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The Braille Monitor 9505
THE BRAILLE MONITOR
May, 1995
Barbara Pierce, Editor
Published in inkprint, Braille, on talking-book disc,
and cassette by
THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
MARC MAURER, PRESIDENT
National Office
1800 Johnson Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21230
* * * *
Letters to the President, address changes,
subscription requests, orders for NFB literature,
articles for the Monitor, and letters to the Editor
should be sent to the National Office.
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Monitor subscriptions cost the Federation about twenty-five
dollars per year. Members are invited, and non-members are
requested, to cover the subscription cost. Donations should be
made payable to National Federation of the Blind and sent to:
National Federation of the Blind
1800 Johnson Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21230
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THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND IS NOT AN ORGANIZATION
SPEAKING FOR THE BLIND--IT IS THE BLIND SPEAKING FOR THEMSELVES
ISSN 0006-8829 THE BRAILLE MONITOR
A PUBLICATION OF THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
CONTENTS
MAY, 1995
PERSONAL COMMENTS AND AN OVERVIEW
by Barbara Pierce
THE FALL OF RICHARD UMSTED
by Barbara Pierce
THE PATTERN AND PRACTICE OF ABUSE
by Barbara Pierce
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BUT NOT FOR CONSUMPTION AT ISVI
BEYOND THE FALL: AFTER-SHOCKS AND SIGNS OF PROMISE
by Barbara Pierce
UMSTED WITHDRAWS FROM ALABAMA INSTITUTE JOB SEARCH
MARYLAND SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND ON THE HOT SEAT:
ANOTHER NAC AGENCY IN SERIOUS TROUBLE
by Barbara Pierce
SIXTY-NINE MEMBERS AND FALLING: THE NAC COUNT-DOWN CONTINUES
by Barbara Pierce
RECIPES
MONITOR MINIATURES
The Braille Monitor copyright (c) 1995, National Federation of
the Blind.
[LEAD PAGE PHOTO: Caption: For well over a century the Illinois
School for the Visually Impaired has educated the state's blind
children. In recent months discoveries have been made of serious
problems at the institution. This issue of the Braille Monitor is
devoted in large part to an examination of these problems.
Pictured here is the main administration building at ISVI.]
PERSONAL COMMENTS AND AN OVERVIEW
by Barbara Pierce
For nearly seven years now I have been covering stories and
writing about blindness issues and the problems of blind people
for the Braille Monitor. Almost without exception the most
personally painful of these have been the scandals at some of the
nation's most prominent residential schools for the blind. The
first was the repeated abuse and ultimate death by scalding of a
multiply-handicapped blind child at the Florida School for the
Deaf and Blind (March, 1989). Then came the series of shoddy
practices uncovered at the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and
Blind (February, 1990). Most recently there were the spankings of
staff and students at the Arkansas School for the Blind,
underscored by the fact that Superintendent Leonard Ogburn did
not even contest the truth of the charges.
Both the distress and the anger many of us have felt at
learning about such events arises from the very innocence and
helplessness of the young victims of the outrages. And when
instead of articulating similar outrage and absolute refusal to
countenance such behavior, school officials attempt to hide it or
explain it away, the patience of decent people snaps. The school
personnel caught in these scandals seem bewildered by the outcry
and furious that their mistakes and lapses in judgment could (as
they see it) have been so badly misconstrued and misunderstood.
They assure us that there have always been unpleasant
problems at residential schools and that it is nearly impossible
to hire conscientious, responsible staff members today at the low
wages necessitated by tight budgets. There is undoubtedly some
truth to both these statements. Few people would be naive enough
to suppose that the incidents at the headline-making schools are
the only problems that have occurred at the nation's residential
schools in recent years.
In fact, the Ohio State School for the Blind felt compelled
to fire a teacher last summer when officials learned that a
number of young women students had accused him of trapping one in
a storage closet and inappropriately fondling all of them and
bringing the lower part of his torso into firm contact with
various portions of their bodies. This alleged behavior had
continued over a number of years; but when it became known, the
school moved as quickly as possible to distance itself from the
teacher and his alleged actions and to do what it could to bring
him to justice. Unfortunately, from the perspective of the blind
community in Ohio, when the case came to trial, the teacher was
found not guilty of the charges by a jury which had apparently
been persuaded by the defense attorney's argument that blind
students require closer and more intimate contact by their
teachers in order to feel affirmed and accepted. An attempt is
now afoot to force the school to rehire the teacher, but the
school seems to be doing what it can to resist this effort. The
point of this digression is to illustrate that, even though
fallible human beings will continue to engage in morally
reprehensible acts, many residential school officials are capable
of demonstrating courage, of insisting that justice be done, and
of working to protect their students.
Now, yet another residential school for the blind is in the
spotlight. This issue of the Monitor is devoted in large part to
examining some of the deeply distressing incidents that have been
reported to have occurred during almost two decades at the
Illinois School for the Visually Impaired (ISVI). The reports
have been painful and disturbing to research and difficult to
write. They will undoubtedly be distressing to read as well. We
must resist the temptation to write off the Illinois School as an
evil place in which unspeakable things have happened to innocent
disabled children. There are dedicated, compassionate members of
the ISVI staff, some of whom have risked their jobs to talk with
the Braille Monitor about what has happened. There are parents
who are living through the nightmare of trying to help children
who have been damaged by experiences of which they had had no
knowledge. And there are blind children who continue to need a
sound and healthy residential school in which to learn. There is
plenty of blame and bad judgment to go around, and though some of
those responsible have already lost their jobs, many close to the
situation believe that a number of the people responsible for the
suffering and cover-ups that have gone on for years are still
employed and are still exerting pressure to keep their
subordinates silent.
The following pages are our best attempt comprehensibly and
accurately to tell the story as people have told it to us. There
are no easy or simple explanations for what has happened. Our
hope is that, by opening the situation to the light of day, we
can encourage the necessary reforms. By and large, with the
exception of senior school and Department of Rehabilitation
Services officials, we have chosen to identify the parents who
appear in these stories by letters of the alphabet and the
children by fictitious names. Those close to the ISVI situation
may recognize the families involved, but we see no reason to
cause more embarrassment and pain to the children and parents
than have already occurred. We have followed this practice even
in the cases of those who would have been happy to have their
real names used. We have decided to use the name of the parent
whose name has already been identified in published news stories,
and we have used the names of lower-echelon staff members if
there seems to be significant evidence of their misconduct or if
they have been identified in documents already made public.
Many people have made it possible for us to tell this story:
employees and friends of the school who care deeply for the
institution and want to see it healthy and able once more to
serve the blind children of Illinois, parents who feel that their
trust has been betrayed by school and rehabilitation officials,
and public officials who have wanted help in seeing that justice
is done. Federationist Harold Snider and his wife Linda spent
nearly two weeks in down-state Illinois gathering evidence and
working to unearth the truth. Without the effort and commitment
of all these people and their eagerness to see the truth come out
at last, there would have been no story and there would still be
no hope. As it is, there are at least small signs that positive
changes are occurring.
[Photo #1 A fairly empty, cracked, concrete parking lot in front
of a one story grocery store building. Caption: The IGA
supermarket where Richard Umsted now works]
THE FALL OF RICHARD UMSTED
by Barbara Pierce
On Friday, July 8, 1994, the Illinois Department of
Rehabilitation Services (DORS) announced that Dr. Richard Umsted,
Superintendent of the Illinois School for the Visually Impaired
(ISVI), had been placed on paid administrative leave following an
internal DORS investigation which had uncovered irregularities in
Umsted's management of an alleged incident in which a little boy
was sexually assaulted by an older ISVI student. Both the
internal investigation and the state police investigation which
DORS had requested in early June indicated that the sixteen-year-
old student had previously inappropriately touched two female
students and assaulted as many as three other boys, plus the
little boy already mentioned, who had been on campus in May of
1994 for evaluation.
By late August DORS officials were convinced that in a
number of instances Dr. Umsted and his staff had failed to notify
DORS, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services
(DCFS), or the parents of the children after incidents of sexual
abuse. Then on Tuesday, August 23, Audrey McCrimon, Executive
Director of DORS, fired Umsted and permanently reassigned Mary
Kamnick, director of residential services, to duties at DORS in
Springfield, away from the school. Michael Jacoby, assistant
superintendent and senior public service administrator, had
already been granted medical leave until June of 1995 because of
long-standing psychiatric problems. At the end of his leave he
will become eligible for early retirement.
Though DORS did its best to keep the messy details quiet,
the downfall of Richard Umsted sent shock waves through the
community of Jacksonville and around the state. Dr. Umsted was a
member of the local school board and a prominent member of area
civic and religious organizations. In July of 1994 the minister
of Umsted's church wrote a letter to the editor of the local
Jacksonville newspaper protesting what had been done to his
friend and parishioner and organized a letter-writing campaign to
the Governor on Umsted's behalf. There are still many in
Jacksonville who respect Umsted and maintain that he is, and
always was, incapable of any such misdeed or lapse in moral
judgment as the ones charged. Several past and present employees
of ISVI also made it clear to the press that they could not
credit reports of Umsted's malfeasance. Others, however, told
reporters that Dr. Umsted frequently sought to protect the good
name of the school by seeing that reports of student problems
were not filed in the first place as required by law or were made
to disappear. One employee estimated for the Braille Monitor that
ninety percent of the school staff was relieved at Umsted's
departure and that it had taken the work of many people to get
the three senior ISVI officials removed but that there were more
who needed to go if ISVI were ever to regain its integrity.
So where does the truth lie? Let us begin by reporting, as
best we can determine what actually happened on May 4, 1994, and
in the weeks that followed.
On May 2 a little boy we will call Timmy was brought by his
mother, Mrs. A, to ISVI for ten days of evaluation. Timmy, who
was nine, was blind and had, according to his mother, reached the
developmental age of about two and a half. She says that the
family had once before considered and then rejected placement at
ISVI because they had not been impressed with either the physical
facility or the level of stimulation and education they had
observed in the class Timmy would have joined. But Timmy was
continuing to fall further and further behind his age group, and
his public school teachers had suggested that it might be time to
consider ISVI again in the hope that the staff there could do
more to stimulate Timmy than his local school was doing.
Mrs. A later commented to the Braille Monitor that her only
real fear at leaving her son alone in a strange setting had been
that someone might hurt or molest him without his being able to
tell her what had happened to him. But she left him, and the
staff began his evaluation.
At lunch time on Wednesday, May 4, a staff member took Timmy
to the bathroom and placed him on the toilet, and then left him
alone for what she later officially reported was no more than
three or four minutes. During that time a sixteen-year-old
student, whom we will call Bill, entered the rest room and,
according to his statement afterwards, took down his own pants,
put Timmy on the floor, and lay on top of him, placing his penis
between Timmy's legs.
According to the school's official anecdotal report of the
incident, another student entered the room at this point and saw
what was happening. He immediately ran to report it to the staff
member who had left Timmy alone. When she entered the room, Timmy
was back on the toilet, though he was shaking and obviously
upset, and Bill was in another stall.
Fortunately for Timmy, a child care worker almost
immediately made the mandatory call to the Illinois Department of
Children and Family Services hotline. This action was required by
state law, but according to a number of sources close to the
school, such calls were often not made at ISVI. Since the call
had been made in this case, however, the DCFS-mandated procedure
was carried out. Two staff members were fairly quickly assigned
to take Timmy to the emergency room at Jacksonville's Passavant
Hospital, where he was seen first by a male nurse and then by a
physician. As noted in the ISVI social worker's written report,
the hospital staff explained to him that in cases of possible
sexual assault, they were required to collect several specimens
but that in order to do so from a child they needed permission
from the parents. One of the two ISVI staff members called the
school and explained that someone there would have to call and
inform Timmy's parents about what had happened and ask them to
call the emergency room to give their permission for the medical
procedures. Hours passed. It became clear, as the social worker's
report indicates, that school officials wanted the test results
in hand, or at least to have some more definitive medical
information, before making the call to Mr. and Mrs. A.
Eventually, at 5:55 p.m., according to a letter that the A's
later wrote to Illinois Governor Jim Edgar, the nurse took the
initiative and placed a call to the A's, explaining that the
doctor was waiting for parental permission before completing the
necessary medical procedures to collect samples for sexual
assault testing. When the nurse realized that Mrs. A didn't know
what he was talking about, he explained what had happened to
Timmy and called the doctor to the phone to talk with the A's.
Having given their permission for sample collection, the A's
started the long drive to the school, and Timmy was soon allowed
to return to his cottage to wait for them.
Even though, as several people close to the situation later
admitted, everyone at the school knew that Bill had engaged in a
number of sexual attacks on other students in the past, the A's
say that they were repeatedly assured that evening that nothing
like this had ever before happened at the school. According to
Mrs. A, the investigating police officer and a senior residential
care worker both made a point of telling her that this was a
first. Mrs. A reported that the school official, Polly Williams,
described to the A's the way she had held Timmy while the blood
sample was drawn and had comforted him, though in fact the social
worker's official report of the incident shows that she had not
been at the hospital at all. She also later told the Braille
Monitor reporter that she had called both the A's and Mr. A's
parents that afternoon. It is possible that a call was placed to
the home of the A's after they left for Jacksonville. Mr. A
confirmed that his parents were called after he and Mrs. A had
left for ISVI, but both the A's maintain that the only call they
themselves received was from the hospital almost four hours after
Timmy had arrived in the emergency room. The A's were not
reassured by what they heard and saw at the school. They packed
Timmy's things and left, having talked with school officials and
police and made clear their intention to press charges.
In the following days the A's say they were dismayed to
learn that school officials had made the decision not to test the
samples collected from Timmy. The A's report that they were
furious at this decision and were unclear about exactly who had
made it. They were, of course, concerned about possible disease
in Timmy as well as how deep the trauma he had suffered might be.
They report that they tried on several occasions to contact DCFS
to learn about the progress on the sexual assault investigation
and were finally told that it had been closed and no charges were
being brought.
Before going further, we should say something about the
calls that were and were not made on the afternoon of the
incident. An ISVI staff member reports overhearing Polly Williams
report the incident to Dr. Umsted fairly early that afternoon. He
was involved with visitors on campus that day and was dividing
his time between school business and the requirements of the
institution's guests. According to this staff member, Umsted
clearly instructed Williams to call DCFS. Mrs. Williams told the
Braille Monitor that Mary Kamnick, who was at the time director
of residential services and who, according to Umsted, was the
official actually charged with seeing that in such cases both the
parents and DCFS were notified, directly countermanded Umsted's
order to her to report the incident to DCFS. Whether Kamnick also
told Williams to postpone calling the parents until test results
were available, or whether Williams simply dreaded doing the job
and put it off until it was too late to catch them at home, is
hard to tell. When asked to comment about the slowness of the
school's response that day and the reported failure to do so in
other cases, Richard Umsted explained that, while he was
superintendent, the senior school official in each division was
responsible for making such calls. He says that he himself did
not make such calls. He went on to say that the staff member who
was to have made the calls had, as far as he knew, never been
reprimanded for failure to do so, and she was still employed. But
whether this statement referred to Mary Kamnick or Polly Williams
was not clear.
Meanwhile, about two weeks after the attack on Timmy, the
A's report that they received an anonymous call from a member of
the residential staff at ISVI. The caller expressed fear of
losing his or her job but said that a cover-up was going on and
that the A's were not being told all the facts. The caller gave
Mrs. A the names and phone numbers of two other parents and made
the strong suggestion that she call them and learn what they
could tell her. When Mrs. A made the calls, she reports that she
learned of two previous incidents in which Bill had forced
himself on students--one another boy and the other a teenage
girl.
According to the A's, they then decided to do what they
could to see that what had happened to their son would not happen
to anyone else because of a cover-up. Mrs. A said that all three
families believed that, if proper steps had been taken in the
earlier cases, Timmy would not have been hurt. The A's knew
Illinois Governor Jim Edgar and his wife Brenda. They wrote a
detailed letter to their friends the Edgars and asked that the
Governor see that such a thing not happen at ISVI again. Members
of the governor's staff later reported to the Braille Monitor
that he was furious, both about what had happened to Timmy and
about ISVI efforts to cover it up. He ordered that the Department
of Rehabilitation Services undertake an investigation
immediately.
Shortly thereafter DORS officials told the A's that the
decision had been made to have Timmy's samples tested after all
and that the results indicated that the assault had not been
completed. In talking to the Braille Monitor, the A's said that
they were relieved to learn this information but that Timmy was
still suffering the effects of his experience. When he returned
to his school and walked into his class for the first time after
the ISVI experience, his teacher reported to the A's that he
said, "Timmy A is dead." For sometime after his return he also
resisted entering the faculty rest room at school, the facility
he had always used because of his need for teacher assistance.
This year he is in a new class setting, and he is making some
progress, but his parents have absolutely decided that he will
remain at home until they can be certain that the Illinois School
for the Visually Impaired has been completely cleaned up. To her
everlasting credit, Mrs. A has agreed to serve as a member of the
ISVI Advisory Council and is doing what she can to improve things
for the blind students who attend the institution.
There in summary is the proximate cause of Richard Umsted's
firing. When news of what had happened and of the subsequent
investigations began to leak out, the story was covered all over
the state. Here is a representative sample which appeared in the
July 16, 1994, edition of the Charleston, Illinois, Times-
Courier:
State Police Probing Assault of Local Boy
at ISVI Campus
by Amy Carnes
The handling of an alleged student-to-student sexual assault
at the Illinois School for the Visually Impaired has resulted in
a state police probe and suspension of the school's top
administrator.
A Charleston woman said her seven-year-old son was sexually
assaulted by an older student in May while he was visiting the
Jacksonville residential campus for a two-week evaluation. She
believes the case was mishandled by school officials.
The Illinois Department of Rehabilitation in Springfield has
concluded an internal investigation of the matter, according to
spokeswoman Melissa Skilbeck. She said she could not release the
findings of the inquiry because a state police investigation is
pending as officials conduct interviews with school employees and
others.
"We are quite literally in the middle of a state police
investigation and are in a position where we are dealing with
minors," she said, explaining why she could not give out
additional information.
Skilbeck did not know when the police inquiry would be
completed.
Although no details of the department's investigation have
been made public, some action has been taken. Last week Audrey
McCrimon, Director of the Department of Rehabilitation Services,
placed the superintendent of the school, Richard Umsted, on paid
administrative leave.
In a press release, McCrimon said she made the decision "due
to a state police investigation of serious allegations concerning
his performance as superintendent of the ISVI. While Dr. Umsted
is on administrative leave, he will remain off campus and be
relieved of all his duties as superintendent."
The mother said she believes Umsted should be permanently
removed from the superintendent's position, which he has held for
more than twenty years.
"There needs to be some major changes in the administration
of the school," she said. "They are so accustomed to lying and
covering up--they're still doing it over there.
"We're not after the boy (who allegedly assaulted their
son)," she said. "We're upset with the system."
The ISVI would not discuss the matter and referred all
questions to the Department of Rehabilitation Services.
The mother said she first found out about the incident when
she received a call from the Jacksonville hospital seeking
permission to treat her son. She said ISVI officials never
contacted her.
The mother said she has since learned of three other
student-to-student sexual assaults at ISVI, two of which were
supposedly committed by the same youth she claims assaulted her
son.
An anonymous call from one of the school's residential care
workers led to her awareness of the other incidents.
The mother said the other alleged student-to-student sexual
assaults were covered up and not reported to medical or law
enforcement officials.
The boy who allegedly assaulted her son is a sixteen-year-
old visually impaired student with cerebral palsy.
ISVI has 130 students ranging in age from three to twenty-
one. In addition to visual problems, some of the residents have
other disabilities, said Harold Klopowitz of the Department of
Rehabilitation.
"Many people who are blind are mainstreamed (into public
schools)," he said. "Multiple disabilities is why they end up at
ISVI."
State Representative Mike Weaver, R-Ashmore, said he was not
aware of any student-to-student sexual assaults occurring at
ISVI.
"If that, in fact, is happening, the management of the
school and the agency are going to have to take some pretty harsh
steps," he said.
There you have the story as it was being reported
immediately following Richard Umsted's placement on
administrative leave, but events are almost always more complex
than they appear at first glance. Who is Dr. Richard Umsted? What
was the character of his administration at the Illinois School
for the Visually Impaired? And what is known of the management
team with which he surrounded himself? Information on all these
things is necessary to an understanding of what happened and
continues to happen at ISVI.
Richard Umsted taught in several schools for the blind
before enrolling in the Peabody doctoral program at Vanderbilt
University in Nashville, Tennessee. After earning his Ed.D., he
returned to teach at Northern Illinois University before assuming
the responsibilities of Superintendent at the Illinois School for
the Visually Impaired in 1976. He and his family have been part
of the Jacksonville community ever since.
Dr. Umsted's supporters cite his active participation in
community organizations as an indication of his value as a
citizen. According to a number of ISVI employees and supporters,
he has been a member of several area churches, an active Lion and
United Way volunteer, a member of the Jacksonville Chamber of
Commerce, and an elected member of the District 117 School Board.
He is the recipient of the Melvin Jones Award, said to be the
highest award in Lionism. According to one member of the local
Lions club, a club nominates its candidate for this award; and if
he is chosen, the club pays the $1,000 price of the award.
According to this source, Umsted approached his club's leadership
and offered to cover the cost of the award if the club would
nominate him. Dr. Umsted's explanation of this event when
questioned by the Braille Monitor was that his wife and children
wanted to do something to show their appreciation and devotion,
so they offered to reimburse the club for the cost of the award.
A member of the local Lions Club also complained that Dr.
Umsted's perfect attendance record at Lions meetings was achieved
by often dropping by the meeting for a cup of coffee during the
ten-minute period when the roll was taken.
In fact a number of those with whom we spoke commented in
various ways concerning Dr. Umsted's failure to participate in
ISVI campus events and said that he spent very little time at
extracurricular activities. A number of people commented that
Umsted did not know the students' names unless they were sports
stars or trouble-makers or unless their parents were active in
school affairs. When asked about these allegations, Dr. Umsted
explained that he had children of his own and a family life to
maintain, that a job like his could consume one if limits were
not drawn, and that he had looked in on as many school activities
as he could.
