[Tn-talk] Schools

[Seay, Michael]

Ann Marie:

	Let me also welcome you to our site & thank you for desiring to
make your new home Tennessee!  We will be delighted to have you join in
the spirit of "volunteerism" that we exhibit along with our unique brand
of hospitality.

	I want to thank Peter for providing contacts for you that I know
will prove valuable to your decision on where to relocate.  I wasn't
aware of the excellent program services in Wilson County but I must say
that I'm extremely pleased to know that since this is where my family
got its start.

	There is not a lot that I can add to Heather's comments.  She is
an advocate for parents & children in their pursuit of fair, equal &
adequate services.  I know that you will be assisted well by her.  I
will also recommend that you contact Lev.  He can give you a different
approach coming from one who has taught as a classroom teacher as well
as an itinerant teacher.  He has also spent most of his time as an
administrator of services specifically to blind children.  He is now
retired but acts as a consultant to Memphis City Schools on issues of
blindness.  The Memphis City School system is the largest district in
the state & at one time had the largest blind student population.

	Finally, the emotions that you express are understandable &
commendable.   There should (& there truly are) parents like you who
only want what's expressed in law & policy.  My hat is off to you &
others who work tirelessly to achieve this goal.  If there's anything
that I or the National Federation of the Blind can do to make your
transition smooth, please don't hesitate to let us know.  Thanks again
for contacting our site.

Mike  --  

-----Original Message-----
From: tn-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:tn-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Ann Marie Deverson
Sent: Sunday, June 10, 2007 10:37 PM
To: Tennessee Talk (NFB of Tennessee Discussion)
Subject: Re: [Tn-talk] Schools

Hi Heather!

Thank you so much for your response.  I get so frustrated with the fact
that blindness is essentially pushed on the back burner by these school
districts.  We had such a fight here in Florida just to get an aide for
our daughter.  We were told that blindness is a "low incidence
disability".  We understand that, but gee, I guess we picked the wrong
disability for our daughter!!  We should have researched better and
picked a disability with a higher incidence!  It is not as if we chose
for our children to have a disability, but to be told that felt like a
smack in the face.  I'm sorry, I just get so upset.  I know there is a
shortage of vision teachers.  I myself would love to go to school to
become a vision teacher, but the closest school in FL that has that
curriculum is about 6 hours away.  I'm going to research mostly where
the Publix stores are located.  I know they are opening 2 in the
Cookeville/Crossville area soon, but when you mentioned Lebanon, that
rang a bell.  I
 guess I have a lot of research to do.   I will let you know where the
Publix stores are located.  I will look at that tomorrow.  I appreciate
your offer of doing some inquiries.  I will get back to you on Monday.  

I thank you so much for all of your help.  I never expected so much help
so soon.  Thank you thank you thank you!!!  :-)

Warmest regards,

Ann Marie Deverson

"H. Field" <missheather at comcast.net> wrote: Dear Ann Marie,
I'm glad you found our website and wrote to us.

Unfortunately, I haven't got lots of good news for you. Schools in TN 
are very patchy in their provision of services to blind students. My 
county, Williamson county (just south of Nashville), did have a good 
program but, because of refusal of the bureaucrats to listen to the 
teachers, they've just lost four top-notch teachers and the program 
is, effectively, in a shambles.

The Davidson county setup isn't bad, this area includes Nashville. 
Also, I've heard that Wilson county, Cities are Watertown, Lebanon and 
Mt. Juliet, has a good program for braille reading students. Like most 
places service quality depends on a number of factors including 
teacher competency and expectations of blind students, attitudes of 
school district officials and district finances.

Perhaps you could give us specific locations where Publix stores are 
located in TN and I could do some more specific enquiring about 
schools for you.

Warmest regards,

Heather Field

President
Middle Tennessee Chapter
National Federation Of The Blind
615-790-9765
president at nfbmidtn.org

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ann Marie Deverson" 

To: 
Sent: Saturday, June 09, 2007 10:42 PM
Subject: [Tn-talk] Schools


Hi,

I'm new to this site, so I'm hoping I'm doing this correctly!!  My 
husband and I are interested in relocating to TN.  I'm trying to 
research the schools for our daughter.  She is going to be 6 and 
entering 1st grade.  She is blind in one eye and the other she has 
@20/360.  She can see large objects and color, but is primarily a 
Braille reader and uses a cane (at least she is supposed to but she 
fights it!!) to travel.  I'm trying to look at the different school 
systems in TN, but can't seem to find much information as far as the 
number of Vision teachers, or O & M instructors if any are available. 
Does anyone have any experience or suggestions for us as to where to 
look?  My husband currently works for Publix, so we are trying to stay 
within an area that he can transfer to a Publix.  Thank you so much 
for any help and suggestions you can give us!!

Ann Marie


---------------------------------
Yahoo! oneSearch: Finally,  mobile search that gives answers, not web 
links.


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