The future of the state's residential schools for the deaf and blind will be the subject of a series of public hearings this month.
Families and other interested people will gather tonight in Morganton, the site of one of North Carolina's three residential schools for the deaf and blind. Until this summer, those schools were managed by the state department of health and human services. The legislature transferred oversight to the Department of Public Instruction over the summer, cut the budget, and told DPI to recommend the closing of one of the schools.
Which school has not yet been determined. The hearings will be held at schools for the Deaf in Morganton in the west and Wilson in the east, as well as the school for the blind in Raleigh. Together, the three schools serve about 220 students.
DPI will offer its recommendation in January. One of the three schools will be closed by June of 2012.