From the time of dismissal to the date of the writing of
this article, Richard Umsted has continued to receive
considerable personal and public support from a number of friends
and acquaintances in the Jacksonville community. Here is a story
that appeared in the Jacksonville Journal-Courier on July 12,
1994 just four days after Umsted was suspended:
Colleagues Defend ISVI Chief's Work
Many Express Disbelief at Suspension
by Lisa Kernek
The superintendent of the Illinois School for the Visually
Impaired has been a strong leader for a troubled school,
according to past and present colleagues.
Past and present employees reacted with disbelief to the
suspension Saturday of Richard Umsted, whose handling of alleged
student-to-student sexual contact is being investigated by State
Police. The employees credited Dr. Umsted with saving the school,
on more than one occasion, from closing, and with working long
hours and acting in the best interests of students.
One critic said he is a weak disciplinarian.
But, "No matter what he does, he's bound to run into
trouble," one defender, a former teacher who spoke on condition
of anonymity, said, "We're dealing with a very volatile
population of students."
Some students at the residential campus suffer mental
handicaps or behavioral problems as well as visual problems.
The investigation of Dr. Umsted centers on his handling of a
student's alleged sexual assault on a child visiting the campus
for an evaluation.
"These things go on and it's unfortunate, but it's life,"
Judy Williams, a social studies teacher, said. "I think this is
being unfairly put on (Dr. Umsted)."
Department of Rehabilitation Services spokeswoman Melissa
Skilbeck said the agency stands by the suspension.
During periods of declining enrollment at the School for the
Visually Impaired, as growing numbers of handicapped children
attended mainstream schools, state officials considered closing
the campus, said one retired employee who spoke on condition his
name not be used. Dr. Umsted organized letter-writing campaigns
that saved it, the employee said.
"In saving the school, he saved my pension," the employee
said.
But another former colleague, who also spoke on condition of
anonymity, said that Dr. Umsted was "weak on discipline."
"There was things that happened that he didn't report (to
the police) because he didn't want to put his name on the block,"
the employee said.
Dr. Umsted, reached at his home, referred all questions to
the Department of Rehabilitation Services.
However, a school employee speaking on condition of
anonymity said police may have investigated incidents without the
knowledge of everyone on campus. In the past police have sent
officers in plain clothes to the campus, the source said.
The Department of Rehabilitation Services has concluded an
internal investigation begun in May, Ms. Skilbeck said. State
Police, who began investigating last month, interviewed school
employees Monday, and state officials say they don't know how
long that phase of the investigation will take.
That is what the Jacksonville newspaper said. Yet it was far
from being all beer and skittles for Umsted and his supporters.
While the latter were organizing letter-writing campaigns and
letters to the editor, other people were beginning to consider
the implications of what was being revealed by the
investigations. On July 27, 1994, and again on August 31, 1994,
the Jacksonville Journal-Courier, which according to residents of
the community had been a strong supporter of ISVI and Richard
Umsted in the past, ran editorials that reflected a deep concern
for the school for the blind and for the community of
Jacksonville and its public schools. Here they are:
Umsted Should Take Leave From School Board
Results of Investigation Would Determine Return
Dr. Richard Umsted should ask the Jacksonville School Board
to excuse him from further service until the investigation of his
conduct as superintendent of the Illinois School for the Visually
Impaired is completed. As sad as is the situation Dr. Umsted
finds himself in, there really is no other logical course
available to him if our students are to be properly serviced.
We won't go into the details of the investigation here [the
editorial continues] except to say they revolved around some very
serious charges concerning care and protection of students and
visitors at ISVI. Illinois Department of Rehabilitation Services
officials viewed the charges with such alarm that they called in
the state police to give the matter a complete review.
That said, and giving Dr. Umsted his due to a presumption of
innocence in all respects, it nonetheless appears that the best
course Dr. Umsted could take relative to his continued service on
the school board is to take a sort of leave of absence until the
air is clear. The work of school board members--and of the school
board as a whole--is too sensitive and too important to allow for
any questions of the sort being investigated to attach to either
individual board members or to the board as a whole.
We've known Dr. Umsted ever since he came to Jacksonville
and have watched with much approval as he's worked hard for his
school and as he's built it into a much finer institution than it
was when he took over. The last thing we want to see is his good
name impeached, but, as long as there are questions of the sort
described above being investigated, he must for the time being
step aside from his duties as a school board member.
Let's all hope the investigations are ended soon and that
Dr. Umsted is quickly restored to his post as ISVI superintendent
and then as a member of our hard-working school board. Until that
time, we trust he'll do what's right and will take a leave from
our school board.
The second editorial appeared a week after the DORS
announcement of Dr. Umsted's actual firing. Here is the August 31
editorial:
Dr. Umsted Should Quit School Board
District 117 Attorney Also Faces Conflict
Despite District 117 Superintendent Robert Freeman's efforts
to suggest otherwise, Dr. Richard Umsted's continued presence on
the school board constitutes a serious problem for the district.
Dr. Umsted was fired last week from his job as
superintendent of the Illinois School for the Visually Impaired
after an investigation concluded that he had failed to report to
his superiors cases of repeated sexual abuse involving students.
Dr. Freeman said Dr. Umsted "has been a very effective
member of the board. I think he could continue to be."
Sorry, Dr. Freeman, but we disagree.
As we have written previously, this was not just some
bureaucratic oversight by Dr. Umsted, but a failure to carry out
the first duty of any educator, to protect students from harm.
Further, the parents of at least one student who was the victim
of what amounted to a sexual assault apparently were not notified
by the school about what had happened to their son.
Those failures forever compromise Dr. Umsted's role as a
maker and enforcer of sensible educational policy. How can
parents and students of the District 117 public schools have
faith that Dr. Umsted will act in their best interest when it is
clear that he failed to do so for the parents and students at
ISVI?
Clouding things further is this: Dr. Umsted is represented
by Jacksonville attorney Larry Kuster, who also provides legal
counsel for the District 117 Board of Education.
That creates a conflict for Mr. Kuster, who should have
declined to represent Dr. Umsted or given up--at least
temporarily--his position as counselor to the district.
It's a mess, isn't it?
The best advice we can offer Dr. Umsted is to do what is
right and resign his seat on the District 117 Board of Education
immediately. That would eliminate Mr. Kuster's looming conflict
of interest and reassure parents and students of the district
that the school board places their concerns above all others.
That is the August 31 editorial, and it indicates the
changing mood of the Jacksonville community. From information
provided by parents who were interviewed by the police during
July and August, 1994, it is now clear that by late August Audrey
McCrimon, Director of the Department of Rehabilitation Services,
was in possession of too much damaging evidence to do anything
but fire Richard Umsted. Through the years student-against-
student sexual attacks had occurred with disturbing frequency.
Moreover, there was evidence that reports of some of these
incidents had been destroyed and that others had never been filed
at all. Here is the press release that was circulated by DORS:
August 23, 1994
Audrey McCrimon, Director of the Department of
Rehabilitation Services (DORS), announced today that she has
terminated Dr. Richard Umsted, Superintendent of the Illinois
School for the Visually Impaired (ISVI) in Jacksonville.
McCrimon said Umsted was terminated for overall management
deficiencies, most specifically of which were his failing to take
proper protective action to safeguard students from a sexually
aggressive student, failing to respond appropriately to reports
of improper sexual contact between students, and failing to
consistently notify the Department of Children and Family
Services (DCFS), the parents of involved students, and his
superiors at DORS of the reported incidents.
"First and foremost of any school administrator's
responsibility is the safety and well-being of the children
entrusted to his or her care. That responsibility is non-
negotiable and non-discretionary," said Director McCrimon.
"Information obtained by the department establishes that Dr.
Umsted routinely failed to carry out this responsibility.
Therefore, in the best interest of the students of the Illinois
School for the Visually Impaired and the integrity of the school
itself, I have terminated Dr. Umsted effective immediately."
An investigation revealed that Umsted failed to
appropriately handle a series of instances involving a sexually
aggressive male student. The sixteen-year-old's aggressive
behavior was brought to DORS' attention in May when Umsted's
office reported that the student had attempted to sexually abuse
a nine-year-old boy visiting ISVI for an evaluation.
McCrimon ordered an internal review of the situation
involving the nine-year-old, and it revealed that several sexual
incidents involving the sixteen-year-old had gone unreported to
DORS, DCFS, and the parents of affected students. Among the
incidents not appropriately reported were the inappropriate and
unwelcome touching of two female students and the possible sexual
abuse of four male students, including the nine-year-old.
DORS' internal review was completed the end of May, and
McCrimon requested the Illinois State Police independently
investigate the situation in early June. Given the different
functioning levels of the children suspected of being abused,
DORS hired a sexual abuse counselor specially trained in
interviewing children with multiple disabilities to assist the
State Police.
The State Police investigation into the matter is
continuing.
There we have the McCrimon press release. The story of
Umsted's firing received even broader publicity across the state
than had the earlier ones, but it was in Jacksonville, where
Umsted's support was strongest, that the editor of the Journal-
Courier spoke out most clearly about the rights and wrongs of the
case. Here is what he had to say on August 24, 1994:
ISVI's Dr. Umsted Had to Go
Failure to Report Abuse Cases Warranted Dismissal
Dr. Richard Umsted deserved to be fired. From all evidence,
it appears that Dr. Umsted, who spent two decades as
superintendent of the Illinois School for the Visually Impaired,
made the unpardonable mistake of failing to report sexual abuse
cases involving students at the school.
Under both state law and the policies of the state
Department of Rehabilitation Services, Dr. Umsted's
responsibilities were clear.
He was supposed to inform both DORS, the Department of
Children and Family Services, and the students' families when
evidence indicates that a child has been sexually abused.
That Dr. Umsted failed to do so, as DORS alleged in
announcing his firing, is incomprehensible.
How could anyone think it prudent that parents not be told
that their child had been the victim of a sexual assault? How
could anyone expect to be able to keep other people, including
one's superiors, from finding out?
Some of the children at ISVI, a residential facility, face
multiple physical and mental disabilities, and it would be
unrealistic to think that sexual experimentation does not occur,
despite the most conscientious supervision.
However, when a student is sexually aggressive, he or she
constitutes a problem for other students and staff that cannot be
ignored or wished away. The incident must be reported immediately
and the student removed from campus so that he or she cannot
threaten others.
This is a sad way for a career to end, but the violation of
both policy and the rules of common sense appears to be so
serious that Dr. Umsted had to go.
That is what the Jacksonville newspaper said, and there in
plain language you have the story of what happened last summer at
ISVI. Charles Martin, DORS director of educational services and
for the final year and a half of Umsted's time at ISVI Umsted's
boss, was named to serve as interim superintendent until a
successor can be appointed. But it will be a long time before the
dust settles. Despite statements by the office of the state's
attorney to the press, including the Braille Monitor, as late as
mid-March that the state police investigation was still going on,
it actually appears to have ended a few weeks after Umsted's
firing and Mary Kamnick's permanent transfer in late August. No
charges of any kind were brought against Umsted, but there is
increasing talk of a civil suit against him and also against the
state by parents of children who were allegedly abused by ISVI
students and staff. Martin is working hard to try to rebuild
trust in the school, but everyone is treading very warily for
fear of stirring up more trouble or, as some ISVI employees
expressed it to the Braille Monitor, suffering reprisals from the
members of Umsted's management team who still have their jobs.
And what does Richard Umsted say about all of this? He is a
man whose world has clearly come crashing down around him. In
listening to the recording of his interview with the Braille
Monitor, one is struck by his obvious pain and dismay at what has
happened. When asked for his explanation of the events, Umsted
says that he was the most visible and effective proponent of
categorical services for the blind in Illinois. According to
Umsted, Audrey McCrimon and her DORS administration are
determined to do away with categorical services altogether, and
it was necessary to remove him in order to do so. Umsted predicts
that in the next few years we will see separate services for
blind Illinoisans disappear altogether.
In an interview with the Braille Monitor McCrimon denied
Umsted's allegation entirely . She pointed to her strong
commitment to building a new independent-living center on the
ISVI campus as dramatic indication of her belief in the
importance of categorical services for the blind. She said that,
if she had thought the school for the blind should be melded into
other facilities, she would not be demonstrating what she called
"a bricks-and-mortar commitment" to ISVI.
When asked how he accounted for the destruction of files and
the repeated failure of ISVI officials to report problems in
accordance with state mandates, Umsted told the Monitor that the
specific responsibility for fulfilling these requirements
belonged to the various department heads: Mary Kamnick, director
of residential services; Les Stevens, principal of the elementary
school; Michael Jacoby, assistant superintendent and senior
public service administrator; Bill Forney, director of student
services; and Kathy Hughes, director of education. He said that
he recognized that the buck stopped with him and that's why he
had taken the fall. But without actually accusing his
subordinates he left the Monitor reporter with the impression by
implication that decisions to suppress information or destroy
reports had been made without his knowledge. And indeed a
significant amount of document destruction seems to have taken
place following Umsted's suspension in early July while he was
prohibited from setting foot on the campus.
In the days following the suspension, a number of ISVI
employees report that several people who had never before been
seen to shred documents were engaged in a significant amount of
document destruction at the school. One said that last summer a
number of people (including Les Stevens, Kathy Hughes, and even
the superintendent's secretary on the one afternoon that the
acting superintendent was off campus) were observed shredding
documents. A visually impaired janitor later said that he had
carried out twelve bags of these documents, which he could
identify by color as yellow anecdotal reports and white log
sheets.
David Postle, an alumnus and current member of the ISVI
Advisory Council, heard about the document destruction almost
immediately. He says that he contacted the state police with the
information. Postle reports that they were furious at the news
and went directly to McCrimon, DORS Director, and told her to see
that the destruction stop, but he says that it took DORS three
weeks to get around to warning ISVI employees not to remove any
documents from the files. It is fair to say that David Postle is
extremely wary of DORS statements of their good intentions, and
it is equally fair to say that Postle is not the favorite person
of DORS officials. The same uneasy relationship has existed for
years between Postle and senior administrators at ISVI.
Umsted commented to the Braille Monitor that he simply could
not imagine why Postle had it in for him. Postle says that he
loves the school and that he is committed to seeing that it has a
chance to do the best it can for Illinois's blind children.
Regardless of why and where the grudges exist, one thing is
clear: David Postle has the confidence and respect of more
employees, alumni, and parents of ISVI students than any one else
seems to have. His commitment to the institution and the children
it serves is almost palpable, and there seems to be nothing for
him to gain and much to lose because of his involvement in this
painful situation. His wife is an orientation and mobility
teacher at the school. He is a retired DORS rehabilitation
counselor. The couple are certainly vulnerable to reprisals, but
at an institution in which there have been many alleged threats
of firings over the years, Postle has been unwavering in his
efforts to see that what he regards as justice is done.
Before concluding this recital of calamities, we must report
two more statements that Richard Umsted made to the Braille
Monitor. We asked him about reports we received from quite a
number of ISVI employees about a romantic attachment between him
and Nancy Ford, a supervisor of house parents. (Staffers report
observing them at a school dance during which for about forty-
five minutes Umsted was supposed to have had his arm around Ford.
The two were also often seen in very close, some say apparently
intimate, conversation at the school.) Umsted emphatically and
categorically denied the relationship. In fact, he pointed out
that such behavior would have been absurdly blatant for a man
with a wife and family to engage in. He also denied that he had
ever made a practice of threatening members of his staff with job
loss. His comment on this subject was that he would have been a
fool to say such things. He says that, considering the number of
unions on the campus, he would have faced grievances all over the
place if he had tried it.
Chronicles like the recent events at the Illinois School for
the Visually Impaired are rarely black and white. Certainly this
story has no winners. The most infuriating part of the debacle is
that the most helpless (the multiply handicapped blind children)
have been the most abused victims. But they are not the only
victims. A number of parents have also suffered serious,
continuing emotional pain. The school has suffered a tremendous
blow to its reputation in the community, the state, and the
blindness field. Michael Jacoby seems to be a broken man. Mary
Kamnick is still the subject of a personnel action, which may
ultimately cost her her employment. And Richard Umsted's career
in the blindness field would appear to be at an end. In the
months since his firing he has reportedly been working as a stock
boy in the produce department of the local Harmon IGA grocery
store in Jacksonville. Obviously he needs to support himself and
his family, but his recent efforts to find jobs in the blindness
field have had tragiccomic if not grotesque aspects. (See the
article, "Umsted Withdraws from Alabama Institute Job Search,"
elsewhere in this issue and "The Arkansas School for the Blind
Still Front-Page News" in the April, 1995, issue of the Braille
Monitor.)
In short, there are more than enough victims, fall guys, and
villains, to go around. But we must always return to the
children. They deserve commitment, integrity, compassion, and
love. There are still many employees at the Illinois School for
the Visually Impaired who have been unwavering in their
dedication to the children, but there are others who seem to have
lost sight of this fundamental and central commitment. The good
name of the school, the reputation of school officials, and the
impulse not to make waves seem too often to have gotten in the
way of doing what was in the best interest of the children.
Now that Umsted and two of his administrators are gone,
things may be beginning to change at the school. Does reform have
a chance? Maybe. Old patterns of thought and practice die hard,
and for several people still on the ISVI staff, papering over the
problems that have been revealed would be an attractive
resolution of the trouble. It is very difficult for entrenched
bureaucracy to bring about change, and change is what must occur
at ISVI if the past is to be dealt with responsibly. The best we
can say at the moment is that ISVI may have a chance. We have
been told by some that it is a new day at ISVI, and there are
possible indications that this may be so. But realistically one
must admit that the weight of history is against those seeking
change. They face long odds, but let us hope that the new day at
the Illinois School for the Visually Impaired will be a lucky
one. The school will need luck.
[Photo #2 A small, brick, windowless building marked with the
word gymnasium with a few pieces of pre-school playground
equipment. Caption: The gymnasium at the Illinois School for the
Visually Impaired.]
THE PATTERN AND PRACTICE OF ABUSE
by Barbara Pierce
Elsewhere in this issue we examined the incident which,
because of mismanagement, led directly to the firing,
reassignment, and retirement of three senior officials of the
Illinois School for the Visually Impaired (ISVI). But very little
occurs in a vacuum, and recent events at ISVI are no exception.
In our early days of trying to research this story, many people
explained their reluctance to be quoted, or even to talk to the
press off the record, by saying that the history of abuse of
various kinds was so consistent, and the pattern of retaliation
against those who attempted to complain so clear, that they
believed the risks too great and the possibility of change too
small for them to take the chance.
Jacksonville is a quiet and stable community of about
20,000. Though its industrial base is growing, state institutions
of various kinds provide much of the town's employment base and
economic strength. Even when people change jobs, they often move
from state institution to state institution rather than leaving
the area. So memories are long and grudges can be protracted.
Moreover, people are remarkably protective of institutions. For
example, months after the close of the police investigation of
the Umsted matter, the office of the state's attorney was still
assuring the Braille Monitor that it was continuing and that by
law he could therefore not release the report or even let anyone
read it. But even with the conspiracy of silence that seems to
keep any department of state government from saying anything
negative about another in Illinois, there would appear to be a
sort of undercurrent of dissatisfaction with ISVI in the
community.
For example, one morning when the Braille Monitor reporter
was at breakfast in his hotel, the server mentioned that she had
two sisters who were blind. He explained a little about the story
he was in town to research, and she told him that one of her
sisters had been raped at ISVI in 1977. She was clearly still
angry about the experience and the way it was handled, and she
was sure that her mother and sister would be happy to talk with
the Braille Monitor about what had happened. This is the story
that Mrs. B and her daughter, whom we will call Sandy, related.
In school Sandy was designated a slow learner. In 1977 she was
dating a student who was a star wrestler. When the rape occurred,
Sandy immediately told both her mother and school officials. Mrs.
B was dismayed and angry to learn that school personnel had not
bothered to arrange for either medical attention or rape
counseling for her daughter. When she taxed the relatively new
Superintendent, Richard Umsted, with these omissions, he told her
plainly that the school had no intention of reporting the rape to
authorities and, if she did so, school officials would deny that
it had occurred at all. Never mind that Sandy maintained that she
had been raped: the wrestling star said the encounter was
consensual and that was the way it was going to be. The family
recognized the inevitable: they were powerless to see that
justice was done. Eighteen years later those on campus who could
still remember the incident at all dismissed it in talking with
the Braille Monitor as a situation in which the boy said it was
consensual, and the girl claimed it was rape. According to the
B's, Sandy still feels betrayed, and the family is still angry at
what they perceive as the arrogance of power expressed by Richard
Umsted.
In his interview with the Braille Monitor Dr. Umsted
acknowledged that some sexual exploration among students went on
during his years at ISVI. He pointed out, however, that this is
inevitable in any residential school with a student body that
includes adolescents. When asked whether he remembered dealing
with Sandy B and her mother, Umsted said that he could not recall
anything about the case.
Perhaps what happened to Sandy B might be interpreted as
sexual exploration, though the school's response as described by
Mrs. B is difficult to credit. But the institution seems to have
experienced an even more questionable bout of so-called sexual
exploration in the early eighties when, according to school
employees, one rather large female high school student forced a
number of lower functioning girls to satisfy the thirst for
knowledge of some of the male students after hours at a nearby
lumber yard. The boys reportedly paid the organizer $2 a lesson.
ISVI employees at the time recall that the lumber yard used to
call the school regularly to inquire whether they wanted to
retrieve the ISVI blankets left at the site of the exploration.
Presumably, not being school property, the used condoms also
found in the area, according to ISVI staff, were not reclaimed
along with the blankets.
Amateur prostitution wasn't the only illegal and bizarre
behavior reportedly being practiced at ISVI in the early
eighties, according to those close to the school who recounted
the history of the institution to the Braille Monitor. A group of
high school boys reportedly began stealing small electronic
apparatus--tape recorders, radios, and the like. They allegedly
hid the stolen property in a suitcase and buried the case in the
middle of the running-track until the outcry calmed down. When
pressed for an explanation of why, if officials knew so much, the
officials didn't step in to stop what was going on, the comment
was made to the Braille Monitor that the administration was
afraid of the students. Hard as it seems to believe, those with
whom we spoke insisted that that was the way it happened.
