Virginia School for the Deaf, Blind and Multi-Disabled at Hampton

Virginia School for the Deaf, Blind and Multi-Disabled at Hampton (VSDBM-H), also known as the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind-Hampton Campus (VSDB-Hampton) was a school for deaf and blind children in Hampton, Virginia.^[1] It was operated by the Commonwealth of Virginia.

History

The

In 1970, it had 320 students, its peak enrollment.[5]

In the early 1970s the

The 1975 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act required that local school districts have the capacity to educate all students in their boundaries, so the demand for the state deaf/blind schools declined.^[9] In 1983 VSDBM had 200 students. The school considered establishing a high school for the deaf but determined only 15 students would be served and the cost would be $700,000, so this was not done. The building intended for it, in 1983, was half empty.^[5]

Beginning in 1996 the Hampton City Schools school district began leasing space in VSDBM-H. By 2003 enrollment declined to the point where the school district was leasing two buildings. with the charter school Hampton Harbour Academy and Head Start operations in Bradford Hall and William Whitehead Hall, respectively. The campus had a value of $3.9 million with $2.5 million of it being the land.^[10]

In 2003 there was a plan being developed on possibly merging it with VSDB.

Phenix Industrial LLC, a real estate company, bought 23 acres (9.3 ha) of the former property for $908,000.[12]

Campus

The campus, in Hampton's downtown, had 72 acres (29 ha) of space. By 2003 many of the buildings dated from the 1950s, replacing earlier historic buildings that were torn down. The 1950s buildings, made of brick, had one or two stories. In 2003 the dormitories were about 70% full.^[10]

Student body

In 1983 25 students from Newport News attended VSDBM as day students, and of the 30 students from Hampton at state-operated schools for blind/deaf, most of them were day students at VSDBM.^[13]

References