Oregon Public Broadcasting

Attorneys representing a student at the Oregon School for the Blind filed a legal complaint Thursday claiming that the youngster is being denied an adequate education.

Legislators voted this year to close the Oregon School for the Blind, arguing it was too expensive to run, and wasn’t the best academic setting for blind children. Parents said the alternative – sending the 26 blind students back to their home districts – wouldn’t work.

Now, a complaint is claiming that diminished services offered by the North Clackamas schools might violate the federal law governing disabled students.

The student's attorney, Tyler Smith, says the district approach wouldn't provide the life skills offered at the school for the blind.

Tyler Smith: "The Oregon School for the Blind is set to close, which unfortunately, leaves these students with no place that can provide them those types of transitioning education, and some of the other specialized programs that they've been accustomed to in their Individualized Education Plans."

State education officials say school districts can do the job. They say the next step in the legal process is mediation, to try to find appropriate services for the student in North Clackamas.