One alumnus of ISVI who has continued to be closely
associated with the institution through the years told the
Braille Monitor reporter that he left the school in the middle of
his senior year because the drug scene there was too much for
him. He says that he went to Umsted to complain about the
situation. He says that Umsted said he wished he could clean it
up but that Springfield (in other words, his bosses at the
Department of Rehabilitation Services) wouldn't let him.
These anecdotes provide an indication of the general
atmosphere that existed at ISVI in the 1980's. According to a
written report now in the hands of a parent, one morning in 1984
Michael Jacoby, assistant superintendent, was called in to look
at a seven-year-old blind student who was profoundly mentally
retarded and who had cerebral palsy. The child, whom we will call
David, seemed to have been seriously sexually assaulted. Bruising
on the buttocks and in the anal cleft, noticeable irritation of
the foreskin, and scratches were all visible, according to the
report that was placed in the student's file. The residential
care worker said that she had noticed the marks when she dressed
David that morning, but she had not seen them the morning before,
according to the report. Despite the suggestive nature of the
injuries, Mr. Jacoby and the other staff members present decided,
according to the report in the parent's possession, not to have
the child examined by a physician and not to notify either the
Department of Children and Family Services or David's father, Ron
Stevens. (Mr. Stevens has decided to bring suit against the
school and has been quoted by name in news stories.)
Mr. Stevens told the Braille Monitor that he continued to be
unaware through the intervening ten years of other sexual
assaults made on his son. In fact, as he tells the story, it was
not until early July of 1994 that he first learned about the
attacks his son had been experiencing. When he called home from
work to check on David on the afternoon of the day in question,
he received a message from his baby-sitter that the state police
wished to talk with him. According to Mr. Stevens, he first
called the school to see what was going on, and Kathy Hughes,
director of education, told him that there had been a problem
with one student but that David had not been involved. According
to Mr. Stevens, he suggested that she go back and get her story
straight because the police would not be asking to speak with him
if David had not been involved with something. When he reached
the police officer, he says he was told that there was evidence
that several students, David among them, had been sexually
assaulted by a sixteen-year-old student, who in addition to
visual impairment and cerebral palsy functioned at the level of a
twelve-year-old. The police wanted to talk with David and were
prepared to bring an expert in interviewing special needs
students about sexual abuse with them to help.
Meantime Mr. Stevens demanded and received a copy of his
son's ISVI file. He says that much of the material between the
1984 report and 1990 was missing but that the rest made
disturbing reading to a father. He says he discovered that
David's recent encounter with the student, Bill, was not the
first. According to David's interview with the police, Bill had
attacked David three years earlier, holding his head under water
in a toilet until he was choking. In David's file there was a
report saying that a member of the staff had interrupted an
episode in which still another student had apparently taken off
David's pants in the rest room and was beginning some activity by
kneeling in front of David. In his interview with the police
David recounted an experience in which Bill had vomited into
David's mouth. His own poignant summary of Bill's behavior toward
him was, "Bill sexed me up."
One of the more disturbing aspects of reading David's file,
according to Mr. Stevens, was his discovery that there seemed to
be blanks. Reports were present of David's hitting other
students, but David (according to his father) is normally a very
mild, self-effacing boy who does not react with physical violence
unless there is some provocation. From talking with David Mr.
Stevens is convinced that David's actions were retaliation for
sexual attacks, the reports of which have been removed from the
file.
As soon as Ron Stevens realized the magnitude of what had
happened to his son at ISVI, he reports that he decided to remove
him from the school and enroll him in his local district. But
word of ISVI's alleged failure to n
otify him of problems was
spreading among other parents. According to Dave Postle (an
alumnus of ISVI, a member of the ISVI Advisory Council, and one
of the few people whom parents and disaffected ISVI staff members
seem to trust), in September of 1994 the President of Illinois
Parents of the Visually Impaired (IPVI), the Rev. Kenneth
Holtgrieve, called ISVI official Kathy Hughes to say that he
thought it would be a good idea for IPVI to move its mailing
address from ISVI to a post office box. Ms. Hughes was disturbed,
and Mr. Holtgrieve cited the Stevens case as a worry for parents
and a reason to distance IPVI from the school. As Mr. Postle and
Mr. Stevens report what was next said from conversations they
each had with the Rev. Holtgrieve, Ms. Hughes insisted that Ron
Stevens had in fact been told of every sexual assault on his son
and that he had decided not to do anything about them.
Following this conversation, the Rev. Holtgrieve called Ron
Stevens and the mother of the most recent child to be assaulted
by Bill and quoted Ms. Hughes to them both. Mr. Postle confirmed
the story in phone conversations with both Mr. Stevens and Mrs. A
and then talked with Mr. Holtgrieve, who again repeated what Ms.
Hughes had said to him in the earlier conversation. In a later
conversation with Charles Martin, the acting superintendent of
the school, Mr. Holtgrieve, however, apparently denied that he
had ever repeated such a statement from Ms. Hughes, according to
Mr. Postle, who spoke with Charles Martin about the matter. He
says that no one can tell what went on in that last conversation
between Martin and Holtgrieve, but at least no one at the school
has since made statements to the effect that they have always
notified parents of problems in the instances in which the
parents maintain that no contacts were made by the school.
At any rate, Ron Stevens and his son continue to pay a price
because of what happened to David at ISVI. According to Mr.
Stevens he had to sell his business in order to be home to take
care of his son during the remainder of the summer and after
school during the school year, and his own distress has required
professional counseling and medical care. Following the May,
1994, attack, ISVI announced that the school would pay for any
counseling that abused students or their parents required; but
except for a few counseling sessions that David received in the
first weeks after he came home, ISVI has refused to pay for the
Stevenses' medical and psychological expenses resulting from a
decade of attacks on David at the school.
According to what would seem to be incontrovertible
evidence, a truly disturbing incident took place in the small
hours of the morning at one of the residential cottages in
February of 1988. Thirteen little boys were asleep in their
rooms. A residential care worker, John Rhoades, was on duty along
with another staff member. Rhoades was the union steward, and,
according to several ISVI employees, it was common knowledge that
he often did his union work during the day and counted on
sleeping while he was on night duty in the cottage. It was ISVI
policy that bed checks be made every thirty minutes, but other
staff members report that Rhoades had been known to close his
door so that the sound of children crying in the night would not
disturb him while he was trying to sleep. Such an interruption
apparently occurred on the night of February 8, actually sometime
between 3:00 and 5:00 on the morning of February 9. The other
staff member later admitted to the mother of the child who was
hurt that she heard it, but she says she was busy on the floor
above and at the other end of the dormitory.
This is as good a place as any to say parenthetically that
some time later the then dean of students, David Marshall, told
the Braille Monitor that he found Rhoades asleep on the day room
couch one night while he was supposed to be on duty. The
telephone was ringing in the office when Marshall walked in, and
he picked up the instrument, only to hear the warning,
"Marshall's on campus." When he awakened Rhoades, the latter
acted as if nothing was amiss. According to several sources,
Rhoades later apparently embezzled $1,200 from the union, but the
books that showed the missing funds were consumed in a rather
mysterious car fire in a vehicle owned by his successor as union
steward according to Marshall. At about the time the money went
missing, several sources close to the situation report, that
Rhoades began sporting a new, clearly expensive toupee, and union
members expelled him from the organization. True or not, these
sources report that at the time it was widely assumed at the
school that it was appropriate to draw the obvious connections
among all these events.
But let us return to the early morning of February 9, 1988.
In one of the rooms were two five-year-olds. One was a child with
a history of biting. According to a source close to the
situation, there had been some discussion of having the
psychologist work with this child to stop biting, but it had not
been done. Instead he had been moved to a room with older
students, and the biting seemed to have ceased. Now he was back
with a roommate of his own age. The other roommate in the little
boys' cottage was a child we will call Paul C. Because of an
under-developed pituitary gland, Paul is both blind and very
small for his age. When he was three, he stopped talking and is
now almost completely nonverbal.
In the wake of the events of February 9, Mrs. C says that
she felt strongly that school officials had behaved irresponsibly
and then succeeded in covering up what happened. She set out to
collect the records and photographs of what happened, and in
January of 1989 she wrote a comprehensive letter to the Illinois
Guardianship and Advocacy Commission, Human Rights Authority,
which had finally agreed to investigate what had happened a year
earlier. Here is the letter that Mrs. C wrote. Some names and
several superfluous references have been omitted. Other
references have been retained. They refer to school records Mrs.
C enclosed with her letter. Here is the letter:
________, Illinois
January 6, 1989
Kathy Eddy/Britta Harris
Illinois Guardianship and Advocacy Commission
Human Rights Authority Staff
Springfield, Illinois
Dear Ladies:
This letter concerns my son's injuries which he sustained
while a student at the ISVI and the circumstances surrounding the
episode.
I want to begin with the day of February 9, 1988. At 4:10
p.m. I received a call from Dennis Kelahan, a case worker at
ISVI. He told me Paul had gotten into a scuffle with another
student. I asked Mr. Kelahan what had happened. He said Paul was
apparently bitten by his roommate. (I didn't even know Paul had a
roommate.) He then said Paul had sustained two open wounds, some
bruising, and some redness from the bites and that Paul had been
seen by Dr. Kelly.
I asked when the incident occurred. Mr. Kelahan said it
happened between 3:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. that morning. I then
asked who was on duty that night (monitoring the students). The
response was a Mr. John Rhoades was on duty. Mr. Kelahan also
said that apparently no one had heard Paul cry out when he was
attacked. I then said to Mr. Kelahan, "No one heard him cry?" I
further asked if, when the situation happened, maybe the school
personnel thought Paul was throwing a tantrum and did not go in
his room to check on him. Mr. Kelahan said that all he knew was
what he had on the paper in front of him (he was not a witness).
I then asked if Paul bit the other child or did anything to
upset the other child. Mr. Kelahan said, "No, the other child
crawled into bed with Paul and assaulted him." Further, the
assault was not discovered until Paul was dressed for school at
6:45 a.m., whereupon the school personnel took Paul to Dr. Kelly.
An antibiotic ointment was applied to the open wounds. I asked
Mr. Kelahan what the name of Paul's attacker was. I was told that
he could not divulge that information, but the offender was
removed from Paul's room and would not come into contact with
him.
At that time I was upset. I told Mr. Kelahan that my husband
would be angry about the situation. I also said I wanted Mr.
Kelahan to call me back when my husband got home at 5:15 p.m.
that evening. Mr. Kelahan said he would not be in at that time,
but would have Eleanor Vieira call. He also said that we were
welcome to come up to the ISVI but to call first. He told me Paul
seemed to be in no pain or danger at that time. I then informed
Mr. Kelahan that I and my other children were ill and had
doctor's appointments that week, and since my husband was at
work, I didn't think he would want to take off work because he
was to be laid off. I then said I would let Mr. Kelahan know but
was certain we would be coming to the ISVI on the 26th of
February (I believed that was a school break).
Now, if you would look at the copies of paperwork I have
sent you, I will explain.
Parent Contact Log, pages 1 and 2, February 9, 1988
This is what Mr. Kelahan had to say about our conversation.
I didn't think to ask at that time why it took so long for them
to call me--I was home all day.
Page 3: why was "welts are gone" crossed out? I was not told
about welts or scratches.
After talking to Mr. Kelahan on the 9th, I called my husband
at work to tell him about Paul.
Mrs. Vieira called at 6:00 p.m. on February 9. My husband
listened on one phone while I was conversing with Mrs. Vieira on
another phone. She said it was an unfortunate accident that
happened to Paul and that the boy who attacked Paul had been
moved and would not be in contact with Paul or the smaller boys.
She also told us that he was a five-year-old non-verbal blind
child who would bite the smaller boys. She said that the school
personnel put him back upstairs with the bigger boys.
I asked Mrs. Vieira, if she knew the child was a biter, why
did they put him in with Paul? She explained that he had been
good about not biting, so they thought he could be put with
students his own age. She also said that we were welcome to come
to the ISVI, but it was not necessary. She went on to say Paul
sustained two open bite marks, bruising, and redness. He seemed
to be doing fine, and he was receiving a lot of attention from
everyone on the staff. I asked to have Dr. Kelly call me in the
morning after he had seen Paul.
I called the ISVI at 10:30 p.m. on February 9 to see how
Paul was. The cottage parent said she had him on her lap at that
moment and was rocking him, that he seemed to be doing fine. Paul
was at that time about to go to sleep. I told her I was very
upset about the situation and that I would call back the next day
to see how Paul was. Cottage parent log, page 6, shows this call.
Injury report, page 19, shows Mrs. Vieira's note letting Dr.
Kelly know to call us. Under that note is Dr. Kelly's report of
contacting us. Dr. Kelly's conversation with me was short. He
said that Paul had three bites that were open wounds, bruising,
and redness but that Paul seemed to be a lot better that morning.
He was in good spirits and was in the doctor's office at that
time. I asked Dr. Kelly how the open bite marks looked to him and
if they were infected. He said they didn't look infected and he
was applying antibiotic ointment three times each day. I then
thanked him and asked him to call me if Paul got worse.
I received a call from Eleanor Vieira at about 10:00 a.m. on
February 10. She said Paul was fine and that the doctor had seen
him that morning. I told her I had already spoken with Dr. Kelly,
and she said Mr. Forney would like to talk to me. I asked who
this gentleman was. She said he was her boss. I then told her I
would call him. She then tried to connect me to Mr. Forney but
could not get through. I then called back to the ISVI and spoke
with Mr. Forney. He said he was very sorry for what had happened.
He had seen Paul the morning of the biting incident and had just
seen him again today. He said Paul seemed to be very happy and
was playing.
Wednesday, February 10, 1988
When my husband got home from work, I spoke with him about
the phone calls I had with ISVI. I told him that I felt the
situation was much worse than they were telling me. He said,
"They told you he was okay?" Maybe I was overreacting. My husband
said that they (ISVI) had assured me Paul was all right and he is
being taken care of, and they said it was just an accident.
I asked my husband why Mr. Forney himself wanted to reassure
me that Paul was all right. Why was I told by Dennis and Eleanor
that Paul had two open wounds when Dr. Kelly told me Paul had
three open wounds? Why did it take so long for the ISVI to call
me after the assault? My husband asked me if I felt we should go
see Paul. I said yes. We could go on Sunday. He asked if I was
going to call the ISVI and let them know we were coming. I said,
"Definitely not."
I called the next two days to ask about Paul and how he was.
I was told he was doing fine. See parent log, page 7; injury
report, page 19; and cottage parent log, page 28, on February 11,
1988. Why wasn't I told about Paul vomiting?
Sunday, February 14, 1988
We went to see Paul. As soon as we walked in, we were
approached by a woman whose name is, I think, Joan Fields. I know
I would recognize her if I saw her again. We hadn't seen Paul
yet, and the woman said to us, "We heard they talked you out of
coming."
I said that we were told Paul was just fine. She told us she
was there when Paul was found. She said Paul looked like a dog
had attacked him. She said she wanted to call us then but was
afraid she would lose her job.
As we walked into the office of the dormitory, another woman
was there. The first woman looked at the other and said, "You
heard Paul crying; tell her."
The second woman said, "Yes, I did hear someone crying at
about that time. I can't say if it was Paul--I was upstairs at
the other end of the dorm." She then walked out.
My husband went to get Paul when I was in the office. I then
went to Paul's room. As soon as I got there, I took off Paul's
shirt and T-shirt. What we observed and what the pictures show
are totally different from what is listed in the injury report,
page 13. Some of the bruising, scratches, welts, and redness had
gone by this day. [Five days after the attack.]
Injury Report, page 13
Upper right shoulder, open wound. Upper left shoulder blade,
open wound. There are three bruise marks going down the middle of
his back. Lower right side of back, open wound. Left elbow bruise
and left lower arm one open wound. Right arm is a bruise, right
hand open wound. When looking at the pictures, you will see Paul
lying on his right arm. His right hand is next to his face. The
black mark is the open wound on his right hand. Open wound under
left breast. Open wound on right front shoulder. Open wound on
right side of stomach. There is still bruising on all open
wounds. Other front areas were also bruised.
After looking at Paul, I went to the dorm office and asked
for a phone book. The woman who had said she saw Paul that
morning asked me why. I wanted to call Mr. Forney. I called him
at his home. I told him we were at the dorm with Paul. I also
said we were very upset. He said he would be there right away and
for us not to leave. While waiting, the woman in the office and I
talked more. I told her I was angry and was going to do something
about this. She said, "Oh no, you can't do anything to John
Rhoades--he is the president of our union." I told her I didn't
care who he was. I entrusted my child in his care, and something
like this happens. She also told me that she heard they took
pictures of Paul.
After telling me something that was of importance to this
case, she would imply that I was not to say anything about it or
she would lose her job. I walked down to the playroom where my
husband had taken Paul. Scott Hungerford told us "that if it were
him, he would nail John Rhoades's ass to the wall." He said no
one liked Mr. Rhoades anyway. He further stated that Mr. Rhoades
would let the students cry in their rooms, sometimes closing the
door to the room to deaden the sound of crying. He would do union
work during the day, come into the ISVI at night from 12:30 a.m.
to 8:30 a.m. and sleep. Mr. Hungerford also said that, if we told
anyone this, he would deny it all.
Mr. Hungerford was then called away. My husband and I
discussed taking Paul home. On my way to pack Paul's clothes, Mr.
Hungerford stopped me to ask if I would know what the red bumps
were that another student had all over him. I said that it looked
like he had chicken pox or measles.
Mr. Hungerford then made a phone call. I went back to the
playroom to tell my husband I didn't think we should take Paul
home because one of the students possibly had a communicable
disease. Mr. Hungerford returned and informed us that the child's
mother (whom he had called) said his sister had chicken pox when
he was last home and that it would make sense for him to have
them. We decided not to take Paul home that evening.
Mr. Forney came, and we went to Paul's room and closed the
door. I took Paul's shirts off and said to Mr. Forney, "You told
me you saw my son the morning this happened. You're going to tell
me that no one heard him cry?" He said that he was told no one
heard him cry.
I then said that one of the women workers just told me she
heard a child cry when the assault happened. He asked for the
name of the woman. I told him I didn't know her name. I then
counted the open bite marks on Paul. I said that I was told by
Dennis Kelahan and Eleanor Vieira there were only two wounds, and
Dr. Kelly gave me a count of three. I counted nine open bite
marks, with a total of thirteen [bite marks] still visible. "How
many more were there before we saw Paul?" Mr. Kelahan said he
didn't see that many open bite marks on Paul the morning of the
assault. I said that "Perhaps they were so swollen you could not
tell how deep they were."
He said, "That could be."
I further told Mr. Kelahan I would be calling the Illinois
Children and Family Services for an investigation. He said, "We
had one." But quickly added that he would start another the first
thing in the morning.
My husband and I thanked him for coming. We stayed a little
longer with Paul, then went home where I called Mrs. Aldrich
(Paul's school teacher). I was told by the woman in the office
that Mrs. Aldrich would know if pictures had been taken by the
staff at ISVI.
When I spoke with Mrs. Aldrich, she told me she was
surprised that I had not been informed of the early morning
assault until 4:10 that evening. She thought ISVI called me right
after Paul was found. She also said Paul's condition was very
bad, and he was in pain. He would lie on the floor, not crying,
but moving very slowly when he would stand (very unlike him.) I
asked her about any pictures ISVI had taken. She said, "I don't
know if there were any pictures." She told me to call Kathy
Beckelman [now Hughes], and I received her phone number.
The next morning (February 15) I called a hotline for
Children and Family Services. I was finally connected with a
worker in this area, Lana West. I told her of Paul's plight. She
went to Paul's school that same day.
I had not heard from Lana West for a few days after her
visiting ISVI, so I called her to find out what she thought. She
told me she had seen Paul and talked with the child care workers
on duty the night of the assault. She also said Paul did bite
himself on the wrist. I told her maybe, but I didn't think he
could have bitten himself on his back, chest, and stomach. I
asked her if she had seen ISVI's pictures of Paul. She said, "It
looks like he had been bitten." She told me she knew John Rhoades
and would entrust her children in his care. She said, "I could
not find any neglect on anyone's part," so the case would be
closed.
I said, "That's it?" She said she was sorry but that was all
she could do.
I was not sure if I could do any more myself, so we let the
assault go until this school year (1988-89).
I received a call from another ISVI student's parent asking
what I thought of the school. I told her what I thought. Her son
and Paul had been classmates at an elementary school in our town.
I had never talked with the woman before this. She told me about
an incident which happened to her son, and I told her about
Paul's assault.
Soon after this conversation I received a letter from Audrey
Williams, ISVI PTA President, about overseeing food and
nutrition. [See the following article.] I was alarmed at this
letter and called Paul's classmate's mother to ask if she had
received a copy. She had not, so I made her a copy. I also talked
with Mrs. Williams to ask about a scheduled meeting mentioned in
the letter. We also talked about the letter itself. (If you have
spoken to these two women, you know about this matter.)
By this time we had tried three times to see the ISVI
pictures of Paul. The ISVI Health Center, where the pictures were
kept, was closed whenever we visited.
We were told about a meeting on November 5, 1988. The woman
who told us said we should go and tell the assembled group of our
trials and tribulations. (I believe I spoke with you about this
meeting.) This meeting didn't seem to be useful for any reason.
My husband and I spoke with Mrs. Aldrich. Mrs. Beckelman [Hughes]
and Mr. Marshall joined in the conversation. We spoke with Mr.
Marshall about some complaints we had made about the terrible
odor in the dorms. The smell was a bit less this year because
they moved Paul to another dorm. We also told Mr. Marshall of how
my husband had walked into Paul's dorm and removed him from the
premises without any challenges from the personnel as to who he
was.
We found out that Mr. Marshall now has Mr. Forney's job. We
also told him how we felt about how Paul's assault was mishandled
and how the attempted cover-up failed. He told us they did not
try a cover-up and that he was in Dr. Kelly's office during
Paul's first post-assault visit. Page 18 of the injury reports
shows he was there. He also told us he had taken care of the
laxity of the personnel when a student is removed by an outsider-
-we were to sign in and sign out from now on. We were on our way
out of the ISVI with Paul when Mr. Marshall asked a woman in the
office for a sign-out sheet. The woman had no idea what he was
talking about. After we waited fifteen minutes, a sign-out sheet
was discovered and was signed by us. We took Paul out for his
break, and upon our return we asked to sign in. To our amazement,
our sign-out signature was the only one on the list--no one else
had been made to use it, And I know of at least one other student
who went home the same day Paul did.
