RE: Hiring New Administrative Staff at the Arizona Schools for the Deaf and Blind

Resolution: Resolution 2015-05

Regarding Hiring New Administrative Staff at the Arizona Schools for the Deaf and Blind

WHEREAS, the Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind have seen a series of superintendents and administrators with varying levels of experience instructing blind students; and

WHEREAS, recently, the ASDB hired a new principal for the Arizona School for the Blind and this person does not have a background educating blind students; and

WHEREAS, the ASDB is currently in the process of interviewing candidates for the Superintendent position; and

WHEREAS, current Arizona law requires the Superintendent of the ASDB to be a competent educator of students with sensory disabilities; and

WHEREAS, blind students perform better in academic environments where the administrators are competent and experienced in the area of blindness.

WHEREAS, the means of acquiring competency in blindness are readily available in Arizona through the National Federation of the Blind of Arizona and the University of Arizona: Now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of Arizona in convention assembled this thirteenth day of September, 2015, in the city of Phoenix, Arizona that this organization urge the board at the Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind to ensure the principal and administrators at the Arizona School for the Blind receives the training necessary to be competent educators of blind students; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this organization strongly urge the ASDB board to work with the National Federation of the Blind to ensure the new superintendent meets the criteria of being a competent educator of students with sensory disabilities ; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, should the new superintendent not be a competent educator of blind students that this organization urge the board at the Arizona Schools for the Deaf and Blind to ensure he/she receives the training necessary to become competent in the education of blind students.