New York State School for the Blind

CURRENT FUNCTIONS. The New York State School for the Blind is a state-owned school operated through the State Education Department. Located in Batavia, New York, the school may receive legally blind children for enrollment from the minimum age of admission at five years old, until the course of study is complete or until 21 years of age (preschool through high school programs). Blind residents of the state of suitable age and capacity for instruction are eligible, and appointments are made through the Commissioner of Education. The school provides a total program to meet the needs of blind students on social, psychological, and academic levels with living skills to prepare them to become contributing citizens in society. In addition to serving legally blind students, specialized programming is offered to the blind multiple-handicapped. The school is goverened by a seven-member Board of Visitors appointed by the governor.

ORGANIZATIONAL HISTORY. The school was originally established as the New York State Institution for the Blind by Chapter 587 of the Laws of 1865. Under that law the governor appointed commissioners to select a site, to contract for construction of school buildings, and to lease a building temporarily until construction was completed. Initially repairs were made to a former seminary in Binghamton, New York, but opening of the new school was delayed. In the meantime, research was done on education of the blind, visits were made around the country to schools for the blind, and school operating policies were set in place. Upon completion of buildings in Batavia, New York, the institution opened in September 1868, with an enrollment of 65 pupils.

Application for admission to the institution was made to a justice of the Supreme Court or the Court of Common Pleas, or to a county judge in the county in which the applicant resided. Placement of indigent pupils from the counties was proportional and based on the ratio of the county's blind population to the total blind population of the state. From the school's inception preference was given to the blind children of those who died in military service or from wounds or injuries "received during the current rebellion" (i.e. the Civil War), and this policy continues to this day.

Trustees appointed by the governor took charge of the institution after its completion, and had the power to make rules and regulations for the transaction of business and to manage the institution. They appointed the superintendent, treasurer, and other officers and employees. The trustees were required to "keep full and complete records of all their proceedings, and also of the business and daily transactions of [the institution] in books to be provided for that purpose..." and to report annually to the legislature.

Laws of 1867 (Chapter 744) and 1873 (Chapter 463) defined the objectives of the institution and provided for its management. According to Chapter 744, the primary object of the school was to furnish the blind children of the state with "the best known facilities for acquiring a thorough education, and train them in some useful profession or manual art..." by which they might contribute to their own support after leaving school. The abiding concept was that blind students could and should become self supporting. To that end emphasis was placed on academic and vocational development, physical progress, and the "wise use of leisure" (the first boy scout troop for the blind was organized in Batavia in 1913). The school was "in no sense an asylum for those helpless from age, infirmity. . . or a hospital for the treatment of blindness."

The law stated that all blind persons of suitable age and status (i.e. legal state residents) were entitled to the "privileges" of the institution without charge. Application was made to the board of trustees, with a certificate of residency provided by the relevant county judge. Under the law the state treasurer paid quarterly installments of general state appropriations to the institution; specific appropriations for building and other purposes were paid as needed.

That law (and as amended in Chapter 463 of Laws of 1873) also provided that the trustees could furnish clothing, pay travel expenses, or defray burial expenses of indigent pupils, and charge the cost to the county to which the pupil belonged. The trustees could also remove a blind student to the care of the overseers of the poor in his/her township. The trustees were required to furnish annual itemized accounts against the counties of such authorized expenditures. These were forwarded to the county board of supervisors chargeable with the account, who in turn would direct the county treasurer to pay the amount charged to the treasurer of the institution.

The Institution for the Blind was renamed the New York State School for the Blind by Chapter 563 of the Laws of 1895.

The school was continued under the jurisdiction of the State Education Department by Chapter 153 of the Laws of 1927. A Board of Visitors (seven year term) was appointed by the governor with the consent of the senate. The law authorized the department to purchase "all furniture, apparatus and other supplies necessary" to equip and operate the school in the most efficient manner. It also continued the procedures by which the department charged back to the counties many expenses it incurred, when such expenses were not met by parents, guardians, or friends of the blind students. These included costs of clothing and traveling expenses; necessary burial expenses of any student at the school; and costs of an "outfit of machinery and tools for commencing business" offered by the department to "worthy poor pupils" upon leaving the school.

Further, under the law all money appropriated for the school or derived from other sources in the course of its administration were to be "expended upon vouchers approved by the Commissioner of Education, when and in the manner authorized by the Board of Regents." Finally, the department was also given power and authority to grant the Village of Batavia "a license to lay, construct and maintain as part of the general sewer system... a sewer or sewers in, through, under and along the lands of [the school]."

In 1940 (Chapter 150) the term of appointments to the Board of Visitors was changed. That law amended Chapter 140 of the Laws of 1910 and Chapter 153 of the Laws of 1927. One member was thereafter appointed annually by the governor for a seven year period. Other requirements stated that two of the appointees must be residents of Genesee County, and that the majority of the board must reside within 50 miles of the school.

Throughout the decades the school maintained a commitment to provide both academic and vocational skills. Courses of study typically included: piano tuning; poultry raising; music; commercial/secretarial (typing, dictaphone); industrial arts for boys and girls (weaving, sewing, furniture making, factory/assembly operations); and homemaking. In more recent times the school has continued to provide comprehensive educational programs and residential services, including Intermediate Care Facility Units, for school aged blind multihandicapped pupils.

In the 1970s many children whose only disability was blindness were mainstreamed in their communities and attended local schools. This mirrored a period of transition for the school, when students increasingly showed a variety of disabilities in addition to blindness. The Board of Regents confirmed the school's mission to educate the legally blind multiply handicapped, and the 1980s saw state investment in construction and renovation of the school's property to meet the needs of its changing population.

The school has continued to provide comprehensive educational programs and residential services, including 24-hour Intermediate Care Facility Units, for school aged blind multi-handicapped pupils. Its Resource Center serves visually impaired students throughout New York State. The focus remains on providing life skills, stimulating impaired natural development, helping the legally blind make use of limited sight, and working toward individual levels of independence and accomplishment.