After this we took Paul to the Health Center and asked Nurse
Pratt if I could see the pictures of Paul taken after the assault
because I had not seen them yet. She seemed to be very busy. She
pulled his records; and, as I was standing next to her, I too was
looking through the file. She kept saying the pictures were in
the file but that she could not find them. She then closed the
cabinet and said, "I have to call Mr. Kelahan before I can let
you see them." After twenty minutes or so, Mr. Kelahan came in.
He said he had to find Mr. Marshall before he could show the
pictures to us. I asked what Mr. Marshall had to do with this,
and he replied Mr. Marshall knew where the pictures were. After
an hour Mr. Marshall came in with the pictures.
After viewing the pictures, I felt sick. Sitting with his
arms crossed, leaning back in his chair, Mr. Marshall told us in
front of Nurse Pratt that, if there was any kind of cover-up, the
pictures could have been destroyed at any time. He also said we
could not have them because they were the only ones. We finally
went home.
The next day I called Mr. Umsted. I asked for an appointment
to see him, no one else. I also told him I wanted to see all of
Paul's records and anything else which had my son's name on it.
That is how all this information was received. I then spoke with
the two other mothers about you [the two women at the Human
Rights Authority].
I would like to thank you for taking the time to read what I
had to say. I know it is a long letter, but shortening it would
be doing the students of ISVI a disservice.
I hope I have made myself clear about how I feel about ISVI
and that you can help me, my family, and the ISVI students.
Many thanks,
Mrs. C
There you have in all of its heart-breaking eloquence Mrs.
C's letter to the Illinois Human Rights Authority. But the
investigation that resulted alleged that it did not reveal any
institutional neglect, and no charges were brought as a result.
Some recommendations were, however, made by the Human Rights
Authority in the final report of its so-called Investigation of
the Illinois School for the Visually Impaired, which was released
on May 3, 1989. Here are the recommendations as they appeared in
the report:
1. The ISVI should establish a procedure whereby
the thirty-minute bed checks made by the Resident Care
Workers are documented.
2. A policy and procedure should be written
concerning notification of illnesses and injuries to
parents/guardians which includes the time-frame of
notification which would include immediate notification
of emergency medical treatment.
3. Parents/guardians at the time of their child's
enrollment should be provided with a list of the
incidents that would warrant their notification. In
addition, the parents/guardians should have the
opportunity to request notification of incidents not on
the list.
This is the lame and anemic list of recommendations which
hold themselves out as an answer to the grievous problems
outlined. On May 31, 1989, Bill Forney responded to the report in
a letter to the Human Rights Authority. He was the school
official who, according to his letter, had accompanied the Human
Rights Authority investigators on their tour of the ISVI campus.
In his letter Mr. Forney expressed his gratitude and
gratification that the school had not been found at fault in the
attack on Paul C. It is not difficult to understand why. Here in
his own words is what Forney had to say about the recommendations
made in the report:
Specific to the recommendations:
1. ISVI implemented a formalized thirty-minute bed
check system with documentation for overnights.
2. A staff handbook is being developed and will be
implemented by the beginning of the 1989-90 school
year. It will include written procedures and time
frames for parent notification of emergency medical
treatment.
3. In conjunction with the staff handbook a parent
handbook is being developed. Included in this document
will be a listing of incidents warranting parent
notification.
Currently, parents have the opportunity each year
at registration to note areas and the manner in which
they would like to be notified, especially in the
medical area. This approach will be clarified and
expanded for the opening of school this fall.
That is what Bill Forney promised would happen, and (though
in the circumstances it is bland and not commensurate with the
provocations) it sounds responsive. Yet several ISVI employees
assured the Braille Monitor that up to the present time
residential care workers are still not documenting thirty-minute
bed checks at night. They say there is still no way to determine
whether staff are even making the checks. Moreover, the staff and
parent handbooks that were so faithfully promised for the fall of
1989 never materialized, according to our staff sources. Our
sources say that, the promises were made to pacify the Human
Rights Authority and in the hope, one suspects, that no one would
come back and check to see if the school had in fact complied
with the recommendations. The gamble paid off, for no one from
HRA has, as far as we can tell, ever returned to ISVI.
Charles Martin, acting ISVI superintendent, has recently
declared that by the fall of 1995 the recommendations will be in
place as ISVI policy and that the handbooks will actually exist.
Who can tell if it will ever be done?
When asked to comment on this episode, Richard Umsted said
that, because it had happened so long ago, he could not recall
any of the details. Paul C continued to be a student at ISVI for
several more years after the attack on him in 1988. The C's were
made to feel, they say, that they had blown the February 9
incident out of proportion. After all, the Department of Children
and Family Service and the Human Rights Authority both found no
basis for the C's feeling that ISVI staff had not provided good
care to their son. But in 1993 and 1994 they began to worry again
for their son's safety. Mrs. C reports that Paul (in contemporary
jargon) began "acting out", especially with men he didn't know.
There were staff members at the school with whom he didn't want
to be left. Even his teacher expressed concern about a marked
change in his behavior in her written evaluation of his progress.
Mrs. C says she even entertained the idea that someone might be
sexually abusing Paul. But Paul was nonverbal and could not tell
her what was upsetting him. When she questioned school personnel,
even as late as the spring of 1994 about whether there were any
problems with staff or other students molesting students, she was
assured that there were no such problems at ISVI. Subsequent
events, of course, showed that at that time there were serious
problems on the campus. The C's have now withdrawn Paul from ISVI
and express delight at how much happier he is in his home town
classroom. But Mrs. C is angry at what she characterizes as the
lies and cover-ups that school officials engaged in to keep her
from knowing what was happening to her son.
During the 1990-91 academic year still another sort of abuse
at ISVI came to light. Several sources close to the incident have
described it to the Braille Monitor. It seems that a nonverbal,
mentally retarded child whom we will call Jim was placed by a
residential care worker, Don Miller, on a stationary bicycle in
an effort to calm him down after some sort of upset. Miller then
left the child alone with three other students. According to
David Postle, the students apparently decided to encourage Jim to
pedal faster by hitting him: one with a metal pipe, one with a
knotted sock stuffed in the toe of a long sock that could be
swung with some force, and one with his fists. Eventually Jim
fell off the bike, injuring his hip. Miller, who during all this
time (according to Postle) had been in his office about twenty
feet away, found Jim on the floor but apparently gave no
indication that he had heard any disturbance. Nothing official
was ever reported about this incident, and the child's mother was
not contacted until about two weeks after the attack, Postle
said. The three students who had beaten Jim each received three
days of detention. The incident would never have come to light at
all except that a supervisor noticed that Jim was dragging one
leg the next day and looked into the matter.
According to David Marshall, in 1991 he, along with several
members of the union went as a delegation representing seventy of
the 153 ISVI employees at the time to talk with Department of
Rehabilitation Services (DORS) officials about the problems and
cover-ups that were disturbing them at ISVI. The DORS personnel--
Darian Powell, Dee Showalter, and Marge Olsen--told the group
that most of the complaints were coming from disgruntled
employees and that everything was really all right at the school,
according to Marshall. After that abortive attempt to warn DORS
of what was happening at the school, he says his job became
intolerable. He had been the only non-union employee to attend
the meeting, and eventually (in September, 1991) Marshall was
fired. According to him, Mary Kamnick, Director of Residential
Services, and Richard Umsted himself were exerting the pressure
for dismissal. Marshall is still engaged in a grievance procedure
with DORS.
One of the students who was seriously damaged by his
experience at ISVI is a fourteen-year-old boy we will call Brian
D. According to his mother, Brian was molested by the troubled
student Bill in 1992. Mrs. D withdrew Brian from ISVI after that
happened, but according to her he has been hospitalized three
times in the years since because of the psychological damage he
sustained as a result of the attacks on him. Mrs. D is an angry
woman. She reports that her son once arrived home from ISVI with
a broken collar bone, which no one at the school could explain.
Another time Brian came home with several teeth broken off at the
gum line, and no one could tell her how the injury had happened.
Based on her son's behavior, Mrs. D says she is convinced that
adults as well as Bill abused her son while he was a student at
ISVI. She explains that her medical advisors have convinced her
that when Brian suddenly acts out, he is suffering a flash-back
to some painful experience in his past. She says that she is sure
that both a man and a woman abused Brian at ISVI because, since
he left the school, he has had behavior problems triggered by
meeting one woman and several men.
Mrs. D is also angry about the way in which Bill has been
treated by ISVI. She says that he is as much a victim of the
system as any of the children whom he attacked. She says that
ISVI staff members knew he was troubled, but they did nothing to
help him. Then, when trouble came that they couldn't cover up,
they tossed Bill out without any effort to help him. If parents
do unite to take part in a class-action law suit against the
school, she says she thinks Bill's family should be part of it,
for their son has been damaged by the institution as surely as
any other student.
In the spring of 1993 an event occurred on the night of the
school banquet which, if it has been accurately reported to us,
is indicative of some of the most distressing aspects of the
whole unfortunate history of the Umsted years. The primary source
for this story is a man who was a residential care worker (RCW)
at the time but who was later forced to leave the school under a
cloud. (See the article "Beyond the Fall: After-Shocks and Signs
of Promise" elsewhere in this issue.) For that reason one might
well be skeptical about its authenticity, but the information was
provided to us several months before the investigation that led
to the man's resignation. Moreover, some of the themes--
administrative eagerness to avoid publicity, institutional
prohibition against calling 911, and disappearance of troublesome
student reports--remind one of other incidents at the school
through the years of the Umsted superintendency.
As Don Miller, the RCW in question, reports what happened, a
supervisor and a teacher brought a student, who was clearly ill,
back to the cottage where Miller was on duty during the annual
banquet. The youngster had eaten shrimp, to which he was highly
allergic. Large hives had appeared on the child's body, and he
was having some trouble breathing. Miller is a licensed practical
nurse, and the others asked him what he thought of the child's
condition. He suggested that the boy be taken to the hospital,
but the supervisor said that they should put him to bed and see
how he was in the morning. The supervisor then returned to the
dinner, leaving the teacher and RCW to watch the student. Miller
says that the teacher did not seem happy with the decision that
had been made, but the child was put to bed, whereupon his
breathing became even more obstructed. He seemed to do better
sitting up, so he was taken back to the common room, and the
teacher then left.
Then, fairly suddenly, things got much worse. The child
stopped breathing and his heart stopped beating. Miller says he
shouted for help and began cardiopulmonary resuscitation
immediately. The child vomited and began breathing again. Without
much cardiac compression, his heart began beating again as well.
Meantime another RCW came to help. Miller tried to reach someone
in authority to get permission to get medical help, but none of
the phone numbers he had been given raised anyone. Then one of
the students returned to the cottage, and he was sent back to get
help. Eventually the duty officer arrived and agreed to drive the
child to the hospital while Miller supported him in order to keep
the airway open.
As soon as they reached the emergency room, the staff on
duty recognized the problem and administered the proper care
before eventually admitting the child for observation. Miller
says he was told by Dr. Margaret Wilson, the pediatrician
substituting for Dr. Kelly, to write a report for DORS and the
hospital. She also asked why they had not called 911. The duty
officer who had driven Miller and the child to the hospital
answered that it was school policy not to make such calls. Miller
says that the hospital undoubtedly has a record of this event,
but neither his report of the emergency nor any other ever
appeared in the ISVI files so far as we can determine.
The final incident we will mention in this summary of
disturbing events prior to Bill's attack on Timmy A on May 4,
1994, is Bill's unwanted fondling of a female student in December
of 1993. This was one of the episodes cited in the police report
that led to Umsted's firing. Reports indicate that Bill and the
young woman were alone on an elevator at the end of the school
day. The girl was going to her bus when Bill stopped the cage
between floors and apparently grappled her out of her wheelchair
and onto the floor, where nothing very compromising, so far as we
can tell, went on in the short time before a staff member
realized that the elevator had been stopped between floors. The
staffer called to Bill to start the elevator again,and he did so.
So ended the encounter, but the young woman's parents were
understandably concerned about the incident.
What is one to make of this collection of charges ranging
from the bizarre to the shocking? Did everything happen as
reported here? Certainly we have done our best to repeat the
details as they were given to us. But as Audrey McCrimon,
Director of DORS, said in an interview with the Braille Monitor,
in a situation like this people are upset, and when that happens,
the axes come out, and all kinds of things get said for various
reasons. Richard Umsted said directly that the only way of
knowing the truth of what happened to any child at ISVI would be
to consult the official school record. As we have seen, a number
of these seem to have disappeared, which makes it hard to check
facts, even if school personnel were inclined to allow the press
to read confidential student files. We have done our best to
crosscheck information from our sources, but human nature being
what it is, some inaccuracies may well have crept into what we
have reported. It is clear that a number of dedicated,
compassionate people are employed at the Illinois School for the
Visually Impaired, but it is an institution which still has deep
problems.
It is comforting to know that even a man who was later
forced to leave the school because of allegations of grave
misconduct was willing in an emergency to fight to save a child's
life as Don Miller says that he did. But the picture that haunts
the memory as one tries to sleep at night is a story Paul C's
mother told the Monitor reporter in her interview. She said that
one winter day her family was coming to pick Paul up. It was very
cold and windy, and as they hurried toward the warmth of the
dining room, looking for Paul, she noticed a tiny child standing
outside the door in a short-sleeved shirt, shivering with cold
and crying to be let in. She snatched him up and wrapped her own
coat around him in order to give him the benefit of her body heat
while she ran into the building. Holding the child tightly, she
told a female cafeteria worker that she had found him all alone
outside. The woman looked at the child and explained that he had
been misbehaving and was sent outside as a punishment. At that
moment someone came up behind Mrs. C, she says, and grabbed the
child out of her arms and whisked him away before she could even
see who had taken him.
Surely no one in authority at ISVI at any time would have
condoned such a punishment for a small child. And yet. . . . With
the mounting charges and the accumulation of supporting evidence,
one has a queasy feeling. In any large facility instances of bad
judgment occur with disheartening frequency. But if the future is
to be different from the past at ISVI, those in charge must find
a way of weeding out cruel or perverted staff members and
establishing an atmosphere in which love and trust can flourish.
Despite the truth or falsity of this or that detail the broad
picture of abuse, neglect, incompetence, and bad judgment at ISVI
seems overwhelming and irrefutable. This is a state school for
the blind and visually impaired--and the state cannot duck its
responsibilities, but neither can the public or the press--and
for that matter neither can we who are blind or who are
professionals in the blindness field. This school is our school;
these children are our children; and this responsibility is our
responsibility. What are we prepared to do about it?
[Photo #3 A large brick building with over fifteen concrete
columns as part of the front facade. Caption: The ISVI
administration building.]
FOOD FOR THOUGHT BUT NOT FOR CONSUMPTION AT ISVI
From the Editor: As we have already seen, early in the 1988-
89 academic year ISVI parents had a number of things to worry
about. Audrey Williams, the newly elected president of the PTA,
brought one of them to the attention of the organization's
members by writing each of them a letter. Apparently it had come
to her attention that problems had developed in storing and
preparing food in the ISVI kitchen. The Department of Public
Health had not conducted an inspection of the facility in eight
years, according to Mrs. Williams, and the resulting laxity in
food storage and preparation and in meal planning was deeply
disturbing to those who learned about it. Here is the letter she
sent to ISVI parents followed by the one she wrote at the same
time to the Director of the Department of Rehabilitation Services
(DORS):
Chicago, Illinois
September 13, 1988
Dear Parents:
The school year is well underway, and there is much to do. I
was disappointed at this year's turnout at the PTA meeting.
Officers were elected, and they are as follows: Audrey Williams,
President; Beverly McFarland, Vice President; and Jeanne Stevens,
Secretary/Treasurer.
In order to improve conditions, the PTA needs the support
and cooperation of all parents. You do make the difference. A
problem concerning the food that our children are being served
has come to my attention, and I have scheduled a meeting with Mr.
Bradley, Director of DORS, for Friday, September 30, 1988, at
2:00 p.m. in Springfield.
If at all possible, I encourage you to try and attend this
meeting. I am enclosing a copy of the letter submitted to Mr.
Bradley. Please feel free to call me or any of the other officers
at any time.
Sincerely,
Audrey L. Williams
********
Chicago, Illinois
September 13, 1988
Mr. Phillip C. Bradley
Director, Department of Rehabilitation Services
Springfield, Illinois
Mr. Bradley:
This letter will confirm a conversation that I had with your
assistant, Ms. Shara Saline, on September 12, 1988, regarding the
Illinois School for the Visually Impaired. It is my understanding
that Ms. Saline did share the concerns that I expressed to her
with you.
As president of the PTA of ISVI, it has come to my attention
that there are several unacceptable practices occurring at ISVI
in regard to nutrition. I have recently become aware of instances
where the children were served cereal with bugs in it, potatoes
with worms, and spoiled meats. It is difficult to believe that
the Superintendent is unaware of such practices, and if he is
aware of them, then certainly immediate action is required, for
not acting, in essence, condones the situation. Other stories
concerning practices of poor sanitation involving food
preparation and storage also indicate the need for immediate
investigation and attention.
As I am sure that you are aware, food poisoning (Salmonella
and Lysteria, to mention a few) can be fatal. Enclosed is an
article regarding food safety.
We the parents feel that the following changes should be
implemented:
1. Staff should be strongly encouraged to eat what our
children are served, as we are sure that the quality and
sanitation would improve two hundred percent.
2. We want periodic, annual, impromptu inspections by the
Department of Public Health. (We also would like dates of the
last inspection.)
3. A varied menu. How is the menu determined? Is there a
master menu for the State? Liver with onions, rice, cheese
sticks, and carrot sticks is hardly an appealing combination. On
Sunday, September 11, the dinner menu was bologna sandwiches,
carrot sticks, and grapes.
4. Condiments, such as jelly, should be offered more than
one time per week.
5. More fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables and less
canned.
6. More selection for children on special diets.
As this is a residential school, it does not seem
unreasonable to expect that the children be served meals that are
attractive, appealing, and nutritionally balanced. Our children
should not have to go to bed hungry because the food is unfit or
tainted. We hope that this matter will be investigated promptly
as we will take any legal action necessary to rectify this
problem as well as contact our legislators to protect our
children.
Sincerely,
Audrey L. Williams
That was the mailing received by ISVI parents in mid-
September, 1988, and the letter the director of DORS received as
well. One can imagine the consternation at the school when the
existence of this correspondence was discovered. Richard Umsted
swung into action. He scheduled a meeting with Mrs. Williams and
wrote his own letter to parents. Here is his letter:
Jacksonville, Illinois
September 22, 1988
Dear Parents:
Earlier this week it came to my attention that you received
a letter expressing various concerns about the quality of dietary
services at the ISVI. Believing you should know the facts of the
situation and wanting you to be confident in the overall program
of the school, I am writing to share the following information:
1. Dietary and residential care staff at the school are
served the very same menu as the students.
2. Evaluations by the National Accreditation Council [NAC]
and the North Central Association include inspections of the
Dietary Department. [We interrupt the Umsted letter to say that
as far as we can tell from looking at the NAC standards for
residential schools, there were no established NAC standards for
food service areas in 1988--but back to the Umsted letter.] In
addition, the Illinois Department of Public Health will be
invited to make an inspection. The philosophy and practice of the
ISVI is to welcome inspections by Illinois State Board of
Education, the Occupational Safety & Health Act (OSHA), and
everyone else to ensure quality programs and services at our
school.
3. The menu for the school is established in compliance with
the most recent State master menu.
4. The school serves only Grade A government-inspected meat.
Anyone can unknowingly bring products home from the store that
have bugs or worms in them. Given the large quantities of food
products purchased by the school, this can also happen at the
ISVI. If there is any problem with a product, it is immediately
returned, disposed of, or otherwise handled in an appropriate
manner. An inspector from the Illinois Department of Central
Management Services visits the Dietary quarterly.
5. Members of the ISVI Advisory Council eat at the school
several times a year as do other dignitaries and guests. They are
served the same menu as the students.
6. Parents of prospective students and their local school
representatives are invited to eat lunch at the school, and many
do with positive comments.
7. Recognizing that improved dry storage and freezer
facilities are needed at the school, the Illinois Department of
Rehabilitation Services has worked very hard to obtain the
necessary approval and budget for the construction of a new
storage and freezer facility, which is scheduled for next year.
The Illinois School for the Visually Impaired, Department of
Rehabilitation Services, and State of Illinois are committed to
providing the best possible school for visually impaired
students. This includes the dietary and all other services.
As the Superintendent of the ISVI, I invite all parents and
concerned citizens to visit the school and personally see the
quality of programs offered. As a parent you are also invited to
have lunch with us as a guest of the school.
Thank you for your support, and if you have any questions or
response you would like to share, please do not hesitate to
contact me.
Respectfully,
Richard G. Umsted, Ed.D.
Superintendent
cc: Director Bradley
Paul Galligos
Melissa Skilbeck
That is what Richard Umsted said to ISVI parents, and it is
a model of restraint and rationality--though one suspects he knew
full well that his mention of the two accrediting bodies as proof
of ISVI's high standards was largely a smokescreen. One of them
(the North Central Association) concentrates its attention on
elements of residential school activity more closely associated
with program delivery than food preparation. As to the other (the
National Accreditation Council for Agencies Serving the Blind and
Visually Handicapped--NAC) its accreditation is widely recognized
as nothing more than a bad joke. Most of the residential schools
for the blind in the United States won't permit their names to be
associated with NAC (see article elsewhere in this issue), and
many of those that do only use NAC as a shield for their
questionable practices.
Be that as it may, the minutes of the school's
administrative council for the meeting that took place on
September 29, 1988 reflect Umsted's real feelings, his irritation
at the problem Mrs. Williams and her concerns constituted for
him, as well as the atmosphere of distrust and intimidation that,
according to many members of the ISVI staff, permeated the school
during the Umsted administration. Notice the open suspicion of
certain unidentified staff members and the veiled threat that
they would be better off working somewhere else. Here in
pertinent part are the minutes of the September 29 Council
meeting:
September 29, 1988
Present: Dr. Umsted, Ms. Beckelman [now Hughes], Mrs. Cole,
Mr. Dobbs, Mrs. Ford, Mr. Forney, Mr. Hauck, Mrs. Hipkins, Mr.
