2013-03 Regarding the hiring of a blindness expert at the Maryland State Department of Education

Resolution 2013-03 Regarding the hiring of a blindness expert at the Maryland State Department of Education WHEREAS, the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE), is responsible for developing policies and for creating an environment that enables all students, including those who are blind, to obtain a quality education that prepares them to embark upon a successful career of their choice; and WHEREAS, today, blind students face many new barriers in accessing educational content because of the increased emphasis on accountability testing and the increased use of educational technologies; and WHEREAS, from early 2004 to September, 2013, MSDE fulfilled its duty to prevent discrimination on the basis of blindness in education by employing an expert on blindness in the Division of Special Education/Early Intervention Services; and WHEREAS, the contributions of this expert include: playing a leading role in the development of Braille Standards in mathematics and language arts; serving as an authority on the need for access to e-readers and online learning; and insisting on the use of bias-free statewide assessments; and WHEREAS, MSDE has not yet taken action to fill this important position, which is now vacant; and WHEREAS, MSDE must avoid its past errors of returning this position to a part-time one, and more egregiously, filling it with a person who may have expertise in special education but who has no knowledge of the unique needs of blind students; and WHEREAS, even when MSDE has hired a blindness expert, it has shown a remarkable lack of commitment to the needs of blind students by insisting that the Maryland School for the Blind partially fund the salary for this position: NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland in Convention assembled this tenth day of November, 2013, in the city of Ocean City, Maryland, that this organization demand that MSDE immediately create and fully fund a full time position within the Division of Special Education/Early Intervention Services to ensure that all departmental policies are really free from discrimination against blind students; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization strongly urge MSDE to immediately fill this position with an expert on blindness.