School for the Blind Opens Satellite Office

By Isolde Raftery, The Columbian, Vancouver, Wash.

Mar. 4–The Washington State School for the Blind announced the opening of its first satellite office Monday, in the Tri-Cities.

The one-person office is intended to provide assistance to families and educators in Central and Eastern Washington.

The 2007 Legislature voted to pay for the new office, which is a joint venture between the Vancouver-based state school and Educational Service District offices in Yakima and the Tri-Cities.

The school for the blind, and its partner, the Washington School for the Deaf, endured some criticism in 2006 when a state-commissioned study suggested that the schools be scaled down or closed.

The schools had been criticized for isolating young people from their peers at a time when the trend in education is to place students with disabilities in traditional school environments.

The study also suggested that local public schools could educate blind and deaf students at a lower cost than the state schools.

It determined that it costs $24,228 a year to educate a student at the school for the blind, and that it would cost a public school a little more than $5,000 to do the same job.

At the time, Dean Stenehjem, head of the school for the blind, called the figures misleading.

The school was founded in 1886, and was then called “The Washington School for Defective Youth.” The school’s name was changed in 1905.

The school provides assistance to visually impaired students up to the age of 21. The Vancouver-based campus houses about 45 students and a center where Braille tests and reading materials are produced for use around the state. Teachers trained through the School for the Blind travel throughout the state, providing services to about 1,200 students.

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