Jackson, Mr. Jacoby, Mrs. Schneider, Mrs. Vieira, Mrs. Williams,
Mrs. Wood.
Dr. Umsted said that by now supervisors had heard about the
letter which Mrs. Audrey Williams, President of the Parent
Association, sent to all parents. Last week upon becoming aware
of it Dr. Umsted immediately wrote a response for the parents to
allay concerns they might have but was requested by Springfield
to not send the letter at that time until a meeting was held with
Mrs. Williams. Last Friday afternoon Dr. Umsted spent three hours
with her, which he thought was a good meeting. Then Monday
morning there was a three-page letter from her acknowledging what
she understood to be the responses or resolutions to questions
and concerns discussed. We then received a call from Springfield
acknowledging we could send out the letter, and Dr. Umsted wrote
another letter to go with it. Dr. Umsted shared these letters
with supervisors so they would know what is going on. The
contents of the letters are to be shared with staff, retained,
and read by supervisors. There is no reason for the letters to be
duplicated any more either.
Dr. Umsted requested the names of all parents who have
contacted any staff member with concerns about Mrs. Williams's
letter as he has begun making personal telephone calls. [thirteen
parent names listed]
. . . In Dr. Umsted's meeting with Mrs. Williams on Friday,
Ms. Beckelman [Hughes] sat in on part of it. Jeff Radcliffe also
attended relative to storekeeping procedures and the ordering of
foodstuffs. Mrs. Williams appeared to be caught right in the
middle of something. Some staff members had shared some erroneous
information and may have done so on their own, intending damage
to other staff members, such as Mrs. Cole and Dr. Umsted. If any
supervisors have any ideas as to who in fact is spreading lies,
we need to know.
. . . There was never any suggestion of a cover-up in terms
of cereal with bugs. We admitted this had happened and the cereal
properly disposed of. Individuals who initially called said they
have that happen at home. Mrs. Williams doesn't think we are
serving enough sausage or bacon. The menu was another concern to
her. In one particular week it had been changed almost every day.
Once we explained that, because of being short a cook or because
an item had not been received, certain menus might have to be
changed. Another suggestion was to use plastic gloves for people
on the serving line. We have provided a new supply to Mrs. Cole,
but they are not required by Public Health. Another question was
the shelf life of products. The majority of things we use have a
shelf life of several months that would surprise most lay people.
Howard Rogers, storekeeper, will be rechecking all items on hand.
. . . Any concerns or questions anyone has, they should let
Dr. Umsted know. His philosophy for those people spreading
untruths is to consider whether they would be happier working
elsewhere and take immediate action accordingly.
Despite Richard Umsted's attempt to explain away Mrs.
Williams's concerns about the quality of the food and the food
preparation at the school, the Illinois Department of Public
Health came to the school to make its first inspection in eight
years on October 6, 1988. Such on-site visits are bound to
uncover some violations, particularly if they are not expected.
In this case, however, the food-service personnel must surely
have suspected that an inspection was in the cards, given the
amount of parental concern that had recently been expressed in
high places. Some of the problems the inspectors found were
clearly due to old or poorly functioning equipment and work
space. There is some indication that following this entire
brouhaha the legislature allocated funds to upgrade the food-
service facilities at ISVI, though observers report that there
has not been a noticeable improvement in the quality of meals and
meal preparation in the intervening years. The state official now
responsible for making such arrangements, however, does report
that, as far as he can remember, DORS has requested annual
inspections of the food service area at ISVI every year since
1988. Following is a list of the infractions found in the food
service area at ISVI. They range in seriousness from the
relatively petty--pest-control products stored with cleaning
materials--to the extremely serious--poorly stored, moderately
warm ground meat and contaminated sugar and canned goods. We have
omitted explanatory material following some of the entries. Here
is the text of the survey:
Survey by the Illinois Department of Public Health
October 6, 1988
Lisa E. Sondag and Lesley R. Stevens conducted the survey,
which included interviews with Dr. Richard Umsted,
Superintendent; Mr. Jeff Radcliffe, Business Administrator; and
Mrs. Lois Cole, Dietary Manager.
At the request of the Illinois Department of Rehabilitation
Services, an Environmental Health and Safety survey was conducted
of the Food Service Department of the Illinois School for the
Visually Impaired on October 6, 1988.
The school currently has 115 students. Meals are served
seven days per week (three times a day).
The following are conditions and violations observed during
the October 6, 1988 survey. Violations cited are from the 1988
edition of the Illinois Food Service Sanitation Rules and
Regulations.
1. Three bulging cans of chili sauce were found within the
small storage room near the kitchen.
2. A small live worm was observed on top of white granulated
sugar in a bulk sugar bin located under the baker's table in the
bakery.
3. Chocolate frosting mix in a wet and discolored absorbent
paper package was observed on a shelf in the walk-in cooler in
the bakery.
4. Food in the walk-in freezer was not protected from
overhead leakage.
5. Two large pans of freshly prepared meat loaf were found
in the walk-in refrigerator near the bakery. The internal
temperature of the meat loaf was 50 degrees at 12:20 p.m. and at
1:10 p.m. . . .
6. Numerous flies were observed in the dining room of the
facility during the survey. Uncovered bowls of sliced pineapple
were found within the dining room prior to lunch service. Foods
must be protected from contamination at all times. Measures to
inhibit the presence of insects and rodents should be utilized,
which include, but are not limited to, the following:
a) The dumpster, outside the rear door to the
kitchen was not stored on or above a smooth surface of
non-absorbent material. . . . This dumpster should be
stored on a machine-laid asphalt or concrete surface to
provide for easy cleaning.
b) The dumpster was open at the time of the
survey. . . . The dumpster should be stored away from
the rear kitchen door, should be maintained in a clean
condition, and should be covered at all times.
c) The threshold of the rear kitchen door was in
poor repair, providing an entry way for insects and
rodents.
7. A can of Claire Brand Down and Out Flying and Crawling
Insect Killer was found stored with cleaning compounds normally
used in Dietary. All pesticides must be stored physically
separate from all cleaning compounds, food, and food-contact
surfaces.
8. A large block of dark green rodent bait was found on the
floor and behind the ductwork of the storeroom near the kitchen.
All poisonous compounds used within a food service establishment
must be properly labeled.
9. The concentration of the available chlorine in the
sanitizing solution used to sanitize dishes in the dishwashing
room was in excess of the 200 parts per million permitted under
21 CFR 178.1010. (F.S.750.820g).
10. The procedure for manual washing, rinsing, and
sanitizing of equipment and utensils in the pot and pan three-
compartment sink was not conducted in the correct sequence. The
employee observed on 10/6/88, reported that approximately one
tablespoon of bleach was added to the soapy wash water. She then
rinsed the equipment and utensils in the middle sink and drained
them in the third sink. All utensils must be washed, rinsed, and
sanitized.
11. An employee was observed towel drying knives and pans. A
Waring blender was stored wet with food debris in a nonself-
draining position with the lid in place. Utensils must be air
dried before being stored or stored in a self-draining position.
12. The dishwashing machine was not maintained in good
repair. The rinse cycle was reported to not be working correctly.
The rinse gauge did not move from 140 degrees during the various
cycles of the machine. The dishwashing machine should be
repaired, and the rinse gauge should be observed for proper
operation.
13. The blade of the can opener located near the three-
compartment sink, was soiled with food debris.
14. A large wood rolling pin on the baker's table was
observed with a crack in the food-contact surface.
15. Dispensing utensils (scoops) were stored in bulk foods
with the handles covered with or touching the food. This was
observed in the kitchen in several bulk bins.
16. Non-food-contact surfaces were not smooth, non-
absorbent, or in such repair as to be easily maintained in a
clean and sanitary condition.
17. The paint on the proof box in the bakery is in very poor
condition.
18. Employees were not all wearing effective hair restraints
in the kitchen on 10/6/88.
19. A test kit to measure the concentration of chemical
sanitizing solutions was not available.
20. There were no thermometers available for the milk
coolers located in the dining room.
21. A pair of employee's eye glasses were noted on the meat
slicer, and an employee's drinking glass was next to several
uncovered bowls of pineapple. Employees may consume food only in
designated areas.
22. In the dry storage area, food items are stored beneath
sewer lines.
23. The walls of the dry storage area were found to be
excessively peeling. Wall surfaces should be smooth and easily
cleanable.
24. An active leak was observed in the ceiling of the pipe
chase between the employees' rest rooms in the basement. The area
within this pipe chase had an accumulation of debris and water.
Additional Recommendations:
1. The temperature of the hot water at the hand sinks
located within the student
s' rest rooms in the dining area
measured 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Hot water temperatures at
student-access locations should not exceed 120 degrees.
2. The chemical storage closets near the dining room were
open and easily accessible to the students. It is recommended
that these doors be closed and locked to insure the safety of the
students.
3. The soiled and clean linen tubs used in the dining area
were not labeled and easily identifiable. These containers should
be labeled and kept clean at all times.
That is what the Department of Public Health found, and if
Richard Umsted thought everyone was now satisfied, he was
certainly mistaken. After all the excitement and upset of the
fall, Audrey Williams decided that ISVI was no longer the right
placement for her child; so, because she was no longer an ISVI
parent, she resigned as president of the ISVI PTA. Early in the
new year (1989) she wrote one last letter to the ISVI parents and
enclosed the report she was sending at the same time to the
Director of DORS. Here are both documents:
Chicago, Illinois
January 15, 1989
Dear Parents:
I wish to take this opportunity to thank those of you who
supported the PTA's concerns regarding the dietary issues at ISVI
in September. I believe that it was your support that caused
immediate action and investigation to be undertaken.
An inspection was done in October by the Department of
Public Health, and twenty-four violations were found, and three
additional recommendations were made.
You can obtain a copy of this report by contacting DORS or
ISVI in writing.
Enclosed you will find a copy of my recommendations
addressed to Mr. Bradley, Director of DORS.
Please stay involved, because you do make the difference. As
my son no longer attends ISVI, please contact your officers for
future concerns.
Sincerely,
Audrey L. Williams
********
Chicago, Illinois
January 15, 1989
Phillip C. Bradley
Director, Department of Rehabilitation Services
Springfield, Illinois
Dear Mr. Bradley:
You may recall a letter written to you dated September 13,
1988, in which I stated that there were several unacceptable
practices involving ISVI in regard to poor sanitation, food
handling, and nutrition. I requested on behalf of the PTA that an
investigation be done and immediate action be taken. Below is a
summary of events that transpired after the September 13 letter.
September 23
Meeting with Dr. Umsted concerning these concerns.
Kathy Beckelman [Hughes], Mr. Radcliffe in attendance.
Meeting lasted in excess of three hours. Dr. Umsted
suggested that my allegations were unfounded. Some
expressed concern that a member or members of ISVI were
trying to sabotage the school or the dietary manager.
Dr. Umsted expressed that he held Mrs. Lois Cole in his
highest esteem. Dr. Umsted was confident that he could
reassure parents that ISVI students are provided with
well-balanced meals in a sanitary environment. His
concern was with reaching those parents who may have
heard of my letter but whose children do not attend
ISVI. Dr. Umsted invited any concerned parent to eat at
ISVI as well as inviting me to tour the storage room.
After visiting the storage room, to my surprise, I found
several expired canned goods and spices. Some dated as far back
as 1978. After talking with the storekeeper, it was revealed that
1) If the dietary staff requested the item, he would issue it and
tell them to "look at it" because it is old. 2) That he did not
have a copy of the storekeeper's manual, which determines the
shelf life of food. His estimation was eighteen months for the
shelf life of most canned goods. 3) He could discard expired
goods but would be required to fill out a form indicating what
happened to the goods. Discussed with Mr. Radcliffe that warning
dietary staff to "look at old foods" was unacceptable, and I was
assured that the storekeeper would be provided with appropriate
manual and expired foods would be discarded.
September 27, 1988
I received a letter from Dr. Umsted acknowledging
that Mr. Radcliffe did share a copy of the
storekeeper's manual with him and that the storekeeper
would be reviewing the manual for compliance with
established standards and practices.
In the same letter Dr. Umsted acknowledges a
September 26 incident where more cereal and bad rice
were found and discarded.
October 2, 1988
I met with Lynn Dohtery concerning these issues
and trying to better understand budgetary cutbacks
affecting ISVI. Lynn verbalized that she held Dr.
Umsted and ISVI in her highest esteem. Evaluations done
by the National Accreditation Council every four years
included Dietary. (Dr. Umsted is part of the
committee.) Budgetary cutbacks are the primary reason
for why the Department of Public Health has not been
out to do inspections.
This all brings me to several questions: On October 6, 1988,
an inspection was done by the Department of Public Health in
which twenty-four violations plus three additional
recommendations were made. (Again a live worm was found in the
bulk sugar. I received a copy of this inspection on December 15,
even though it was requested much earlier.)
1. Why, Mr. Bradley, did the Department of Public Health
cite twenty-four violations if my allegations were unfounded?
2. Why has it been eight years since an inspection has been
done by the Department of Public Health? After speaking with Lisa
Sondag, Supervisor of Environmental Health and Safety Section,
she informed me that while there have been budgetary cutbacks, if
DORS had requested an inspection, then the inspection would have
been done. Why has an inspection not been done in eight years?
3. Who, Mr. Bradley, is responsible for overseeing these
crucial dietary matters?
4. What are the qualifications needed for assuming this
responsibility if being a registered dietitian is not one of
them?
5. If Dietary is an area that the National Accreditation
Council and North Central Association inspections cover every
four years, what are they actually inspecting?
6. If the dietary manager is not responsible for enforcing
compliance standards set by the State of Illinois, then who, Mr.
Bradley, is responsible?
As one parent so eloquently put it, "To deliberately
jeopardize the health of our children is despicable. The
responsible person should be dismissed and all privileges as a
state employee be terminated." Not only is it despicable, Mr.
Bradley, but it is a violation of our children's civil rights,
and that is a criminal offense.
As you may be aware, I have taken my child out of ISVI, and
need I remind you that there is only an ISVI because of our
children? This incident has been an unnecessary violation of my
trust and is a crime if my child or any other child suffers
educationally because of this incident or other unrelated
incidents occurring at ISVI that may require further
investigation.
I think some answers are in order.
That is what Mrs. Williams wrote to Dr. Umsted's superiors,
and answers certainly were in order. But no one has yet provided
them. And with Mrs. Williams conveniently out of the way, the
pressure for doing so seems to have disappeared. Institutional
food will always have its critics. Food service personnel will
always try to cut corners when they are in a hurry or short of
funds or convinced that no one is holding them accountable. Yet,
none of these explanations is sufficient to account for the
cumulative problems and abuses. Now that a new era may possibly
be opening at the Illinois School for the Visually Impaired, let
us hope that a new chapter will also be opening concerning the
food service.
[Photo #4 A park-like area in front of a large brick two-story
building with many windows. Caption: A classroom building on the
ISVI campus]
BEYOND THE FALL:
AFTER-SHOCKS AND SIGNS OF PROMISE
by Barbara Pierce
After reading the preceding stories, it is reasonable to ask
what has happened in the months since Richard Umsted's firing
from his job as superintendent of the Illinois School for the
Visually Impaired (ISVI) on August 23, 1994. Charlie Martin,
Umsted's boss during his final year and a half as superintendent,
was asked temporarily to leave his post as director of
educational services at the Illinois Department of Rehabilitation
Services (DORS) and to serve as acting superintendent at ISVI
until a search could be conducted for Umsted's permanent
replacement. By most accounts Martin is an affable man with a
hands-on style of administering programs. For example, he gave
the Braille Monitor reporter a personal tour of the campus and
talked knowledgeably about the institution. It was clear from his
interactions with the students and staff during this tour that he
knew everyone and called each by name. The students were watching
a videotape of a recent talent show in which Martin had performed
along with the students.
From the start Martin let it be known that his door was open
and that he intended for things to change. On the very day of
Umsted's firing Audrey McCrimon, DORS director, contacted the
parents of ISVI students from the year before to tell them
something of what had happened and assure them that every effort
would be made to see that their children were safe. Here is the
text of the letter that was sent:
Springfield, Illinois
August 23, 1994
Dear Parent or Guardian,
Earlier this summer I promised I would keep you apprised of
the developments of the Illinois State Police (ISP) investigation
of student-to-student sexual conduct at the ISVI.
I have received an interim report from the Illinois State
Police; and, based on the information uncovered by both the ISP
investigation and DORS internal investigation, I have terminated
Dr. Richard Umsted as superintendent of ISVI effective August 23,
1994.
So that you can fully understand the facts of the situation
and the basis for my decision, I have enclosed a copy of DORS'
news release on the matter. I'm sure upon reading it you will
agree that, given the severity of the situation, any lesser
action would have been a betrayal of the trust I believe you and
your children have placed in the Department of Rehabilitation
Services and the Illinois School for the Visually Impaired.
To ensure that no such situation is ever permitted to occur
at ISVI again, the start of this school year will bring increased
sexual abuse education to both ISVI students and staff as well as
a new policy of reporting unusual incidents. Additionally, as you
are aware, the family style living arrangement previously
utilized in the dorms will be discontinued.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to
contact Acting Superintendent Charles Martin at 217-479-4401.
Sincerely yours,
Audrey L. McCrimon
Director
Ninety families had sufficient faith in what they read and
heard to send their youngsters back for the '94-95 school year.
According to school officials, the student mix is 55 percent
cognitively impaired, developmentally delayed, or mentally
retarded and 45 percent with behavioral or emotional
disabilities. All students are either blind or visually impaired,
although vision loss may not be the primary disability. A staff
of 145 works with the students on a twelve-acre campus, bordered
on two sides by railroad tracks but containing a number of
winding walks and rustic benches from which to enjoy the lawns.
Several of the buildings are in poor repair, and anticipation of
the changes the new independent living center will bring seems to
be universal.
Preparations were made for a new beginning with eagerness to
put the past behind everyone still associated with ISVI, but the
beginning of the school year was not without incident. On Friday,
August 19, 1994, the secretary in the business office and Polly
Williams, who had earlier replaced Mary Kamnick as director of
residential services, had occasion to enter Kamnick's old office
in search of something. They found a file drawer filled with an
undetermined amount of cash, some in envelopes and some in banded
rolls of bills. By some reports this was money kept on hand to
purchase items for needy students; Richard Umsted told the
Braille Monitor it was probably the funds for the independent
living program. But the school has established very strict
procedures for dealing both with cash coming in and money needed
for payments of various kinds. David Postle, the outspoken school
advocate and member of the ISVI Advisory Council, says that, as
far as he has ever known, cash has not been left lying around at
ISVI. Reportedly the two women immediately notified Martin of
their find, and he locked the drawer and the office for the
weekend.
Sunday, August 21, was the day the students returned to
campus, so the weekend was filled with confusion. Sunday
afternoon one member of the staff says that he looked across
campus and noticed Mary Kamnick. He commented at the time that he
wondered what she was doing at school when she had been relocated
and instructed to stay away from the campus. When the door was
unlocked, the cash had reportedly vanished. According to one
observer, no one seemed to know what had happened to it or
appeared to be much upset at its disappearance.
When the students arrived on campus there was a flurry of
trouble with the arrival of two pellet guns as well. There was
also one of those extremely realistic toy guns that are now
popular with children. This last had made its first appearance on
campus the previous academic year and had been sent home. The
high school student who owned it returned with it again in the
fall, and it and the two pellet guns were confiscated and the
three students given five-day suspensions.
Sources also tell us that early in the school year several
boys were identified as having committed phone fraud in the
amount of $1,400, using third-party billing on phone cards. The
telephone company insisted that the parents pay back the money,
and each student was given a three-day suspension.
The one student who was implicated in both of these
activities was also involved in an incident that occurred in
January of 1995. According to sources close to the situation, the
student and a young female house parent, whose marriage was
reportedly in trouble, were found by several other staff members
inappropriately fondling each other. The employee lost her job
immediately, though because she was not given a chance to
confront her accusers, as the regulations governing employment at
the school required, she may in fact eventually be reinstated.
In today's environment of heightened awareness of what is
and is not appropriate sexual behavior between colleagues and
between those holding unequal positions in organizations of all
kinds, such conduct between an employee and a minor is clearly
seriously inappropriate. But a situation has come to light at
ISVI this year that is considerably more problematic since it
involves the ongoing conduct of a member of the faculty with at
least five female staff members and present and past students,
all of whom say they were unwilling objects of his physical
gestures.
David Hauck is the director of the computer lab and Student
Transition Employment Program at ISVI. He is a blind man whom
Umsted hired away from the Hadley School for the Blind, according
to sources at ISVI. In some quarters at ISVI there is significant
skepticism about Hauck's competence as a teacher of computer
skills. Several people with reason to know commented that, not
only was Hauck unlikely to give good information about computer
matters, but upon occasion has actually compounded the problem
with his advice. A temporary employee who worked for two months
as his assistant and whom we will call Ms. E said in passing, and
with some embarrassment, that it became obvious to her early on
in their association that she knew much more about computers than
he did.
During the current academic year several women have begun to
speak cautiously of the problems they have had with this teacher.
Several sighted female colleagues have reported that, when they
have been acting as sighted guides for him off campus, he has
grasped their arms in such a way as to bring his hand or forearm
in contact with a breast. He has also been known to bump into
certain students and staff members in the hall, apparently
because of his blindness, but they are convinced that it is
really with the intention of making as much physical contact as
possible. People have noticed that he is much less likely to bump
into men than women. Until told firmly not to touch them, he has
also reportedly run his hands uninvited through several women's
hair and put his arm around them when the contact clearly made
them uncomfortable. One woman, who had the courage and self-
possession to tell him firmly to stop such invasions of her
person, told the Braille Monitor that the rebuke acted as only a
temporary restraint on his behavior.
When asked by the Braille Monitor in a telephone interview
to comment on these allegations, Hauck seemed almost speechless.
