[Nfbf-l] Fwd: FSU has Pulled Funding from the Oand M program at FSU and will close the...

[REPCODDS at aol.com]

____________________________________
 From: MisterAdvocate
To: REPCODDS
Sent: 1/26/2009 12:53:37 P.M. Eastern  Standard Time
Subj: FSU has Pulled Funding from the Oand M program at FSU  and will close 
the program



Below is a letter  written by Robert Kelly from the Conklin Center urging 
them not to do  this. 
Please take up the  fight. Call them , write them , Call the  Governor do 
something ,  PLEASE!  
Dwight 
December 5,  2008 
Marcy Driscoll,  Ph.D., Dean 
College of Education 
Florida State University 
P.O.  Box  3064450 
Tallahassee, Fl.  32306-4450 
Dear Dr.  Driscoll, 
The purpose of this correspondence is to stress the importance of FSU’s  
Teacher Education Program in Visual Impairment.  I am the Executive Director of 
the  Conklin Center for the Blind in Daytona Beach.  I also serve as the 
President of the  Florida Association of Agencies Serving the Blind (FAASB); an 
association of  fourteen private not for profit agencies that specialize in 
providing  rehabilitation services to people who are blind and visually  impaired. 
In carrying out our mission, FAASB agencies depend heavily on graduates  of 
FSU’s Program in Visual impairment.   That program is Florida’s only source of 
well trained and  qualified Orientation and Mobility Specialists, 
Rehabilitation Teachers, and  Teachers of the Visually Impaired.  
FAASB’s members,  Florida’s  public schools, and the Florida Division of 
Blind Services are challenged by a  longstanding national shortage of qualified 
personnel in these areas.  That challenge will intensify, with  Florida’s  
rapidly growing elderly population.   FSU’s Program in Visual Impairment, the only 
one of its kind in the  Southeast, is an indispensable resource to meet that 
challenge.   
As with many of us  who depend on public funds for support, I understand that 
FSU anticipates the  possibility of significant funding cuts in the coming 
months. Under these  difficult circumstances, FSU will be forced to look closely 
at its operations  and programs.  As the College of Education examines its 
priorities and  options, I would like to express FAASB’s support for the 
excellent quality of  the professionals produced by the Program in Visual Impairment. 
 We also stress that graduates of that  program are critical to our member 
agencies and to the people we serve.  Without them, the network of education  
and rehabilitation services that enables blind Floridians of all ages to  learn, 
live, and work with dignity would be at risk. 
On behalf of the Florida Association of Agencies Serving the Blind, I  urge 
FSU to continue its commitment to this well run and essential  program. 
Sincerely, 
Robert Kelly,  President 
FAASB

 
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