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Superintendent's Message

John Foster Dulles wrote: “A capacity to change is indispensable.  Equally indispensable is the capacity to hold fast to that which is good.”

As I write this, I have just returned from participating in CSB’s annual “Snow Day” which is provided to us by our wonderful supporters from the CSB Parents and Friends Association (PFA).  Each year, the PFA raises funds to hire a contractor to create and dump a small mountain of snow on our front lawn. Our adapted physical education teachers create games and lessons for our students to enrich their experience. 

I came back to my office and decided to throw out my earlier draft of this message which was all about the state’s budget crisis and the aggravation that it is causing us, in order to focus on what is important --  our blind and visually impaired students.

During CSB’s Snow Day, our students learn to play in the snow with one another.  They learn new concepts.  They are safe.  They have lots of fun.  For many, the first time they ever had been in snow was here in Fremont, California.

While I was out in the snow, I noted that our staff to student ratio was quite high because our students need much attention to ensure that they get the most of the experience – and are safe while sleds whiz past.  This reminds me that when working with blind students, it is often proximity of staff and instructional materials which is vital because vision is a distance sense. Without vision our students need to learn how to anticipate things that occur at a distance, often by use of their other senses, and that takes systematic staff intervention, so that youngsters can understand these concepts in a safe environment.  Then they learn to generalize these concepts and increase their level of independence in other environments and for other activities.

And this naturally, gets me thinking about the state’s budget again because we can’t have these quality programs and experiences for our blind children without many qualified, specially trained, and caring staff.  And these professionals and paraprofessionals have made this their career and deserve our support and our thanks as well as incentives for recruitment and retention.

We cannot allow our mission to be diluted, or the potential budget cuts to disrupt education for our students on campus, nor in our assessment and outreach to thousands of blind students each year in school districts.  The needs are too great and our commitment, creativity, and imaginative problem solving must be as great in response.  So, we continue to look toward our future with optimism and hope.  We work to assure that the policy makers learn about our school and the educational needs of blind children.  But we know that even if our capacity to provide services is reduced, our commitment and advocacy will not and cannot waiver.

Stuart Wittenstein, Ed.D.
February 2008