Mark Riccobono Named Director of New Center for the Blind

Mark Riccobono of Oak Creek has been appointed director of the Wisconsin Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Janesville, State Superintendent John T. Benson has announced.

The center, a part of the state Department of Public Instruction, includes the 150-year-old Wisconsin School for the Visually Handicapped in Janesville as one of its components. Teachers at the WSVH are represented by WEAC Council #1.

The center also includes five regional centers that will deliver services to visually impaired students throughout the state. WSVH Superintendent Tom Hanson will report to Riccobono, who began his new duties Monday (June 5, 2000).

Riccobono, who is blind, is president of the National Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin, was founder and president of the Wisconsin Association of Blind Students, and serves on both the Wisconsin Statutory Council on Blindness and the Blind and Visually Impaired Education Council.

He attended Milwaukee Public Schools, graduating from Juneau Business High School, and earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

According to a report in the Janesville Gazette, the regional centers will be located at five existing Cooperative Educational Services Centers: CESA 1 in the Milwaukee area, CESA 11 at Turtle Lake; CESA 6 in the Oshkosh area; CESA 9 at Tomahawk and CESA 5 in the Portage area.

Other parts of the plan include a new program for teacher licensing in visual impairments at Silver Lake College, ensuring that parents of all visually impaired students have Internet access, and providing state-of-the-art equipment, textbooks and other materials. The plan is scheduled to be phased in through 2003 but is subject to change.

Posted June 5, 2000