He denied ever engaging in any sexually harassing behavior toward
anyone and demanded several times why he was even being asked
such questions. Nevertheless, the questions should not have been
quite the bolt from the blue that his response might have
suggested since, according to Ms. E, he had told her in February
that sexual harassment charges were then being brought against
him because of problems with a female student. In fact, as this
issue went to press in mid-April, a spokeswoman for DORS told the
Braille Monitor that the decision has now been made to conduct an
internal DORS investigation of the allegations of harassment made
by women staff, alumnae, and students against David Hauck.
In addition to these accusations, Hauck was accused by Ms. E
of other kinds of harassment. When she began working with him, he
demanded her unlisted phone number so that, according to her, in
an emergency--like not being able to find a file on a disc she
had prepared for him during the day--he would be able to reach
her at home. Knowing nothing about blindness and the competence
of blind people at the time, she assumed that this might be a
legitimate problem for a blind person, so she gave him her
number. She says he then began calling her home so frequently--
sometimes three or four times a night--that her young son began
asking who that man was and why he kept calling.
When Ms. E talked with the temping service that had supplied
her services to the school about the problems she was having with
Hauck, her supervisor called the school to discuss the situation
with Hauck's supervisor. Almost immediately, she says, Hauck came
to her to criticize her for complaining. Whenever her
difficulties reached his ears by any route, she says, he took his
anger out on her. Moreover, she says, he made every effort to
prevent her from having any contact with the other female
employees who had had trouble with him in the past.
According to Ms. E on a number of occasions Hauck did not
appear when his students arrived for class, and Ms. E says she
was expected to supervise the youngsters until his return. This
was not listed as part of her job responsibilities, even though
she says she was equipped to carry out the task. But she believed
that, if she was to do this kind of work on top of her other
duties, she should have been paid accordingly. She says that all
she got for her inquiries about the matter was more
recriminations from Hauck. Finally, Ms. E reports that she was
forced to terminate her association with the school.
The most recent event which we will discuss in this series
of what Audrey McCrimon, Director of DORS, characterized as
"after-shocks" of the Umsted investigation occurred in February
when a Department of Children and Family Services investigator
was called to the ISVI campus to look into the activities of one
of the house parents, Don Miller, the brother-in-law of Nancy
Ford, a house parent supervisor. Miller is a licensed practical
nurse who, according to sources close to the school, suddenly
left his employment at a local hospital and found a place at ISVI
almost immediately. Not many details of the DCFS investigation
are known, but on February 23, 1995 several staff members were
closely questioned about Miller's conduct with the boys in his
care, and on February 25 he was allowed to resign from ISVI.
Those close to the situation report that as many as five young,
non-verbal boys may well have been sexually abused by Miller.
It is clearly a distressing subject for all concerned, and
several of the parents involved say that they are angry because
they were not told what had been discovered as soon as it was
known on campus. Their distrust of the ISVI and its senior
administration is now towering, and they are prepared to condemn
Charlie Martin for this lapse as thoroughly as Richard Umsted for
all the troubles that went before. Whatever the extent of the
abuse and wherever the rights and wrongs in the situation lie,
this entire cluster of allegations has compounded the
difficulties for those who hope to rebuild public faith in ISVI.
Foremost in this group is Charles Martin. One source
described him as "a bureaucrat with a conscience, but still a
bureaucrat." He seems to be working hard to change the way things
are done at ISVI and the way in which they are seen to be done,
but his task would undoubtedly be considerably easier if he could
manage his senior staff with firmness and still get help from
them.
For example, when Ms. E concluded that she had taken all she
could and gave notice that she was leaving her position as David
Hauck's assistant, she had just suffered a nasty fall in the hall
at the school. She says that she felt her foot slip on something
wet, and in fact she and another person went back the following
day to look at the place where the accident had occurred and
could actually see the spots where something had dried on the
floor. But as soon as Kathy Hughes, director of education, heard
the fall, Ms. E says she rushed out of her office into the hall
and announced loudly that she couldn't see anything on the floor
that might have caused the accident. No one in authority offered
to assist Ms. E or instructed anyone to accompany her, so Ms. E
drove herself to the hospital for medical attention for what was
first identified as a sprain but later turned out to be a
fracture. She returned to the school after a long ordeal at the
hospital emergency room and completed some work that had to be
done, even though she was in an air cast and using crutches. She
was back at school the next day, on strong medication for pain,
and it was then that she says she finally realized that she had
had enough. She says that Hauck insisted that she do errands for
him that would take her across campus despite doctor's orders
that she stay off the injured foot for seventy-two hours.
On her way out of Charlie Martin's office, she says she had
a brief conversation with another female member of the staff who
told her that Tom Norris, the ISVI Business Manager, had decided
that she should not be paid for the time she had spent the day
before in the emergency room. Ms. E says she told her that it
didn't really matter because she was leaving. At that Ms. E says
the woman looked up at her and said with tears in her eyes, "That
means they've won again." Ms. E acknowledged that she simply
couldn't take any more, so she agreed that they had indeed won
again.
According to Ms. E, a member of the staff went to Charlie
Martin and told him about Norris's decision. To his credit, when
Martin heard that, he immediately reversed the decision and has
also insisted that Ms. E send all her medical bills connected
with the fall to the school for payment. But Ms. E freely admits
that the impression left on her by Kathy Hughes and Tom Norris
was that their job was to protect the school from any appearance
of responsibility for the accident.
An even more disconcerting instance of the differences
between Martin's attitudes and those of other senior members of
his staff occurred quite recently. A meeting of house parents was
called by DORS official Dee Showalter for March 30. Several staff
members reported that rumor had it that the group was to be
dressed down because some house parents had spoken with the
Braille Monitor. Throughout the week Bill Forney, director of
student services, was reported to have said repeatedly in the
hearing of people who quoted him to David Postle that he intended
to see that anyone who had spoken to the Monitor was fired.
Postle reports that the tension among the house parents was
extremely high as that Thursday and its meeting approached.
But when the meeting came, it could hardly have been more
different from what the staff had anticipated. According to
reports of several who attended, a new DORS investigator was
introduced, and the house parents were told about a special phone
line that would be in place for two weeks for their express use
to report anything they could remember from the past that they
thought should be investigated. Showalter told them that without
the help of the ISVI employees DORS could not hope to put the
past to rest and begin afresh. She said that she would be meeting
with the other ISVI employees in other gatherings, and she
trusted that they would all do their best to assist DORS
officials in starting over.
Postle says that there is still a healthy amount of
skepticism among ISVI staff because many still remember the
effort in 1991 to warn DORS of trouble at the school and the way
in which the employees were brushed off. But in general people
seem to be willing to give DORS officials another chance to do
what needs to be done. If the reports of Forney's threats are
accurate, one might doubt whether the entire ISVI senior
administration is as serious as Martin and his DORS bosses seem
to be about changing old patterns.
Martin reportedly continues to make substantive plans for
new procedures and policies; and, while there have clearly been
snags in implementing some of these, the public's very awareness
of some of the problems that have arisen this year would suggest
that there really is some increase in openness at the school. The
committee charged with searching for a new superintendent is hard
at work. David Postle is one of its members. The mother of one of
the children who was sexually abused by the student called Bill
is serving on the school's advisory council. These people are
unlikely to settle for second best or pat answers.
It is clearly in the best interests of the blind children of
Illinois for this institution to solve its problems and put the
more unsavory elements of its past to rest. The school has a long
history of educating blind students, many of whom have gone on to
lead full and productive lives. Let us hope that in the complex
and dangerous years ahead the institution can find its way to
solid ground, where committed and highly trained adults will have
a chance to work to educate and care for the blind children in
their charge.
UMSTED WITHDRAWS FROM ALABAMA INSTITUTE JOB SEARCH
From the Editor: When all is said and done, the residential
school administrators in the blindness field comprise a pretty
small community. Everyone knows where job openings are and even,
to some extent, who is applying. Perhaps it's my imagination, but
this year seems to have been a fairly volatile one for senior
level administrators at schools for the blind. Alabama, Arkansas,
Arizona, California, Illinois, Iowa, and Kentucky all come to
mind immediately. We have been reporting the circumstances that
led to the job opening at the Arkansas School for the Blind (see
the November, 1994, and March and April, 1995, issues of the
Braille Monitor). As we reported last month, Dr. Richard Umsted
was one of the four finalists for that position, but Ivan
Terzieff from Iowa was actually chosen. Terzieff was a strong
candidate in his own right, but Umsted's candidacy was
considerably weakened by the front-page story in the Arkansas
Democrat-Gazette which appeared the weekend that the finalists
were in town for interviews with the search committee and the
school's board of trustees.
All of that occurred in February. In April it was the turn
of the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind to search for a
principal at the school for the blind. This time Richard Umsted
was one of three finalists. It wasn't long before that news got
back to the Jacksonville Journal-Courier, Umsted's hometown
newspaper, already on record in favor of Umsted's having nothing
more to do with the education of children in the light of the
DORS and state police investigation findings of what had happened
during his administration at ISVI. (See "The Fall of Richard
Umsted" elsewhere in this issue.) The resulting Journal-Courier
story appeared on Thursday, April 6. Here it is:
Umsted in Line for School Job
by William Dennis
The former superintendent of Illinois School for the
Visually Impaired, who was fired from the position, is a finalist
for a post in Alabama.
An official at the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind
said Richard Umsted was made a finalist even though the institute
knew he was dismissed from ISVI for failure to report allegations
of student-on-student sexual abuse.
"I am aware of the background of all our candidates," said
Joseph Busta, Jr., President of the AIDB. "Richard has a very
strong national reputation in the field. We are willing to take a
look at him and many others."
Dr. Umsted is one of at least three finalists for the
position of principal of the Alabama School for the Blind in
Talladega, one of four schools operated by the AIDB, Dr. Busta
said. Finalists will visit the school over the next month for
interviews.
Dr. Busta hopes the position will be filled before the start
of the fall 1995 semester, he said. The AIDB is operated by a
board of trustees, but the final hiring decision will be Dr.
Busta's.
Dr. Umsted did not apply for the job, Dr. Busta said. He was
nominated for the post by professionals in the field who were
aware of the vacancy.
The Illinois Department of Rehabilitation Services fired Dr.
Umsted in August, 1994. DORS claimed he failed to report to the
agency and the Illinois Department of Children and Family
Services that a sixteen-year-old male student had abused a nine-
year-old boy in May, 1994.
A DORS press release said Dr. Umsted also failed to report
the inappropriate touching of two female students and the
possible sexual abuse of four male students, including the nine-
year-old boy.
Dr. Umsted had denied that charge. He could not be reached
for comment Wednesday.
The Illinois State Police investigated the incidents and
gave the report to Morgan County State Attorney Charles Colburn,
who said the report did not recommend criminal charges be filed.
It didn't take the reporters in Birmingham, Alabama, long to
get wind of the Jacksonville story. They began making their own
inquiries, and it is anybody's guess exactly what happened. All
we know for certain is that Richard Umsted decided "for personal
and professional reasons" to withdraw his name from consideration
for the position of principal of the Alabama School for the
Blind.
One can understand why Dr. Umsted would prefer to remain in
residential school administration. It has been his field for
almost twenty years, but it is hard to believe that, knowing the
unfortunate history at the Illinois School for the Visually
Impaired under Dr. Umsted's administration, any parents would be
content to have him placed in charge of their children. Even if
his subordinates were responsible for some of the problems that
occurred, Dr. Umsted set the tone and was responsible for seeing
that his policies were carried out to his satisfaction. A number
of those close to the situation maintain that he did exactly
that, but even if his intention was that student safety and well-
being and professional integrity be more important than the
school's reputation, he somehow failed to communicate these
standards to some of his staff. Perhaps Dr. Umsted would be well
advised to follow Leonard Ogburn's example and look for a
position in higher education. Sources close to the University of
Arkansas at Little Rock report that Ogburn has applied for a
position in the visual impairment program at that institution.
Perhaps Northern Illinois University could be persuaded to be
helpful to Dr. Umsted and the entire blindness field by finding a
place for him.
[Photo #5 Portrait Caption: Lou Tutt]
MARYLAND SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND ON THE HOT SEAT:
ANOTHER NAC AGENCY IN SERIOUS TROUBLE
by Barbara Pierce
For many years the Maryland School for the Blind (MSB) has
been a passionate supporter of the National Accreditation Council
for Agencies Serving the Blind and Visually Handicapped (NAC).
From 1979 to 1990 Dr. Richard Welsh, the current President of the
NAC Board, was the superintendent at MSB. Not only did he hotly
defend NAC wherever and whenever he could, but he did his best
whenever possible to smother the consumer voice and to ignore the
organized blind movement in matters affecting his institution in
particular and blind people in general. When the National
Federation of the Blind of Maryland went to the legislature in
the mid eighties to advocate for the nation's first Braille bill
to protect the right of blind students to learn Braille, he
organized MSB employees to speak against the idea, and took blind
children to the capitol to assure the legislators that they
didn't want to learn to read Braille. After MSB administrators
realized that the Braille Readers Are Leaders Contest was
conducted by the National Federation of the Blind and that NFB
representatives came to campus to honor MSB winners, no more
students took part in the contest until Welsh's departure from
the school.
In fact, the atmosphere at the Maryland School seems to have
been generally repressive during the Welsh years. Some who knew
the school well during the period say that teacher
recommendations about students were frequently ignored when they
conflicted with administrative convenience. So there was
something of a general sigh of relief when Welsh moved on to head
the Pittsburgh Guild for the Blind in Bridgeville, Pennsylvania,
in 1990.
The ensuing search for a new superintendent ended with the
selection of Louis Tutt, who until then had been superintendent
at the Missouri School for the Blind. Tutt was a clear NAC
supporter--considering the siege mentality of all NAC member
agencies during those years, nothing less would have been
tolerated by MSB officials. But Lou Tutt appears to fancy himself
a politician and a diplomat. In dealing with the National
Federation of the Blind he has tried steadily to have things both
ways. For example, he has never been willing to discuss the
school's decision to maintain NAC accreditation despite NAC's
obviously moribund condition, the school's increasing financial
pressures, and the growing number of residential schools severing
their ties with NAC in recent years. Yet he has allowed MSB
students to participate once more in the NFB's Braille Readers
are Leaders contest.
In fact, Tutt seems to have given cautious permission for
some superficial contact between the organized blind movement and
the school. Barbara Cheadle, President of the National
Organization of Parents of Blind Children, a division of the
National Federation of the Blind, was invited to speak to MSB
parent organizations and advisory groups; but offers by NFB
officials to conduct workshops or symposia for school employees
have been firmly, if bureaucratically, discouraged. After the
Maryland Braille bill was passed, the school agreed to nominal
participation in the implementation process, but MSB
representatives have done little to assist the process. Rather,
when given an opportunity to do so, they unsuccessfully argued
for passage of weakening amendments.
Until the 1994 convention of the NFB of Maryland, Tutt
seemed happy enough to accept invitations to address the largest
organization of blind citizens in the state and even appeared on
the National Convention agenda. Yet, when he was fighting for his
budgetary life before the state legislature, he made no move to
ask for Federation help in opposing cuts in his annual budget. In
short, Lou Tutt's rules for dealing with the NFB seemed to be:
Make nice as long as the activities are superficial. Don't let
the blind in at any significant level of school policymaking, and
certainly don't forge any alliances with consumers. Then came the
1994 Maryland convention. Once again Lou Tutt accepted an
invitation to speak, but he didn't bother to turn up to do so,
and he didn't send a member of his staff to take his place. He
simply didn't come, and he didn't apologize for not doing so.
In many ways that act of social rudeness and administrative
irresponsibility was the last straw. The NFB of Maryland had
become increasingly concerned about the quality of the education
and care blind children had been receiving at the MSB for several
years. Budget cuts had resulted in reduction of staff, and there
were signs that as usual the children were the ultimate losers.
We are most familiar with one case because it involved a
member of the Federation family. In the spring of 1991 Niki
White, daughter of Maryland Parents Division President Loretta
White, was injured in an accident at the school, where she was a
student at the time. According to her mother, the little finger
on her right hand was caught in a door and nearly severed. It was
a heavy oak rest-room door that snapped closed at the end of its
swing. Niki's finger was in the way because, at two-and-a-half,
she was sliding her hand along the wall as she walked. After what
we have learned about the behavior of officials at the Illinois
School for the Visually Impaired, perhaps we should be grateful
that the MSB nurse who treated Niki instructed a teacher to
inform her mother about the accident and insist that she take
Niki to get proper medical help. According to Loretta White, she
was taking care of other children when the call came, and she was
told simply that Niki had pinched her finger in a door and was
upset. Having no notion of the extent of the injury, Loretta
pointed out that, if Niki came home on her bus, she would be home
before Loretta could get her crowd of children fed and to the
school. But the teacher insisted that she come anyway.
Loretta says that Niki was being rocked by a woman staff
member when she got to the school and was wearing a large bandage
on her hand. She asked to see the damage but was told not to
remove the bandage. She asked if there had been bleeding. Yes,
and you should go to the emergency room was the rather
disconcerting answer she was given. She says that she still had
no idea what she was dealing with because the staff kept
referring to the problem as a pinched finger.
When they got to the emergency room, it was busy, and
Loretta was told that Niki would have to wait her turn. But when
Loretta took her to the bathroom, Niki bumped her finger, and,
screaming with the pain, she tore off the bandage. For the first
time, her mother says, she realized that the end of Niki's finger
was hanging by a tendon. Loretta reports that the staff began
yelling at her for having waited so long to get Niki the medical
help she clearly needed. But there was a further wait for a hand
surgeon, and when he saw the damage, he was not hopeful about
whether the finger would reattach. Luckily, Loretta reports that
it has done so, though she believes that Niki does not have much
feeling in the finger.
As the Federation began looking into the situation, it
became clear that the school was unwilling to do anything to
alter its parent-notification policies or its heavy, slamming
doors. The Whites were told that it would be too expensive to
modify all the doors at the school so that they would not bang
shut. The nurse maintained in discussions afterward that she had
minimized Niki's injury because she did not want Mrs. White
driving to the school in an upset condition. Only after
preparations had begun for a lawsuit against the school did
officials agree to make some reparations. Eventually they agreed
to cover Niki's medical costs and modify some of the doors at the
school. They have also now made a few changes, the Whites report,
in school policies about notifying parents in case of accidents
at the school.
Rumors persist about other problems and accidents. A source
close to the school complains that the provisions of IEPs are
often not met. In fact, she says, two deaf-blind youngsters are
now attending school out of state at MSB's expense because of the
school's failure to comply with IEP provisions. Jude Lincicome,
who is an active member of the Maryland Parents Division of the
NFB, was forced to place her son Jeremy in a first-grade class at
his neighborhood school for half of each day because, in her
view, the academic instruction at MSB was completely
insufficient. The Braille instruction he receives at the school
is good, Ms. Lincicome reports, but Jeremy was receiving one hour
a week of math, and that was identification of coins, not
addition and subtraction. Other subjects were even more poorly
covered.
The problem according to Jude is not the teacher or the
aides, who she says are excellent, but the class size and the
short instructional day. According to his mother, Jeremy's new
schedule has provided him with an hour and a half more learning
time a day despite the hour he must spend traveling in the middle
getting to his second school.
MSB officials excuse the large classes by pointing to recent
budget cuts, though it is harder to understand how such cuts
compel a school day that, according to parents, often begins as
late as 9:00 or 9:30, ends at 2:00, and invests an hour and a
half in lunch. But surely not even school officials would
attribute thoughtless cruelty to a child to budget cuts. Last
summer, while Jeremy was still a full-time student at MSB, on one
of those days when the afternoon temperature reached ninety-eight
degrees, Jude Lincicome says that he returned by bus from a music
class at a nearby elementary school close to the end of the
school day. Jeremy was told to remain on the bus in the parking
lot to wait for the other students who were to be driven home in
the vehicle. But for some reason the children were an hour late
in leaving school. The bus driver and the aide assigned to the
bus took turns going into the building to cool off and get drinks
of water. Jeremy remained perspiring on the bus, without even an
offer of water. When the other children arrived, he spent another
hour getting home. Stories like this one suggest that common
sense and compassion would seem to be in as short supply in some
operations at MSB as funding and good faith.
Beyond these specific indications of problems at the
Maryland School for the Blind, there were vague rumors and more
general rumblings that all was not well. Then on Monday, April
17, 1995, the Baltimore Sun published a long story on the front
page of its Maryland section. Reasonable people may differ from
one another on the matter of where painful budget cuts should be
made. It is always hard to reduce staff, and unhappy people will
be quick to second-guess the decision-makers in power. But
allegations that Medicaid funds have not been managed
appropriately and questions about the allocation of seven million
dollars of missing funds are serious at any time. And when an
institution is in fiscal hot water, it is a matter of poor
judgment on the part of someone to purchase the organization's
president a new car and spend $35,000 on refurbishing his home
with new wallpaper and carpeting. The whole story makes troubling
reading. Here is the article as it appeared in the Baltimore Sun:
Maryland School for the Blind in Turmoil
Upheavals Trouble Once-Proud Program
by Joe Nawrozki
The Maryland School for the Blind, which has endured for
more than a century as a national model in the education of blind
and multi-disabled children, is facing troubled times.
Shrinking state support, a bitter staff shake-up, and
questions about financial management have critics wondering if
the school still can provide the quality care and education that
have been its hallmark.
From its idyllic setting on an Overlea tract dotted with
woods and a stream, and until early in this century at sites in
Baltimore, the landmark school has sent thousands of blind and
disabled children on to productive lives.
But now even its staunchest supporters concede that all is
not well. "No doubt about it," said board chairman Harry F.
Wright Jr. "This is the toughest time in the school's history."
Among the issues:
In 1991 the state cut more than $300,000 from the school's
allocation. MSB depends on the state for eighty-five percent of
its $12.8 million annual budget, and state funding is still below
1991 levels. The school has been unable to make up the difference
from private sources. As a result, officials have secretly
discussed selling or leasing some of the school's property,
twenty-two buildings on ninety-five acres.
On July 1 the school's five program directors--who managed
day-to-day operations and planned programs--were fired. Two
members of the school's board of directors resigned in protest,
and eventually forty other staff members quit or saw their
positions abolished. As a result of the brain drain, many parents
now say their children's education is suffering.
