INFORMATIONAL

In 1997 the General Assembly established, in accordance with 
Section 22.1-346.1 of the Code of Virginia,  the Advisory 
Commission on the Virginia Schools for the Deaf and the 
Blind. As the liaison from the Department of Education to 
the commission, Robert Whytal, Director of the Virginia 
Schools for the Deaf and the Blind, has worked with the 
membership on several issues. As a result of their 
initiatives, a section in the Code of Virginia was added by 
the Virginia General Assembly in 1998 which reads as 
follows:

Section 22.1-217.01. Information on educational and 
other services for students identified as hearing 
or visually impaired. 

The Department of Education shall annually prepare 
and distribute to local school boards packets of 
information describing the educational and other 
services available through the Virginia Schools 
for the Deaf and the Blind, the Virginia 
Department for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and 
the Virginia Department for the Visually 
Handicapped to students who are identified as 
hearing impaired or visually impaired. Local 
school boards shall annually distribute this 
information to the parents of those students who 
are identified as hearing impaired or visually 
impaired."


Under separate cover, your director of special education 
will receive enough packets of information to send to 
parents of children identified as hearing impaired or 
visually impaired as a primary or secondary disability.  The 
packets should be distributed to parents before the end of 
this school year.  Future mailings from the Department of 
Education to directors of special education will occur in 
February of each year.

Should you need further clarification, please contact your 
local special education director or Robert Whytal at VSDB-
Staunton, at 540-332-9000, or at rwhytal@mail.vak12ed.edu.



PDS:RBW:cle