WHEREAS, the California School for the Blind (CSB) was founded in 1860 in the City of San Francisco to provide a broad spectrum of academic and blindness skills courses for blind students in California, and
WHEREAS, CSB quickly established a high standard of teaching excellence for blind students, a standard maintained through subsequent moves of the school to Berkeley and then to Fremont, and
WHEREAS, we of the blindness community continue to recognize the need for residential schools for the blind because mainstreaming or full inclusion of students in their home school districts allows for far too many of our blind youth to fail to obtain the education they need for success in life, and
WHEREAS, some states are considering combining their residential schools for the blind with other facilities, and
WHEREAS, we believe that this option would be a catastrophic blow to our blind students if attempted in California; now, therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, that this organization urge officials of the California Department of Education to work to expand and improve facilities at the California School for the Blind in order to show their knowledge and recognition of the needs of California's blind students.