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<H1 class=article_headline><A
title="http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/57e782e21bc542cd83c2a256b82f209b/IA--Blind-School-Vinton/
CTRL + Click to follow link"
href="http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/57e782e21bc542cd83c2a256b82f209b/IA--Blind-School-Vinton/">Iowa
school ends residential program after more than century of service to blind
students.</A></H1></FONT></DIV>
<DIV>VINTON, Iowa — The residential program at the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving
School in Vinton has ended after nearly 150 years.</DIV>
<DIV>
<P>The school, which dates back to 1862, has allowed students to live on campus
for academic instruction, life-skills training and social activities, but it is
closing this week is part of a plan to offer more programs across the state. The
state Board of Regents approved recommendations from a study committee last
August, the Gazette reported.</P>
<P>The school's closing ends a historic chapter in Iowa.</P>
<P>"It's very, very sad, really," said Kasey Domer, 18, who lived at the school
this year for the fifth-year program, which teaches students life skills to make
the transition after high school.</P>
<P>Domer has learned to cook, clean, do laundry and even change broken light
bulbs. He will study court reporting at AIB College of Business in Des Moines
this fall.</P>
<P>"It's really proved invaluable," Domer said. "I feel now I have the skills to
confidently live on my own in college. I couldn't have said that before."</P>
<P>The stately campus will continue to house the administrative offices of the
statewide system that serves the state's blind and visually impaired students.
Some short-term and summer residential programs will also be held there.</P>
<P>The transition from the on-site residential school to providing services to
students in their home schools and communities has been an evolution years in
the making, said Patrick Clancy, Braille School superintendent and director of
the statewide system that serves about 500 students.</P>
<P>"My feelings are certainly very mixed," he said. "I do believe that the time
for this change is right. But it isn't without acknowledgment that this is a
significant change."</P>
<P>About $2.2 million was spent on the Braille School residential program this
year. It's enrollment of five was down from 34 students in 2005.</P>
<P>Clancy said the plan is to use much of that funding to hire more teachers and
more orientation and mobility specialists who can work with students in regions
of the state.</P>
<P>The plans, he said, are contingent on funding for next year, which remains
unknown. Some legislative proposals call for a 20 percent cut in spending.</P>
<P>"Our inability to hire these additional people will really hamper our ability
to intensify services," Clancy said.</P>
<P>Leah Morrison, a Waterloo parent who fought to keep the Braille School open,
is not optimistic that the end of the residential program will lead to better
services for students in home communities.</P>
<P>Her son, Julian Herington, 17, just finished his sixth year at the Vinton
school. He will likely attend public school in Waterloo next year.</P>
<P>Morrison said the Braille school gave students "an enormous gift of time" to
learn life skills.</P>
<P>"It's a huge quality difference," she said.</P>
<P>Sylvia Anspach, of Cedar Rapids, hopes the schools closing will free up
resources to better help students in their home schools. Her 14-year-old son is
not a Braille school student and will attend Kennedy High School in the
fall.</P>
<P>She said the teachers and specialists that work with her son are great but
have limited time to work with him because they work with other students in the
region.</P>
<P>"We are frustrated," she said. "I feel for those families who've had their
kids in residential care, I'm sure it's very difficult for them. But for the
majority of kids getting services, they're not able to provide the services they
need to in the communities."</P></DIV></BODY></HTML>