While school officials were lobbying in Annapolis to
prevent further budget cuts, MSB President Louis M. Tutt ordered
a mid-sized luxury car and had $35,000 worth of renovations done
on his campus residence--including new wallpaper and carpeting.
A member of the General Assembly's Joint Budget and Audit
Committee has called for his panel to investigate MSB's budget.
Senator John J. Hafer, a Republican representing Allegheny and
Garrett Counties, said school officials have not satisfactorily
answered questions raised in a critical 1992 state audit.
Among the unresolved issues from the audit is the school's
inability to account satisfactorily for more than $7 million in
salaries and wages.
"I'm sensing the Maryland School for the Blind has a board
of directors that is operating with a lot of latitude and without
a lot of oversight," Mr. Hafer said.
The school's defenders say the disputes are the consequence
of making hard decisions in a harsh financial climate.
"Lou Tutt had the guts to do what a corporate chief has to
do," said Bro Tubman, who served on the MSB board from 1971 to
1990. "He took steps, as unpleasant as they might be. People who
do that are often unpopular."
For his part, Mr. Tutt says the school's ability to educate
its 190 resident and 200 off-campus students has not been
damaged. Five years ago a national council that accredits schools
for the blind every five years gave the school an excellent
rating. However, that was before the reorganization and the
audit.
Confidence is Coming Back
"We had some problems with the restructuring initially," he
said, "but through intervention . . . visits [by parents to the
school] and other steps we have taken, that confidence is coming
back."
School officials say they are beefing up their efforts to
raise private funds and have hired a full-time development
director. They say teams have been established to communicate
more effectively between the administration and staff.
Said Jeff Valentine, head of a parents' advisory council and
a critic of the administration who was elected to the school's
board in January, "There were cliques; it was like a family." He
added, "Now we are making adjustments to survive. We have to
become less dependent on state dollars and increase our fund-
raising efforts."
And, he said, "the staff has to trust their bosses."
Critics say a sea change at MSB occurred in 1990, when Mr.
Tutt was named superintendent after nine years in a similar post
at the Missouri School for the Blind. He began a series of shake-
ups and firings that left many longtime staff members bewildered
and angry. Last year, Mr. Tutt was promoted to the new position
of president, while Richard M. DeMott, a senior administrator at
MSB since 1987, became superintendent.
Many who work at MSB describe an atmosphere of fear that
grew after Mr. Tutt's arrival. In an employee poll taken by the
administration, one said the school is "run as a dictatorship
hierarchy."
Mary Lou Lanham of Waldorf in Charles County said she and
her husband, Donald, watched their daughter Jessica, now nine,
flourish in MSB's outreach program under two of MSB's fired
directors, Dennis Duda and Suzanne Wayson.
"When I heard they were fired, it was like I got struck by a
car," said Mrs. Lanham. "They took a personal interest in my
daughter, who is blind in one eye and learning disabled. They
evaluated her, got us technology to work with her. I would call
them and they would return my call, sometimes late at night. . .
. They didn't have a time clock.
"But now, when I call the Maryland School for the Blind,
they don't return my calls," she said. "When you have a
challenged child, it's very frustrating, and the school now
compounds that frustration."
Under the new regime, staff members say, the school's
longtime family atmosphere disintegrated into acrimony as budget
problems and a growing population of multi-disabled students made
the school's mission even more difficult.
Directors Fired to Cut Costs
According to Mr. Tutt, his firing of the five directors--
with agreement from the MSB board--was prompted by growing
concern over the cut in state funding and the need to consolidate
the staff and take other cost-cutting steps to save $1 million
between 1991 and the present.
More than forty other experienced staff members of 360
either left or were fired when their positions were cut. Critics
say the firings and departures hurt the school's ability to serve
its population.
"People from the outside still expect them to be experts at
MSB. But that's not so. Many of us see the school in a slow
spiral into nonexistence," said Jane Farber, a teacher of
visually impaired students in Wicomico County on the Eastern
Shore.
Diane Chapman, a speech pathologist and Loyola College
instructor who worked for ten years at MSB, said much of the
school's intense dedication to children's care and innovative
thinking evaporated in the shake-up.
"There still are some terrific people who have great skills
left at the school," she said. "There was a passion for the job,
and there still is, but fewer people have it."
How this has affected referrals is open to some debate.
Baltimore County has not referred any school-age students to MSB
in two years, although eight county infants and toddlers are
receiving care there. A county source who deals with blind
students and who spoke under condition of anonymity said
colleagues are reluctant to refer students to MSB because of
concerns about the school's professional quality.
Carole Shewbridge, a supervisor in special education, would
not comment on MSB's problems. She said Baltimore County children
now are taught by the county's own special education teachers in
a public school setting.
Of the MSB parents who protested the reorganization, among
the most vocal were Lucia and Dick Farley of Frostburg. They
moved to Maryland from Rhode Island so their son, Richard, who
has multiple disabilities, could attend the school.
"Richard benefitted at once from people like Monica Chan,
Dennis Duda, and others at MSB," Mr. Farley said of staff members
now departed. "Our son made breakthroughs at MSB nobody expected,
primarily because of the courage of one of his former speech
therapists who had learned some radical techniques and was
entrepreneurial enough to adapt them into his program.
A Sinking Ship
"But since then, due to case overload and burnout, Richard
lost three speech therapists in successive years. Other
professionals have also been leaving as if from a sinking ship.
More still are trying" to leave.
The lack of continuity in their son's instruction hampered
his learning, the Farleys said.
Their son is still receiving the program, Mr. Tutt said. He
said, "People have left for different reasons, but that has
tailed off."
Parkville ophthalmologist Dr. James E. Comber resigned from
the board after the five program directors were dismissed.
"Some of the program directors had established a great deal
of trust in the counties," said Dr. Comber, a surgeon. "When they
were fired, all of that experience was lost."
Mr. Tutt disagreed. "Those persons served the school well
and the programs well. In our consolidations, we continue to
serve the school districts well. We still have that experience
with people who are still with us."
Mr. Tutt said the uproar over the firings has not meant a
loss in private contributions. The school lost only one
contributor, he said, but The Sun has identified others.
One former benefactor, retired banker Henry C. Moesinger,
said he stopped donating $1,000 or more a year to MSB because
"they terminated known professionals who had over 100 years in
educating special children and who possessed proven quality. It
was not a sound decision, and I wrote that to the board, because
many things that happened there happened in secrecy."
There is no question that the school operates with little
oversight. Legally, MSB enjoys a "public-private" status--one of
six private institutions for the blind in the nation subsidized
primarily by public funds. While MSB depends on the state for
eighty-five percent of its budget, it is governed by a private,
independent, volunteer board of directors. Only one of the
twenty-five directors is blind.
Critics say they're concerned about how the administration
has spent the money it has had.
Parents, former employees, and Senator Hafer were outraged
by the $18,000 the school spent to buy the president a 1994 Buick
Le Sabre last year and $35,000 spent for carpeting, wallpaper,
bathroom improvements, windows, and other work on Mr. Tutt's two-
story stone residence since the budget crunch began. They
wondered how those expenditures would look at a time when the
school was lobbying hard against further funding cuts in
Annapolis.
School officials defended the spending, saying the president
needed a new car and calling the money spent on his residence
routine maintenance.
Car Was Board Purchase
"I did not purchase the car. The board purchased the car for
me and others to attend meetings at night and during the
weekends," Mr. Tutt said, although he parks the vehicle in the
garage of his home.
He also said his eighty-two-year-old residence needs
periodic renovation.
David L. Evans, MSB's chief operating officer, said the
school did not spend state money or restricted private donations
for the car or the home improvements. "Private money from our
endowment fund was used," he said.
More serious, some critics say, are allegations that
Medicaid funds were placed in the school's general operating fund
rather than a fund earmarked for student services.
While it is not mandatory that Medicaid funds be placed in a
separate account, administrators must be able to show that the
money is indeed spent on student services.
The school received more than $200,000 in Medicaid money
last year, according to state figures.
Mr. Tutt said Medicaid funds weren't misused and said they
"were kept in a separate account" to be spent on student care.
However, three sources with extensive knowledge of the
school's finances said this was not the case.
We Are Out of Compliance
"Medicaid reimbursements were supposed to go into a special
fund, but they never went in one," said Pat Baker, a secretary
for fifteen years at MSB's therapy and health services division
before she left in January.
"We were out of compliance and could not get an accounting
of where the money was going; how could it be tracked?" she said.
"We were directed to place the Medicaid funds in the general
operating fund," said another source with direct knowledge of the
funds. "We harped on it, but the people in power told us what to
do. And at that point we were getting concerned for our jobs."
For others these are less important issues than the school's
long-term financial problems. Even before the shake-ups, "the
funding was not keeping up with the demands at the school," said
Richard L. Welsh, MSB's superintendent from 1979 to 1990 and now
president of the Greater Pittsburgh Guild for the Blind.
School officials now concede there have been discussions
about selling or leasing some of the school's valuable land or
buildings. Critics say they have not always been so forthcoming.
Plans for the Property
"I sat in my office with Mr. Wright [the board president]
and asked him specifically about the board's long-term plan to
dispose of part of the land at the school. He told me that has
never been considered. I have found this not to be true," said an
angry Senator Hafer.
"I want to know abut that campus utilization," he said, "I
want to know if they sold the land--which is in a prime real
estate area--to whom would they sell it, who would get the money,
and what would they do with the money?"
School officials say there has never been a specific
proposal. "The last resort would be to sell some of the grounds
or buildings," said Mr. Wright, a retired banker. "But we have
had to put some ideas away for a rainy day, find ways to reduce
the school's operating cost."
He said the board is trying to find additional uses for its
facilities, such as working with local colleges to train more
care givers for the blind.
Article by Joe Nawrozki, originally printed in The Baltimore
Sun on April 17, 1995, reprinted by courtesy of The Baltimore
Sun.
There you have it. Is it another Illinois School? Of course
not. But it is serious, and more blind children are receiving
less than the quality education they need and deserve. And once
again it is trained officials whose arrogance and fear of losing
power are giving a bad name to professionalism. Louis Tutt and
the others like him in the field of work with the blind must
learn that we are going to have to come to agreement about the
education of blind children and begin to work together if the
forces arrayed against specialized education of blind children
are not to win and destroy the only chance our children have.
SIXTY-NINE MEMBERS AND FALLING:
THE NAC COUNTDOWN CONTINUES
by Barbara Pierce
It comes as no surprise to anybody that 1994 was another bad
year for the National Accreditation Council for Agencies Serving
the Blind and Visually Handicapped (NAC). In summary we can
report that NAC dropped from seventy-four to sixty-nine U.S.
agencies still willing to have their names associated with it.
True, two small agencies came on board (Pinnelas County
Lighthouse and Mana-Sota Lighthouse, both in Florida), but seven
had the sense and integrity to jump ship. These were Illinois
Department of Rehabilitation Services, Royal Maid Association for
the Blind (Mississippi), Feinbloom Vision Rehabilitation Center
(Pennsylvania), York County Blind Center (Pennsylvania), Oklahoma
League for the Blind, New Mexico School for the Visually
Handicapped, and Wisconsin Industries for the Blind.
Following the defection of the Illinois Department of
Rehabilitation Services, only four of the fifty-two state
vocational rehabilitation agencies (eight percent) are willing to
remain NAC-accredited. Only eighteen (twenty-two percent) of the
eighty-two sheltered shops employing blind people remain in the
NAC fold. And with the New Mexico School for the Visually
Handicapped now gone, NAC is left with eighteen of the seventy-
one residential schools for the blind (twenty-five percent) as
members.
In this issue of the Monitor--an issue in which we have
dealt almost exclusively with the shortcomings of residential
schools--it is inevitable that we look more closely at the
statistics concerning schools. Three quarters of the residential
schools for the blind in this country have chosen to have nothing
to do with NAC. Of the eighteen that do find it handy to wave the
NAC flag, five (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, and
Maryland)--almost a third--have found their way onto the front
pages of the paper because of some sort of scandal during the
last five years. The entire group of fifty-three non-NAC-
affiliated schools can't begin to assemble a collection of
illegal actions and examples of poor judgment and self-serving
cruelty to rival the array this little bunch has put together.
Here for all to see and appreciate is the quality of service
represented by the NAC seal of good practice. It may still be too
early to tell what NAC will do in response to the scandals at the
Illinois and Arkansas schools, but in the past the so-called
accrediting body has always studiously looked the other way when
the subject of problems in member agencies has been raised.
N
AC has certainly had plenty of its own troubles to keep the
board and the staff--such as it is--occupied. The most recent
disaster to become generally known was Secretary of Education
Richard Riley's decision to remove NAC from the Department's list
of recognized accrediting bodies. This decision was made last
summer following a meeting he had with Donald Capps, President of
the National Federation of the Blind of South Carolina, and James
Gashel, Director of Governmental Affairs for the National
Federation of the Blind. Prior to that meeting, Jim Gashel wrote
Secretary Riley a letter outlining the reasons why NAC should be
removed from the list.
Here are the texts of Jim Gashel's letter to Secretary Riley
and the Secretary's letter to Ruth Westman, Executive Director of
the National Accreditation Council:
MEMORANDUM
FROM: James Gashel
TO: The Honorable Richard Riley
Secretary of Education
DATE: May 20, 1994
RE: Reasons for removing NAC from the Secretary of Education's
list of recognized national accrediting agencies
Donald Capps is the President of the National Federation of
the Blind of South Carolina, and I am the Federation's Director
of Governmental Affairs. Mr. Capps has asked me to provide you
with this briefing memorandum in preparation for our meeting of
June 2, 1994.
The organization known as NAC (cited above) is the National
Accreditation Council for Agencies Serving the Blind and Visually
Handicapped. NAC currently appears on the Secretary of
Education's list of nationally recognized accrediting agencies,
although there is essentially no valid Federal purpose being
served by this designation. At our upcoming meeting with you, we
would like to discuss removing NAC from the list of recognized
agencies.
BACKGROUND:
Pursuant to Federal law the Secretary of Education maintains
a list of recognized agencies which accredit programs for
postsecondary-level students. Some Federal programs require that
institutions providing Federally assisted postsecondary services
must be accredited by a recognized agency as a condition for
receiving Federal funds. The accreditation requirement in
particular extends to programs serving persons who receive
Federally funded student financial aid.
The Higher Education Act Amendments of 1992 restrict the
Secretary of Education's authority to recognize accrediting
agencies. The revised, limited authority extends the Secretary's
recognition only to those agencies which provide accreditation in
relationship to eligibility for a postsecondary institution, its
programs, or its students to receive Federal funds. The Secretary
does not recognize accrediting agencies for any purpose other
than this.
NAC'S CURRENT RECOGNITION
NAC was originally placed on the list of accrediting
agencies over twenty years ago. At that time the list included
agencies which accredited elementary and secondary as well as
postsecondary education programs. Therefore, the scope of NAC's
original recognition was for the accreditation of elementary and
secondary programs, including specialized state schools for the
blind. Although NAC continues to be listed, the Secretary's
recognition no longer extends to accreditation at the elementary
and secondary levels. Moreover, accreditation must now be related
to eligibility for Federal funds at the postsecondary level in
order for an agency to continue to be listed.
NAC's current scope of recognition relates to its
accreditation of a small number of programs that serve blind
adults. In documents on file with the Department of Education NAC
has listed thirteen agencies from among its accredited member
agencies that presently fall within its scope of Federal
recognition. However, there is no evidence that any of the
thirteen agencies or their enrollees would be disqualified from
receiving Federal funds if not accredited by NAC or some other
recognized agency.
REASONS FOR REMOVING NAC FROM THE SECRETARY'S LIST
(1) Recognition of NAC no longer serves any authorized or
useful Federal purpose. Programs serving blind adults receive
Federal funding primarily through the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
Agencies, such as the South Carolina Commission for the Blind,
receive formula grants administered by the Office of Special
Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) and the
Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA). There are extensive
Federal regulations and monitoring and auditing procedures in
place to assure program integrity. The state-level programs are
in turn required to have standards for their third-party grantees
to follow. Therefore, there are neither statutory nor regulatory
requirements which link accreditation of blind services programs
to eligibility for Federal funds.
(2) Even if accreditation were necessary for Federal fund
eligibility, NAC does not merit the Secretary's recognition.
Specific criteria are published for the Secretary to follow in
recognizing accrediting agencies. There is more than ample basis
for finding that NAC does not measure up to the published
criteria. The following areas of weakness in particular should be
noted:
(a) Lack of Acceptance Within Its Field: Rather than
achieving acceptance, NAC has caused divisive controversy
among agencies, professionals, and consumers. Fewer than one
fifth of the agencies that could apply for NAC accreditation
have ever done so, and the recent trend is for agencies once
accredited to withdraw. NAC membership has fallen from a
high of 104 agencies to 74 as of December 31, 1993.
(b) Insufficiency of Resources: For its current funding NAC
is essentially dependent upon the dues income received from
its member agencies. The recent membership decline includes
several large agencies which were paying dues at the maximum
rate. The continued withdrawal of its members means that NAC
will eventually be unable to meet its current operating
expenses. Keeping the standards up to date will be
impossible. Major grant funding, once provided by the
American Foundation for the Blind and others, has been
withdrawn. Financial insolvency within a year or two can be
expected.
(c) Failure to Monitor Accredited Programs as Scheduled:
During 1993 NAC was scheduled to review thirty-two of its
accredited member agencies for required periodic
reaccreditation, but nearly half (fourteen) of them were
extended without evaluation. Several others withdrew from
membership. Only thirteen of those scheduled for review in
1993 were actually evaluated. Twenty-six are scheduled for
review in 1994, but only a fraction of them will be
evaluated. Under NAC's current policy of extension without
reaccreditation, there is no assurance that member agencies
continue to merit approval.
REQUESTED ACTION
NAC should be removed from the list of nationally recognized
accrediting agencies. In 1992 NAC's recognition by the Secretary
was extended for only a two-year, "minimum," period. Since that
time the Higher Education Amendments of 1992 were passed, further
limiting the basis for accreditation recognition. As a result the
required regular review of NAC has been postponed until the fall
of 1994 or the spring of 1995.
All recognized agencies, including NAC, have been undergoing
an examination to determine whether their continued listing is
appropriate in light of the 1992 amendments. Some agencies will
be removed from the list because there is no relationship between
the accreditation they offer and the flow of Federal funds.
Therefore, NAC could be removed from the list within a few months
on the basis of the changed scope of recognition. This action
would not imply any adverse findings, just that there is no
longer any statutory authority for the recognition.
That was the memo Mr. Gashel wrote to the Secretary of
Education prior to the June 2, 1994, meeting he and Mr. Capps had
with the Secretary. Here is the letter Secretary Riley wrote
following it:
Washington, D.C.
Ms. Ruth Westman, Executive Director
National Accreditation Council for Agencies
Serving the Blind and Visually Handicapped
New York, New York
Dear Ms. Westman:
You have already been informed by Wilhelmina Delco, Chair of
the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and
Integrity, that the Advisory Committee voted at its June 28-30,
1994, meeting to recommend that I withdraw the recognition of the
National Accreditation Council for Agencies Serving the Blind and
Visually Handicapped. As Mrs. Delco mentioned, the Advisory
Committee took this action after determining that your agency did
not meet the requirement contained in the Higher Education
Amendments of 1992 that, for an accrediting agency to be
recognized by the Secretary, it must accredit institutions of
higher education or higher education programs, as these terms are
defined in statute.
Your agency was given an opportunity to appeal the Advisory
Committee's recommendation, in accordance with Section
602.14(e)(2) of the regulations governing the recognition of
accrediting agencies. It is my understanding that your agency did
not appeal that recommendation.
I am writing to inform you that I concur with the
recommendation of the Advisory Committee and hereby withdraw
recognition of the National Accreditation Council for Agencies
Serving the Blind and Visually Handicapped. I wish to make it
clear, however, that I am taking this action solely for the
reason stated above, not because of any determination on my part
that your agency is not a reliable authority as to the quality of
education provided by the institutions or programs it accredits.
Yours sincerely,
Richard W. Riley
There is no reason why Secretary Riley should know what we
in the blindness field know about NAC's track record in
protecting blind consumers of services from poor programs, unjust
treatment, or illegal practices. NAC didn't accredit the kinds of
programs it had to in order to remain on the Department of
Education's list of accrediting bodies, so it was removed. The
important thing is that NAC can no longer bamboozle the
unsophisticated with claims that it is on the Department of
Education list of accrediting bodies. That fact alone should
encourage more agencies to recognize the hollowness of NAC claims
and make up their minds to jump ship.
Already there are twenty states with no NAC-accredited
agencies and twenty more with only one. This means that seventy-
one percent of the agencies accredited by NAC in this country are
located in twelve states. In fact, half the NAC members are
clustered in six states: Florida, twelve; New York, six; and
Georgia, Illinois, Ohio, and Tennessee, four each. In other
words, the contagion is becoming ever more localized.
There is one further aspect of the NAC question that should
be reported--NAC's reaccreditation schedule. At the beginning of
1994 the list of NAC member agencies indicated that twenty-six
were due for reaccreditation during the year. Six, of course,
decided not to join up again (the seventh one to drop last year
was Royal Maid, whose membership was not scheduled to expire
until 1997). Of the remaining twenty, six received six-month to
one-year extensions, and six more were extended two to four
years. Who knows what the two- to four-year extensions represent,
but the very short ones are usually given when NAC is hoping to
entice agencies into staying when they are getting ready to
defect. The remaining eight agencies plus the two small Florida
lighthouses were actually reaccredited for the full, five-year
period in 1994. That comes to one a month with two months left
over to recover from the strain. Counting the six
reaccreditations postponed a year or so, fifteen agencies are up
for evaluation in 1995. The asterisk indicates that the
accreditation was postponed from 1994. Here are the agencies
scheduled for NAC reaccreditation in 1995:
Arkansas School for the Blind
*Santa Monica Center for the Partially Sighted
*Division of Blind Services (Florida)
*Ft. Lauderdale Lighthouse
Lighthouse of Pasco and Hernando Counties (Florida)
*Philip J. Rock School (Illinois)
Davenport Vision Institute (Iowa)
Wichita Industries and Services for the Blind (Kansas)
Tupelo Center (Mississippi)
New Hampshire Association for the Blind
*Guiding Eyes for the Blind (New York)
Rockland County Association for the Visually Impaired (New York)
Cincinnati Association for the Blind (Ohio)
*Loaia Cordero Institute for Blind Children (Puerto Rico)
The Alliance for the Blind and Visually Impaired (Tennessee)
There you have the 1994 NAC report. The National
Accreditation Council continues to die the death of a thousand
cuts. It must be a painful experience for those who cannot bring
themselves to end the misery. But it is both painful and
infuriating to watch this farce from a distance, knowing that NAC
must take some responsibility for the damage done by the
administrators of its member agencies like Illinois School for
the Visually Impaired. When hiding the problems and hurting the
children are done to protect the institution's good name, when
the so-called NAC seal of good practice shields agency officials
from tough public scrutiny, and when the accrediting body looks
the other way rather than confront member misconduct, the
blindness field must put an end to this travesty of accreditation
called NAC.
