[Nfbf-l] Fw: [leadership] Fw: Disturbing Article from Oregon

[Paul Kaminsky]

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From: "
To: Florida Rehab Council for the Blind
Sent: Monday, April 13, 2009 9:27 AM
Subject: FW: [leadership] Fw: Disturbing Article 
from Oregon


FYI  Refer to the following article provided by Paul 
Edwards.

Subject: Disturbing Article from Oregon


House panel votes to shut Oregon School for the 
Blind The education committee decides visually 
impaired students should be taught in their home 
communities Budget - Education committee decides 
blind students should attend local schools The 
Oregon School for the Blind should close in August 
and all blind and visually impaired students should 
be educated in their home communities, the House 
Education Committee decided Friday. The vote was 
8-2, with all Democrats and half the committee's 
Republicans voting yes to closing the 135-year-old 
Salem school, which currently enrolls 32 students. 
Only Kim Thatcher, R-Keizer, and Ron Mauer, R-Grants 
Pass, voted no. The closure proposal now heads to 
the Ways & Means Committee for a vote. Lawmakers on 
the education committee heard long hours of 
passionate testimony from students at the school, 
their parents and their teachers about how poorly 
students were served in local schools and how much 
progress they have made at the School for the Blind. 
The school, which boards students during the week, 
spends more than $125,000 per student each year. 
Blind and visually impaired students told horror 
stories of how they were treated in their local 
schools. Along with other members of the committee, 
House Education Chairwoman Sara Gelser, D-Corvallis, 
who has spearheaded the drive to close the school, 
called those cases "appalling," "completely 
unacceptable" and "a violation of state and federal 
law." But she and other committee members said they 
believe students can and will be well-served in 
their communities.

The roughly $3 million a year the state spends to 
run the school will be redirected to improve and 
expand services for blind and visually impaired 
students in local schools.

Saturday, April 11, 2009 The Oregonian

- Education committee decides blind students should 
attend local schools The Oregon School for the Blind 
should close in August and all blind and visually 
impaired students should be educated in their home 
communities, the House Education Committee decided 
Friday. The vote was 8-2, with all Democrats and 
half the committee's Republicans voting yes to 
closing the 135-year-old Salem school, which 
currently enrolls 32 students. Only Kim Thatcher, 
R-Keizer, and Ron Mauer, R-Grants Pass, voted no. 
The closure proposal now heads to the Ways & Means 
Committee for a vote.