Possible task force may study deaf/blind school's future

From: Hampton Roads Daily Press, VA - 01 Mar 2003

By Hugh Lessig
Daily Press

Published March 1, 2003

RICHMOND -- The state Board of Education might soon convene a task force that might finally decide an old issue for the Peninsula: What should happen to the Virginia School for the Deaf, Blind and Multi-Disabled at Hampton?

A few paragraphs tucked away in the final conference report on the state budget, which still must be approved by Gov. Mark R. Warner, calls for a task force to study how to consolidate the Hampton school with a similar school in Staunton. That would concentrate money and people at one site, arguably improving services for all. The issue has been studied for years, but legislators have avoided the politically uncomfortable decision of which school to close.

This year, Del. R. Steven Landes, R-Augusta, pushed a bill that would have closed the Hampton school and kept open the one in Staunton, near his home district. Landes' effort failed, but it prompted a discussion that led to the task force.

One legislator said this could provide the final push toward a resolution.

"As long as I've been down there, this has been a problem," said Del. James H. Dillard II, a Fairfax Republican who first came to Richmond in 1972. "I really think that we've asked them to make a serious recommendation for us. This should be the instrument, if you will, to get them off the dime."

Dillard chairs the Education Committee and is on the Appropriations Committee. He said this effort was different from past legislative studies because it would unite people of different interests in one room.

The Board of Education will convene the task force. It will include at least one board member, the superintendents of the two schools, one parent of a student from each school, mental-health officials, and representatives from state departments that serve people with sight and hearing problems.

The group is to submit its plan by Nov. 1.

Like Dillard, Landes said he hoped that legislators could resolve the issue next year. He's counted more than 20 studies on consolidation or merging - but no progress.

"If nothing else, the issue's not going to die, which it's done in the past," he said. "The way the task force is set up, it's at least allowing each side to have a seat at the table."

The concerns go beyond the students at each school. The Hampton School District leases space at the Hampton campus to operate two programs. One targets 160 underprivileged 4-year-olds. The second is a charter school that helps nearly 250 elementary and secondary students who can't succeed in conventional classrooms.

Hampton Superintendent Allen L. Davis said he didn't oppose consolidation of Hampton and Staunton if that's what was best for the students. But he wants the two programs to remain at the VSDB campus.

The school system has a space problem: It hasn't built a school building since 1976, and it uses 120 portable classrooms.

Not being able to lease the space "would really be a tremendous deficit to our school system," he said.

Davis said he wanted Hampton to be kept in the loop as talks began. The state should do the same for the schools in Staunton and Augusta County, he said.

Each location has its advantages and disadvantages. One argument against Hampton is geography - the Peninsula isn't a central location. Neither is Staunton, but its location north and west of Charlottesville is better for students coming from Northern and Southwest Virginia, Landes says.

If the state consolidated at Staunton, taxpayers would save $1.8 million a year, a legislative analysis of Landes' failed bill indicated.

Those savings would be offset - at least, at first - by expenses rung up in additional equipment, payouts to laid-off Hampton employees and structural improvements at the Staunton school. The net cost to taxpayers would be $2 million in 2004 and $2.2 million the next year, the analysis indicated.

Hugh Lessig can be reached at (804) 225-7345 or by e-mail at hlessig@dailypress.com

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