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

[Sherri]

A very sad situation! Sometimes, residential schools are still the best 
choice.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Paul Kaminsky" <pkaminsky at bellsouth.net>
To: "NFB of Florida Listserv" <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, April 13, 2009 10:19 AM
Subject: [Nfbf-l] Fw: [leadership] Fw: Disturbing Article from Oregon


>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> 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.
>
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