Supporters of School for the Blind Fill Assembly Chamber
In many ways, Barbara Seefeld's 17-year-old daughter Wendy
leads a pretty typical teenager's life. She is a cheerleader and a swim
team member. And she scored an impressive 20 on the ACT.
Supporters of the Wisconsin School
for the Visually Handicapped packed the galleries in the State
Assembly chamber. They urged legislators to reject State Superintendent
John Benson's proposal to shut the school down at the end of
this school year. |
But Wendy, who is visually impaired, doesn't attend
a typical high school. She is a student at the Wisconsin School for
the Visually Handicapped in Janesville. If she attended the high school
near her home in Germantown, her mother told legislators at a special
hearing in the Capitol, Wendy would be denied "the normal experiences
of high school" and would "have to endure torments and teasing."
Mrs. Seefeld was among a large and vocal group who filled the State
Assembly chamber in Madison Tuesday (December 16, 1997). She and most
of the others urged the Senate and Assembly Education Committees to
reject a proposal by State Superintendent John Benson to close the School
for the Visually Handicapped at the end of this school year. Teachers
at the school are members of WEAC Council #1.
Benson argues that the school's enrollment has fallen to the point
-- under 70 -- where it is no longer economical to operate the facility.
He says visually handicapped boys and girls can be better served by
their local school districts.
But school supporters, including teachers, students and parents, strongly
disputed that at the hearing. Many said the reason enrollment at the
school has dipped in recent years is that the Department of Public Instruction
has dissuaded parents of visually handicapped students from sending
their children there. The school, they said, provides a wide variety
of important services and programs that many school districts can't
begin to match.
According to the Wisconsin Council for the Blind, 18 school districts
with blind or visually impaired students have no support from a certified
vision instruction, 56 districts have no "orientation and mobility"
instructors, and 35 have no aides available to assist in the education
of blind or visually impaired students.
WSVH teacher Thomas Hanson said his school offers an expanded core
curriculum that includes orientation and mobility training, social interaction
skills, independent living skills, recreation and leisure skills, career
education, use of assistive technology, and visual efficiency skills.
"WSVH offers personal and social growth factors including feeling
of self worth, positive social experiences, opportunities for participation
in extracurricular activities, the development of social maturity and
positive attitude, independence, the future ability to live independently
as an adult, and alleviation of negative social experiences that may
have occurred in the prior public school placement," he said.
Hanson said the school can work as a partner with the student's local
school district to ensure the student receives both specialized and
integrated services.
Cheryl Williams, a vision teacher and orientation and mobility specialist
in the Janesville School District, said in written testimony that the
WSVH serves as an invaluable resource.
"I have little in the way of equipment for the visually impaired,"
she said. "As a result, I have relied on the WSVH for equipment
loans, adapted textbooks, as well as their collaborative expertise in
assessment and teaching approaches. ... I guarantee the cost to my district
will be far greater than any amount of money disseminated to them should
WSVH close."
Mrs. Seefeld said it was a very difficult decision to send Wendy to
the school rather than keeping her at home.
"The question was, what was best for her? Keeping her at a local
school was best for me, where I could watch over her and keep her safe,"
she said. "Allowing her to attend a specialized school, so full
of opportunities for her, so far away ... it was an agonizing decision.
But it was the right decision."
Posted December 16, 1997