[Nfbf-l] Fw: [blindlaw] Update on Florida School for the Deaf and Blind

[Beth]

This is sad.  I have several friends, one of whom is totally blind,
who wnt to FSB.
Beth

On 2/24/09, rjs059 at peoplepc.com <rjs059 at peoplepc.com> wrote:
> This disturbs me.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Philip Breeze" <pebreeze at gmail.com>
> To: "NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List" <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Monday, February 23, 2009 2:31 PM
> Subject: [blindlaw] Update on Florida School for the Deaf and Blind
>
>
>> Hello everyone, a few months back I posted an entry concerning my 6 year
>> old
>> sons application to The Florida School for the Blind.  I have an update on
>> the situation and find it extremely difficult to understand.  The facts
>> are
>> as follows:
>>
>> February 2008 -- I applied for my son to attend FSDB.
>> May 2008 -- I received a letter disqualifying my son from attending.
>> July 2008 -- I met with the school president and staff, non of whom
>> evaluated my son's records.  No person in the meeting could explain the
>> reason for refusing him entry other than the evaluators must have seen
>> something in his records to disqualify him.  They determined that he was
>> Trainable Mentally Handicap and could not answer the question of how they
>> determined this.
>> October 2008 -- I filed a complaint with Florida Department of Education.
>> FDOE determined that FSDB acted unethically and ordered FSDB to show proof
>> of findings.  FSDB refused such saying they no longer had his records and
>> that we need to reapply.  FDOE also ordered FSDB to refrain from using the
>> terminology Trainable Mentally Handicap as it is no longer used in the
>> professional world.
>>
>> Here we are in February of 2009 and FSDB has yet to admit that they used
>> prejudice in evaluating my child and will not accept responsibility of
>> such
>> even after being ordered by FDOE.  FSDB to this day has never seen my son
>> in
>> person.  I contacted several attorney's and learned that FSDB is notorious
>> for being sued and spending millions of dollars to prevent children that
>> are
>> slow learners from attending.  Yes, my son is developmentally delayed.  He
>> was born blind and has very low muscle tone (hypotonia).  FSDB prefers to
>> allow enrollment to those visually impaired children that are most easily
>> educated and to accept deaf children.  They *DO NOT WANT* young totally
>> blind children.  This could possibly impact their bragging rights to
>> success.
>>
>> I have come to the realization the FSDB, a State of Florida public school
>> discriminates against young blind children.  They violate every aspect of
>> IDEA and No Child Left behind.  They accept federal assistance and private
>> donations.  They have a budget of $40 million dollars and only 700
>> children.  They retain a high dollar attorney from Atlanta to keep
>> children
>> out.  This is most blatant case of fraud, waste and abuse I have ever
>> seen.
>> They excuse themselves by saying that they do not have the money nor man
>> power to educate children that have multiple disabilities and those
>> children
>> have other options.  My options are to stay locally and have my child
>> educated by a county that has few blind children and no experience with
>> teaching them or to leave the state to attend a school elsewhere.
>>
>> I never in my mind thought that I would have to fight to get my child
>> accepted to a school for blind children.  These people work for the
>> Governor
>> of Florida, the FSDB board is appointed by Governor Crist.  There in
>> something severely wrong with an organization whose primary mission is to
>> educate blind children and they refuse to do so.
>>
>> My thoughts and prayers go out to all of you that continue to suffer this
>> sort of discrimination in our society.
>>
>> Philip Breeze
>> _______________________________________________
>> blindlaw mailing list
>> blindlaw at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindlaw_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> blindlaw:
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindlaw_nfbnet.org/rjs059%40peoplepc.com
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG.
> Version: 8.0.100 / Virus Database: 270.11.3/1970 - Release Date: 2/24/2009
> 1:35 PM
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Nfbf-l mailing list
> Nfbf-l at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbf-l_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> Nfbf-l:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbf-l_nfbnet.org/thebluesisloose%40gmail.com
>