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TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – The Tucson Unified School District Governing Board voted 4-1 Tuesday night to allocate $815,000 in Medicaid funding to support incoming visually-impaired students.
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The funding comes as visually-impaired students from the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind are being forced back into public schools next year, raising concerns from parents about whether districts can provide adequate support.
Rebekah Trivitt, a parent of two visually-impaired children at ASDB, said school districts must accommodate the students but questions whether they can handle it.
“All these school districts, not just TUSD, they’re all responsible legally to take these kids back and provide services, whether they have the materials or not, which is causing a lot of districts to scramble, and that’s unfortunate,” Trivitt said.
Of the approved funding, about $500,000 will go toward costs for additional staffing. The remaining $300,000 will go to building renovations, purchasing technology, and materials.
Sabrina Salmon, the TUSD Exceptional Education Senior Director, said the district wants to make the environment accessible.
“We want to make sure that we’re making the environment accessible, not only physically accessible but culturally acceptable,” Salmon said. “We want to engineer the environment for their success.”
Salmon said TUSD already serves students with visual impairments, and the funding will help enhance those services.
“We want to make sure we are leveraging the resources we have, we’re learning from the community. The students are our future. We are here because we want to serve the majority of our students and to the best of our abilities,” Salmon said.
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Trivitt’s son James attended a school in Tucson Unified, where he was bullied for his visual impairment. She said some TUSD teachers did their best to accommodate him but couldn’t provide him with educational support, especially in navigating his disability.
“The teachers, administrators, and staff didn’t openly seek to work with children with disabilities, right? So, they don’t have the knowledge. As good as their intentions may be, it’s just not going to work because they’re not trained,” Trivitt said.
Trivitt said she will not send her children to TUSD, instead opting for a charter school with a smaller class size and more specialized services.
“It’s a safety issue, and it’s an education thing. Like I said, they’re just not going to get the same attention that they need to thrive that they get at ASDB,” Trivitt said. “I wish society would make itself accessible for us, but it’s not ready to yet, unfortunately. So, we got to do what we got to do to not just survive, but thrive and live, and that’s what I want for these kids.”
The exceptional education department of TUSD will host a public forum on Thursday afternoon to hear community concerns or questions about how the district will support students with special abilities.
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