NEBRASKA CITY – A new marker was unveiled in Nebraska City Wednesday that accents the state’s legacy of education for the disabled.
Sally Schreiner, administrator of the Nebraska Center for the Education of Children who are Blind or Visually Impaired, joined students and community leaders to present the marker at the campus.
The marker notes the school’s early purposes and facility improvements over its 142-year history.
Schreiner: “We’ve been here since 1875. Our founder founded the School for the Blind in Illinois and Iowa and then came to Nebraska. He went to the Legislature and got $10,000 to have the school built. The stipulations were that the community had to raise $3,000, it had to be on 10 acres and it had to be a mile from the courthouse.
The Nebraska Legislature joined in founder Samuel Bacon’s passion within eight years of becoming a state.
Schreiner: “His motto was not just a living, but a life, meaning you go beyond academics and you help students, who are blind, to create the life they have ahead of them when they are done with school. That has stuck all these years.”
Today the center serves children from infancy to age 21 with programs offering expertise for visual and multi-handicaps. The center is a liaison for the American Printing House for the Blind, serves as a Braille and large print resource and collaborates on Nebraska Educational Assistive Technology.
