some of the schools' operations.
The project is being designed by Ohio firm SHP Leading Design. International construction company Bovis Lend Lease is managing the project.
The schools' campuses are neighbors on more than 200 acres; the entrance to the school for the blind is on N. High Street, and the entrance to the school for the deaf is on Morse Road.
The planned bridge connector will reduce the trip from one campus to the other to about a half-mile. Now, it is about 2 miles on public roads, officials said.
Upgrades will add about 85,000 square feet -- the area of about one and a half football fields -- in academic and residential space to each school.
The school for the deaf has about 170 students; the school for the blind has about 130. The dormitories will have 80 beds for each of the schools, which draw students from around the state.
The plans feature new facilities for the school for the blind's music program, and dormitories will be configured like a neighborhood, said Cynthia Johnson, interim superintendent of the school for the blind.
"It's designed like a community which is important for mobility of our students," Johnson said. "This gives them a safe environment in which they can learn those traffic patterns before going out into the community."
She hopes the expanded classroom space will allow for creation of a preschool program.
Edward E. Corbett, superintendent of the school for the deaf, could not be reached yesterday for comment.