[Blindtlk] Oregon School for the Blind et. Al.

[Hyde, David W. (ESC)]

I spent twenty years working with the legislature on the school and on the commission. For those who don't know, here's some background:

The Oregon School for the Blind is located just south of the Salem hospital. It is on a plot of several acres, and occupies a block of desirable real-estate. The hospital has offered up to six million for the property. The hospital has gone up, north east, and west as far as it can. That leaves the school property. Now, unless things have changed, the local school district must sign off declaring that they are unable to meet a child's educational needs, before that child can attend the school. Thus, saying that the children there can be served equally well in their local district is ridiculous since, by definition, the district says that they can't.

Over the years, attempts have been made to close the school, sell the school, combine the school, move the school, and do pretty much anything with the school except to support the school. Although I do not live in Oregon any more, many of us cut our legislative teeth on this issue.

The Oregon Commission for the Blind is a seven member board appointed by the governor and approved by the Senate. A majority of the board must be blind. Members represent the N.F.B. the A.C.B. two unaligned blind people with the rest of the board drawn from the groups of education, labor, management, optometry and ophthalmology. The maximum number of members is seven. The commissioners hire the director, have responsibility for budget and program approval, and conduct hearings. Getting this commission was a battle as well. Many of us spent a great deal of time in the seventies fighting out what the agency should look like. After 2979, the agency has kept the same form.

Blind consumers have a stake in what the agency does, as well as a responsibility for its continuation. As one who learned politics at the Oregon Capitol, I am concerned that once gone, the commission will be hard to reconstruct. As, of course, will the school.




David Hyde, Professional Development Coordinator
Wisconsin Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired
1700 W. State Street
Janesville WI  53546
608-758-6152 (office)
608-751-0960 (cell)
608-758-6169 (fax)
866-284-1107 ext. 34 (toll free)
email
david.hyde at wcbvi.k12.wi.us<mailto:david.hyde at wcbvi.k12.wi.us>