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School for the Blind and Visually Impaired describes on-campus, residential and outreach services
Summary
Superintendent Jessica Vogel summarized Aberdeen campus programs for students ages 3—21, residential services, outreach consultants and a growing summer program; the school served 189 students via outreach last year and hosted 30 students in the summer program.
Jessica Vogel, superintendent of the South Dakota School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, briefed the Joint Committee on Appropriations on the program—s instructional, residential and outreach services.
Vogel said the Aberdeen campus provides an educational day program for students ages 3 to 21 and that the school currently has 23 students on campus. The school maintains a residential program for students who live too far to commute daily; staff reported the residential roster and supports have grown modestly.
The school reported 189 students received outreach services last year through five outreach consultants positioned around the state; Vogel said an open western-South-Dakota outreach slot had been vacant for about a year and is a difficult position to recruit for given the specialized skills required. Vogel said the school also provides tailored academic assessments, birth-to-3 services, and a summer program; last summer the summer program served 30 students.
Budget note: Vogel told the committee most school funding is general fund appropriations (referenced in the governor—s budget brief on page 85). She described careful vacancy management, limited technology upgrades (a recent $12,000 computer update through Northern State University—s IT services) and prudent use of staff reassignment to maintain core services.
Why it matters: the School for the Blind provides instruction and specialized assessments not widely available in general-education settings; its outreach staff and summer programming supplement district services for students with visual impairments.
