[Nfbv-announce] Cancellation of the 2019 residential BELL Academy in Virginia

[Sarah Patnaude]

During the January 2019 National Federation of the Blind of Virginia Board of Directors meeting we announced that we were holding a Braille Enrichment for Literacy & Learning (BELL) Academy residential program this summer in Harrisonburg.  Since then, we’ve contacted NFBV chapter presidents and members, all of the parents we could find, teachers and school principals from around the Commonwealth, Virginia Department of the Blind and Vision Impaired staff, leaders of the Association for the Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind (AER)and others. In short, we have emailed and/or called anyone who might connect us with families of children who are blind, those with low vision and those with other disabilities in addition to blindness or low vision. 


 


Unfortunately, to date we have three confirmed attendees and are looking for at least 10 students in order to hold a viable and cost-effective BELL Academy. It is not feasible or practical to hold a program with only 3 students.


 


You may wonder why we are cancelling BELL so early.  In January, we signed a contract with eastern Mennonite University, were we planned to hold the BELL Program.  If we don’t cancel the program soon, we will owe the university a significant cancellation fee.


 


Rest assured that we didn’t make this decision lightly. All of us are committed to the BELL Program and to the families we serve.


 


There are BELL Academies  planned for Washington DC, Maryland and across the country. If you are seeking a BELL academy, please consider one of the other programs found on our national web site.


 


Nancy Yeager, BELL State Coordinator


Beth Sellers, BELL Program Coordinator