The history of educating blind and visually impaired people starts in the 1800s. France became the cradle of educators of the blind. The first school for the blind was in France. In 1784, soon after we became a new nation, The Institution des Jeunes Aveugles (Institution for Blind Youth) was established. In 1791, the first School for the Blind opened in England. In 1829, New England Asylum for the Blind and New York Institute for the Blind incorporated. In 1837, the first deafblind child was educated at Perkins. Of course, one of the most important events was in 1891, St. Joseph's School for the Blind was incorporated. It was one of the first schools for the blind to provide education to blind and visually impaired students with additional disabilities.

I am going to skip a number of years to just highlight some events that have meaning to me and hopefully to you. Pennsylvania Institute Overbrook, the third school for the blind, started the first kindergarten classes for blind students. In 1900, the Illinois Schools for the Blind started the first day school classes in Chicago. In 1904, The first deafblind person, Helen Keller, received a college degree from Perkins School for the Blind. In 1901, braille classes were organized in Cleveland Public Schools. In 1911, New York State made it compulsory to educate blind students.

The point I am making is our history is a long and distinguished one. Samuel Howe, who after visiting European Schools for the blind, came home to the U.S. and shaped Perkins School under the premise that each blind child must be considered as an individual, to be educated according to his interest and abilities with added stress on music and crafts. Imagine that idea--an individual--way before Special Education even thought of that concept. In the late 1850s, our founders knew that blind people must be trained to take their places in the social and economic life of their communities. Here we are ending the 1990s, and what Howe and his fellow superintendents found is just as true and important today.

Many truths of our founders and many philosophies of educating blind and visually impaired students still hold true after almost 170 years. Our history through the years shows a history of caring, innovation, risk-taking, and inclusion into society. And that history is based on the premise of what Special Education is all about today--individualized programs using the experiences of our students and teaching to their wants and needs.

The responsibility that our founders took--Howe, Blesdoe, Helen Keller, and Hall--was a responsibility for future
successes rather than past misdeeds. Our founders laid out a direction to be innovative; to use all our resources to the maximum; and to provide services and programs that meet the individual needs of blind and visually impaired people. It is a philosophy like planting seeds and watching the fruits of those seeds begin to ripen. We must continue to evaluate ourselves, to question what, why, and how we do things.

It is also a time to take stock in the strengths of our schools. We have come a long way. We certainly have done some important things in the last several years. Our voice is strong and heard across the country. We have input on many committees and task forces. We have provided leadership: Choices for Children, CEC-DVI, OSEP's Policy Guidance position paper, the reauthorization of IDEA, testimony at OSEP's Regulations on IDEA, AFB's Task force on Specialized Services, and testimony at Wisconsin and Nebraska Schools for the Blind. One indicator of where we are going is what happened at our annual business meeting at APH last October. A meeting scheduled for two hours took more than three hours with many organizations, schools, and agencies requesting to be on our agenda. Yes, we have come a long way.

Over the course of my professional career, I have had the privilege of working in special education and working with children. I have taught them in the classroom, and on the ball fields. I have been a teacher, principal, and now a superintendent. I have dealt with the worst of children. I have dealt with the best of children. I have dealt with children bursting with health, and I have met children who were medically fragile. I have dealt with children I trusted with my life, and I have dealt with children on whom I would not turn my back. I have dealt in one way or another with them all. Throughout the years I have come to understand that there is hope for the future; that along with our fears, there is also courage and hope. I believe in our students; I believe in our staff; I believe in our mission; I believe in our future. Why...because through the years, I have had the privilege to work and live with so many dedicated professionals who make up our present and who will create our future. The vast majority have filled me with joy and hope and have convinced me that tomorrow will be the best we can make of it.