This is WAY off topic but librarians know the answers to EVERY question (or
where to find it), so I'm asking...
My husband is a visual itinerant teacher (a teacher who travels from school
to school within the district working with visually impaired and blind
children during the school year). He teaches these students how to read and
write in braille, how to use technology to access information on the
Internet through speech programs, and how to utilize special equipment to
enlarge materials in smaller print--for those with low vision. He has a
college degree in education and is certified to teach the blind. He is also
visually impaired and cannot drive. He is able to see well enough to teach,
work, and pretty much "appears" normal (he'd just be dangerous in a car
because his vision is 20/200--legally blind). Without getting into the
technical details of what he can and cannot see, let me just state that he
has been a teacher for the past 10 years, has never needed any assistance to
do his job, but depends upon me or someone else to drive him to his work or
other distant locations. (He often rode his bike to work and back when we
lived in a smaller community and he taught in a nearby school--5 miles
away).
This past year I drove him to his office location each day and the school
district provided him with a driver to take him to each of his schools to
work with the students he needed to teach. This spring his supervisor asked
him if he would work with the summer school students and told him that she
would provide him with a driver to go to these schools. Because of our
family's schedule, he could not accept this summer job and declined.
His supervisor is new and because of other problems not related to my
husband, she did not evaluate him this past year but told him that she would
next year. This meant that he would continue with his employment with the
district. On Tuesday of this week he received a letter from the district to
renew his contract starting in the fall.
Yesterday he received a letter from the supervisor basically saying that
providing transportation to each school would be an inconvenience, so he
would be placed in a school where the children are "medically fragile" which
means that they are not academic students. They have visual problems which
requires one of the visual itinerant teachers for the district to meet with
the teachers and the students once a month for about 30 minutes each--there
are only 33 students there that would need assistance for 30 minutes once a
month. This school has never had a full-time person on their staff because
they do not require a full-time person certified to teach the visually
impaired. There are 6 other visual itinerant teachers in the district who
are centrally located in one office that is across town from the school
where he will be working. Ordinarily, he has been in the office with these
other individuals. However, this coming year he will be isolated in a
school without any of the specialized equipment, materials, or professional
collaboration which occurs among other teachers in the same field. He will
also have no way to obtain these materials without setting up a schedule for
someone to deliver materials, equipment, or other items that are normally
shared by each teacher within the office.
My husband is extremely upset because he has not been evaluated which seems
to state that there is no justification to remove him from the regular
"itinerant" position. He was working with many other students within the
district this past year who were academic students and who were being taught
braille or how to utilize the special equipment. He feels that he has been
discriminated against because of his handicap and yet the district KNEW he
had the visual impairment when they hired him (and the district brought us
from Oklahoma to Texas to specifically work with these students because they
needed teachers with his certification but could not find enough to serve
the number of students in the district). He also believes that by placing
him in a non-academic school that is basically a "nursing home for dying
children"--yes, it's that bad...that they are moving him to a "bad"
situation in order to encourage him to quit, thus relieving them from their
duties under the ADA.
My question is basically do you believe that this placement appears to be
"reasonable accommodations" by the district--even though NO other visual
itinerant teacher has ever been placed there based upon the lack of need and
no other VI teacher in the office who could drive was asked to move to that
location-- or do you think (as we do) that this is a placement to encourage
(discourage) him so he will quit entirely?
If you have handicapped teachers in your school (or if you are a handicapped
individual), what accommodations does your school make to allow you / the
teacher to work?
We are disheartened by the entire situation because based upon national
statistics, only 15% of blind or visually impaired adults hold jobs in this
country. The rest cannot find work or are living on Social Security
benefits. My husband has always worked as a teacher but this is a slap in
the face for not only the students that he serves--look what attitudes are
in place for their future as visually impaired adults within this same
community--and to himself.
Your comments are appreciated. Your suggestions are also encouraged. We
are deliberating our action at this time.
Still in shock...
Shonda Brisco
Trinity Valley Upper School Librarian
Ft. Worth, TX
sbrisco021@charter.net
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