******************************
If you or a friend would like to remember the National
Federation of the Blind in your will, you can do so by employing
the following language:
"I give, devise, and bequeath unto National Federation of
the Blind, 1800 Johnson Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21230, a
District of Columbia nonprofit corporation, the sum of $_____ (or
"_____ percent of my net estate" or "The following stocks and
bonds: _____") to be used for its worthy purposes on behalf of
blind persons."
******************************
RECIPES
This month's recipes come from members of the National
Federation of the Blind of North Carolina.
[Photo #6 Portrait Caption: Hazel Staley]
BREAKFAST CASSEROLE
by Hazel Staley
Hazel Staley was the President of the NFB of North Carolina
for many years before retiring in 1992. She is still active and
is Secretary of the Charlotte Chapter. She is also an excellent
cook.
Ingredients:
1 pound spicy hot pork sausage
6 eggs
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dry mustard
6 slices white bread, cubed
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated
Method: Brown sausage, crumble, and drain. Beat eggs with
milk, salt, and mustard. Butter a 9 by 13-inch dish and layer
bread, sausage, and cheese. Pour egg mixture over ingredients in
dish. Cover with aluminum foil and refrigerate overnight. Remove
foil and bake at 350 degrees for forty-five minutes. Serves six.
[Photo #7 Portrait Caption: Mabel Conder]
CHEESE BALLS
by Mabel Conder
Mabel Conder has been a member of the NFB of North Carolina
since its founding in 1969. She has served in many capacities
including state Secretary, a position from which she retired in
1992. She is the chapter President in Charlotte.
Ingredients:
2 sticks butter or margarine, melted
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated
2 cups Rice Krispies
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Method: Sift together flour, salt, and pepper. Stir cheese
and Rice Krispies into margarine mixture and add flour mixture.
Mix thoroughly. Roll into small balls and bake fifteen minutes at
350 degrees.
PECAN SANDIES
by Mabel Conder
Ingredients:
2 sticks butter or margarine
4 teaspoons sugar
2 cups pecans, chopped
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups all-purpose flour
Method: Cream butter and sugar and add vanilla. Beat until
light and fluffy. Gradually add flour and mix in nuts. Pinch into
small pieces and place on cookie sheet. Bake thirty minutes at
300 degrees. Roll in powdered sugar while still warm.
[Photo #8 Portrait Caption: Wayne and Linda Shevlin]
WAYNE'S QUICK BBQ SAUCE
by Wayne E. Shevlin
Wayne Shevlin has served as chapter President and Vice
President and in many other capacities in the Raleigh Chapter. He
has served on the NFB of North Carolina Board of Directors and
was First Vice President for several years before becoming state
President in 1994.
Ingredients:
1 cup hot BBQ sauce (I prefer Kraft)
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
pepper and onion flakes to taste
1/4 cup white vinegar
dab mustard
1/2 cup catsup
Method: Combine all ingredients and cook at just below
boiling point for thirty to forty-five minutes. If sauce is too
hot, cut with more brown sugar. It's great served on any kind of
meat.
LINDA'S STATE CONVENTION MEATBALLS
by Linda Shevlin
Besides being the better half to the state President,
according to Wayne, Linda serves as state chairman of the
National Organization of Parents of Blind Children of North
Carolina. She has served on the Board of Directors and as Vice
President of the Triangle Federation of the Blind in Raleigh. She
is currently chapter President.
Ingredients:
3 pounds ground beef
1 egg, well beaten
2 medium onions, chopped
1 teaspoon celery salt
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 12-ounce bottle chili sauce
1 10-ounce jar grape jelly
Juice of 2 lemons (optional)
Method: Combine beef, egg, onion, celery, and garlic salt.
Mix well and shape into balls about the size of a large marble.
Saut ten minutes turning often or bake at 350 degrees for twenty
to twenty-five minutes. Combine remaining ingredients and heat.
Add cooked meatballs and let simmer to blend flavors. Serve hot,
makes about fifty-two meatballs. I prefer to pour the mixture
over the meatballs and put the mixture in a tightly closed
container in the refrigerator overnight to blend. Then I heat the
meatballs before serving.
SUGAR-FREE THOUSAND ISLAND DRESSING
by Sharon Weddington
Sharon Weddington has been a member and officer in the
Salisbury Chapter for several years. She served as a member of
the Board of Directors of the NFB of North Carolina for two terms
before being elected Treasurer of the affiliate last September.
Ingredients:
3/4 cup low-cal mayonnaise
1/2 cup spicy tomato sauce
3 tablespoons minced dill pickle or relish
1 tablespoon minced chives or onions
1 tablespoon green pepper, minced
2 packets Equal sweetener
Method: Blend all ingredients with a fork or wire whisk.
Cover and store in refrigerator. Best when used within two weeks.
Makes one and a half cups.
QUICK PICKLES
by Macie Koontz
Macie Koontz served as chapter Secretary and Vice President
in Salisbury until becoming President this year.
Ingredients:
7 cups sliced cucumbers
1 cup sliced onion
1 cup sliced green peppers
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon celery seed
1 cup vinegar
2 cups sugar
Method: Mix all ingredients, except cucumbers. Pour mixture
over cucumbers. Refrigerate. With time mixture will cover all
cucumbers. Pickles are ready to eat in one to two days.
** ** MONITOR MINIATURES ** **
** Braille Materials Available:
In the light of the subject of this month's Braille Monitor,
we thought it was appropriate to pass along the following press
release, which we recently received:
Child victimization can often be prevented through
education. At the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children (NCMEC) we believe that families should be careful but
that they do not need to live in fear.
In an effort to reach out to special populations of families
in the United States with safety and prevention guidelines for
children, we have produced two new publications in Braille: My 8
Rules for Safety and Tips to Help Prevent the Abduction and
Sexual Exploitation of Your Children.
My 8 Rules for Safety contains safety tips for children.
Tips to Help Prevent the Abduction and Sexual Exploitation of
Your Children is a summary of NCMEC's general safety tips for
parents.
Single copies of these publications are available at no cost
by calling toll-free at (800) 843-5678 or (800) 826-7653 (TDD),
or writing to NCMEC at 2101 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 550,
Arlington, Virginia 22201-3052.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is a
private, nonprofit organization that works in cooperation with
U.S. Department of Justice. In the decade since its establishment
in 1984, NCMEC has worked with law enforcement on more than
41,000 missing and exploited child cases resulting in the
recovery of more than 27,000 children.
[Photo #9 Portrait Caption: Judy Jobes]
** Honored:
On March 27, 1995, Judy Jobes, who is a Federation leader in
Erie, Pennsylvania, and a long-time GTE operator, was one of
forty-two individual GTE employees to be honored in Dallas,
Texas, with the presentation of the GTE President's Cup in
Leadership. Judy was one of twelve silver cup winners and one of
two blind people honored by the company. General Colin Powell
addressed an audience of winners, their guests, and high company
officials; and Johnnie Cash's family entertained the group.
Congratulations to Judy Jobes and to GTE for its recognition of
the contributions made by its blind employees.
** Elected:
The Polk County Chapter of the National Federation of the
Blind of Florida conducted elections in December of 1994 with the
following results: Lola Crawford, President; Nellie Stanley, Vice
President; Karen Harris, Secretary; and Harold Mangus, Treasurer.
Allene Ambrose, Larry Brady, Ralph Burger, Lloyd Crawford, Hugh
DuBois, Byron Jay, and Elizabeth McKee were elected to serve on
the Board.
** For Sale:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
Webster's Vest Pocket Dictionary (seven volumes); Swan 500C
amateur radio transceiver, 10-80 meters coverage, with matching
power supply/speaker; hand-held microphone and TV/radio
interference filter; Sony stereo three-speed, four-track tape
recorder (needs repair, will take best offer); Paragon stereo
audio mixer; and LP records and cassettes of mostly rock and
country. For prices and further details, contact Barry and Louise
Wood (in any format) at 6904 Bergenwood Avenue, North Bergen, New
Jersey 07047, (201) 868-3336.
** New Chapter:
On January 11, 1995, the Sierra Chapter became the newest
addition to the National Federation of the Blind of New Mexico.
Officers are Claudette Fletcher, President; Richard Ashcroft,
Vice President; Esther Curtis, Secretary; and Bonnie Warwick,
Treasurer. Congratulations to everyone in the new chapter and to
the NFB of New Mexico.
** Attention New York State School for the Blind Alumni:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
The Alumni Association of the New York State School for the
Blind is having its annual reunion at the Sheraton in Batavia,
June 23 to 25. Everyone who went to Batavia is invited, whether
you have previously attended an alumni reunion or not. A tour of
the campus is planned. If you are unable to attend the reunion,
you can send $5 and become a member and receive a bulletin.
Contact Pat Rescorl at 268 Meigs Street, Rochester, New York
14607, (716) 244-9433.
** Hoping to Buy:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
Peter Uwaechie, a new member of the NFB of the District of
Columbia, wishes to buy a used Braille writer. This is what he
says: "I cannot afford to buy a new one because I do not have a
job. I will make every effort to come up with $50. You may write
to me at 4900 Fort Totten Drive, N.E., Apartment 31, Washington,
DC 20011, or call (202) 269-5687."
** Juried Art Competition and Symposium:
We have been asked to carry the following notice:
The National Exhibits by Blind Artists (NEBA) is planning
its twentieth-anniversary exhibit and second art symposium to
open October 11, 1995 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. To
participate in this juried competition, artists are invited to
request application packets from NEBA, 919 Walnut Street,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107, (215) 925-3213. Slides and
completed applications must arrive at NEBA offices no later than
June 15, 1995. If you have questions, please call Vicky Collins
at (215) 925-3213.
** Elected:
The Austin Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind
of Texas elected officers at the January meeting to serve a one-
year term. Elected were the following: Wanda Hamm, President;
Mary Ward, First Vice President; Dale Hamm, Second Vice
President; Norma Gonzales Baker, Secretary; Margaret "Cokie"
Craig, Treasurer; and Ron Lucey and Hugo Sanchez, Board members.
** Book on Windows Access Now Available in Braille:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
Windows access for blind computer users poses numerous
problems, such as navigating the screen with a mouse. Help is
here. National Braille Press has just transcribed a practical
guide that shows you how to operate Microsoft Windows without a
mouse--using the keyboard as an input device.
Windows from the Keyboard shows you how keyboard commands
can actually speed up Windows operations. This book includes
Quick-Reference Keystroke Command Charts for Windows 3.1 and Word
for Windows, Ami Pro for Windows, WordPerfect for Windows,
Quattro Pro for Windows, Excel for Windows, and Lotus 1-2-3 for
Windows.
When necessary, screens are described in detail by a Windows
expert--especially for this Braille edition.
Four volumes in Braille for $16.95 (same price as print
book). Order quickly from National Braille Press, 88 St. Stephen
Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, or call (617) 266-6160 and
charge it with your MasterCard or Visa.
Elected:
Diane Puffer, Secretary of the Houston Chapter of the
National Federation of the Blind of Texas, reports that the
chapter held its election on Saturday, January 25, 1995. The
results are as follows: Norma Crosby, President; Henry McDaniels,
First Vice President; James O. Skelton, Jr., Second Vice
President; Wesley Lee, Treasurer; Diane Puffer, Secretary; and
John Smith and Martha Addison, Board members.
** Braillers Needed:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
Needed: Perkins Braillers for boys' school for the blind in
Bangali, India. Braillers must be donated. Please send Braillers
to Jackie Allen, 22828 Alice St., Hayward, California 94541.
** Elected:
At the January meeting of the Spokane Chapter of the
National Federation of the Blind of Washington, elections were
held with the following results: Maria Bradford, President;
Albert Sanchez, Vice President; John Croy, Secretary; Paul
Whipple, Treasurer; and Gloria Whipple and Linda Schappals, Board
members.
** Recorded Books Available:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
Books Aloud, Inc., produces and provides unabridged books
recorded on standard cassette tape for the visually or physically
disabled. We also serve those with learning disabilities. The
mission of Books Aloud is accomplished primarily by dedicated
volunteers. Some audition and record selected books in the Books
Aloud studio. Others process and distribute the tapes through a
monthly free loan circulating library. Over 6,000 titles are
available for disabled readers of all ages. The recorded
collection includes a variety of topics for adults and children.
A catalog is available for all clients. New listings appear in
quarterly newsletters. For more information, write to Books
Aloud, Inc., P.O. Box 5731, San Jose, California 95150-5731, or
call (408) 277-4878, (408) 277-4839.
** Elected:
At its annual election the Kankakee Heartland Chapter of the
National Federation of the Blind of Illinois chose the following
officers and board members: Bill Isaacs, President; Gerald Cook,
Vice President; Pat Fieldhouse, Secretary; Ruth Isaacs,
Treasurer; and Dan Boudreau, Frank Richmond, and Eileen Boudreau,
Board members.
** Perkins Brailler Repairs:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
Perkins Braillers never wear out. Is yours getting a little
sluggish? Whatever the problem, let Alan Ackley completely
recondition it. Trained at Howe Press, he uses only factory
parts. A certified transcriber, he knows how Braille should look.
Over 1,000 Braillers restored from more than forty states and
Canada. For fast turnaround, reasonable charges, and guaranteed
work, contact Ackley Appliance Service, 627 East 5th Street, Des
Moines, Iowa 50309, or call (515) 288-3931.
** New Chapter:
Wayne Davis, President of the National Federation of the
Blind of Florida, recently wrote to report the following good
news:
I am pleased to announce the formation of the new Greater
Daytona Beach Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of
Florida. On Saturday, April 8, 1995, I had the honor of presiding
at the meeting that established this fine new organization. A
number of the officers and members of the affiliate Board of
Directors were with me that exciting day. The officers of the new
chapter are Kathy Davis, President; J.D. Townsend, Vice
President; Jim Scranton, Secretary; Dr. Tom Davis, Treasurer; and
Mark Truman, Miran Rodriguez, and Beverly King, Board members.
** Planning to Move?:
Since 1989 the National Federation of the Blind has had an
agreement with North American Van Lines regarding members who use
North American to move household articles from one place to
another in the forty-eight lower, contiguous states (which does
not include Alaska and Hawaii). A number of members have used
this service and have saved a considerable amount of money in
doing so. As they have done once or twice before, North American
has recently increased the amount of discount which they will
offer us. If you arrange for North American Van Lines to move,
you will get a contract that will let you move with 46 percent
off the normal moving costs (previously 42 percent) and 35
percent off the normal storage costs. In addition to the rate
reduction, for those who use this program North American will
make a contribution to the National Federation of the Blind equal
to two percent of all costs of moving.
If you want to contract with North American Van Lines to
move your possessions, you should call Cindy Ruppel at (800) 873-
2673. Tell her that you are a member of the National Federation
of the Blind, that you have heard about the agreement between the
National Federation of the Blind and North American Van Lines
giving these discounts, and that you want to sign up for your
move. Then remind her that two percent of the moving costs will
be contributed to the National Federation of the Blind.
** Old Time Radio:
From the Editor Emeritus: In the April, 1995, issue of the
Braille Monitor I announced a new partnership with Radio Spirits,
Inc. (RSI). RSI is one of the leading distributors of old time
radio programs and producers of the nationally syndicated OTR
show "When Radio Was," hosted by Art Fleming of Jeopardy fame,
heard on 250 stations. For every OTR cassette purchased by an NFB
member, RSI will donate a portion of that purchase to NFB. Call
Radio Spirits, Inc., at (800) 729-4587 to receive a free catalog
listing thousands of OTR programs available on cassette. When you
order, remember to identify yourself as an NFB member or
supporter, and for every cassette you purchase the NFB benefits.
Radio Spirits, Inc., features OTR's all-time favorites as well as
the hard-to-find programs; each program is offered as it was
originally broadcast, many including the commercials. Enjoy
single cassettes, compact discs, or beautifully packaged
bookshelf collections. RSI offers the best sound quality
available...guaranteed. OTR is timeless quality entertainment.
Some of RSI's best sellers are Jack Benny, Burns and Allen,
Charlie McCarthy, The Bickersons, The Lone Ranger, Suspense, Amos
`n Andy, Bob and Ray, Duffy's Tavern, Boston Blackie, Lights Out,
Sergeant Preston, The Cisco Kid, Dimension X, Captain Midnight,
Fibber McGee, Our Miss Brooks, X Minus One, Gunsmoke, The Life of
Riley, Hopalong Cassidy, and the Great Gildersleeve. Call Radio
Spirit, Inc., at (800) 729-4587 for your free OTR Catalog.
[Photo #10 Portrait Caption: Rich Crawford]
** Promoted:
Peggy Elliott, NFB Second Vice President and President of
the NFB of Iowa, recently wrote to pass along the following good
news:
Rich Crawford is a member of the Board of Directors of the
National Federation of the Blind of Iowa. He works as a
stockbroker for the nationwide brokerage firm, Dain Bosworth,
which is headquartered in Minneapolis. For the last six months
Rich has been the top salesperson in the Sioux City, Iowa,
office, and he was one of the top 100 sales people nationwide in
the first quarter of 1995. He manages more than 100 million
dollars for his clients. On March 22, 1995, Dain Bosworth
recognized Rich's outstanding performance by naming him a vice
president. Congratulations, Rich.
** National Church Conference of the Blind:
The annual meeting of the National Church Conference of the
Blind will be held July 23 to 27, 1995, at the Holiday Inn Center
Plaza, 2233 Ventura Street, Fresno, California 93721, phone (209)
268-1000. In addition to Bible studies, enjoy talent time,
singing from Braille or print hymnals, choir, seminars, exhibits,
tours, banquet, and wonderful times of fun and fellowship. For
further information, contact Frank Finkenbinder, membership
secretary, P.O. Box 163, Denver, Colorado 80201.
** More JOB News:
The Job Opportunities for the Blind notice in the
"Convention Attractions" article in the April issue of the
Braille Monitor omitted one breakfast meeting. Here are the
details:
JOB's first Customer Service Networking Breakfast, chaired
by Mary Donahue (Scott Edwards may become a co-chair), will be
held on Tuesday, July 4, and will begin at 7:00 a.m. in the hotel
coffee shop. Also a consultant on customer service jobs and on
working at U.S. Long Distance will take part in the 1995 National
Job Seminar, which will be held on Saturday, July 1, from 1:00 to
4:00 p.m. in the convention hotel.
** For Sale:
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
Due to my failing health, I find I must sell much of my
adaptive equipment. I am offering for sale (including shipping in
the continental United States) the following:
1. Thiel Beta X3 terminal and Braille embosser
#TBX 8343 and #TBX 8639 with manuals, 6- and 8-dot
Braille, graphics, 130 cps. Like new. Were $16,000
each, now $6,000.
2. Epson DFX 5000 printer with 15-inch carriage.
Can handle two types of forms with a press of a button.
The printer does it all automatically. Was $2,000, now
$600.
3. Epson DX35 printer with extra daisy wheels and
ribbons. Was $650, now $125.
4. DECtalk Speech synthesizer stand alone with
serial cable. Was $4,000, now $950.
5. Speaqualizer Speech Synthesizer for IBM PCs
with computer card, control box with speaker, earphone
jack, and 19-key keypad and cable. Was $809, now $175.
6. Votrax Speech Synthesizer, model 200B, has both
serial and parallel ports. Was $500, now $125.
7. Echo PC external speech synthesizer. Was $200,
now $75.
8. IBM XT, two 10MB hard drives, two 5.25
floppies, Intel 386 accelerator card on internal
circuit board. Includes Artic 210 speech synthesizer
card and software. Asking $275.
9. Braille Bible, King James version, complete Old
and New Testaments, Grade II Braille, 16 volumes. Was
$450, now $200.
10. Nemeth Code of Braille Mathematics and
Scientific Notation with geometric formulas, tables of
weights, etc., Grade II and Nemeth code, 5 volumes,
asking $25.
If interested, you may contact Robert Larson, 2467 Homestead
Road, Santa Clara, California 95050, (408) 985-2843.
** Correction:
In the March issue we reported the appearance of the second
edition of A Guide to Guide Dog Schools by Ed and Toni Eames. We
made a mistake in the listing of the Eameses'address for ordering
purposes. In the meantime the book has become available from the
National Library Service (RC38777) and from Recording for the
Blind. The 145-page book is available in standard print or
computer disk at a cost of $10 including shipping and handling.
Checks should be made payable to Disabled on the Go (DOG) and
sent to Ed and Toni Eames, 3376 North Wishon, Fresno, California
93704-4832. You may call (209) 224-0544.
** The Fortune of the Fortune Cookie:
From the Editor Emeritus: In both great things and small,
good fortune hounds the heels of Federationists. It even happens
with cookies. Consider the following letter from Junerose
Killian, who as everybody knows is one of the leaders of the NFB
of Connecticut. She says:
"Priscilla Nelson told us an amusing story that you might
find interesting. Priscilla wanted us to have tea and fortune
cookies at our exercise class but had had considerable trouble
finding a place to make the cookies with her personalized
fortunes inside. The only place she found was in Boston, and that
would mean a day off from work, so that seemed impossible. But
while cleaning up her trailer and sorting magazines and Braille
Monitors, she dropped a stack of the Monitors. One Monitor fell
open to a page with a recipe for fortune cookies, and lo and
behold, the problem was sort of miraculously solved."
The moral the Monitor staff draws from this story is clear:
everyone would benefit from reading the Braille Monitor.
