The Iowa School for the Blind and Sight Saving School is the second oldest active school in the state of Iowa. This spring the last residential class graduated, but the building was still being used as the center of support for blind students in the state. Trained facilitators go out to schools where blind students are mainstreamed, Braille books and other materials are centrally housed here and sent it, etc.
Monday, July 11, 2011 a straight line windstorm of massive proportions hit the school. While the campus is made up of several buildings (it really was a beautiful facility until they decided to spend money elsewhere and rented out space) most of the services including the small museum of its history was located on the top full floor. I’m still working on finding more video and photos. From the best footage I’ve found it looks like the central area with the tower is intact over the auditorium and classrooms, but that the roofs were severely damaged over both wings that originally housed the dormitories. I had expected that it would continue to be preserved in some form, but without a roof buildings go down quickly. Will the Regents (who have been heavily influenced by the three major universities they also fund and have historically resented any money spent on both the school for the blind and the school for the deaf) fix the roof or will they destroy this historic building? Who knows? Let the Iowa Regents know if you want to make sure it’s saved.
Reports on Blind School
Iowa Braille School suffers significant damage in Monday storm: is.gd/G3t9fm
Best video footage I’ve found from about 30 second in to almost 2 minutes 30 seconds
http://www.kcrg.com/news/specialreport/2011-wind-storm/AERIAL-VIDEO-Vinton-Storm-Damage-125374493.html
Sarah's Notebook 