[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 484 Received in Senate (RDS)]


109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. CON. RES. 484


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            December 7, 2006

                                Received

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
 Commending The New York Institute for Special Education for providing 
excellent education for students with blindness and visual disabilities 
   for 175 years, and for broadening its mission to provide the same 
quality education to students with emotional and learning disabilities.

Whereas The New York Institute for Special Education, originally founded in 1831 
        as The New York Institution for the Education of the Blind, has for 175 
        years continually educated students with disabilities, and is chartered 
        by the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York, 
        accredited by the National Commission for the Accreditation of Special 
        Education Services, and is located on Pelham Parkway, in the Bronx;
Whereas on March 15, 1832, the first class in the United States for blind 
        children began at The New York Institution for the Education of the 
        Blind;
Whereas in 1986, The New York Institute for the Education of the Blind broadened 
        its mission to also provide education to students with emotional and 
        learning disabilities and preschoolers with development delays, and 
        concurrently changed the name to the New York Institute for Special 
        Education;
Whereas in 2000, The New York Institute for Special Education again broadened 
        its mission by establishing the Cornerstone Literacy Initiative, 
        providing staff development and school reform leadership to high poverty 
        school districts throughout the United States;
Whereas The New York Institute for Special Education has prepared students to 
        attain and exceed the academic standards as set forth by the Department 
        of Education of the State of New York;
Whereas in addition to providing a quality education to New York students, The 
        New York Institute for Special Education is equally committed to 
        improving special education on a national level and serves as a student 
        teaching and internship site for eleven universities nationally;
Whereas since its inception in 1987, the Readiness Program of The New York 
        Institute for Special Education has had a dramatic impact on the lives 
        of special education pre-school children as well as their families;
Whereas the Van Cleve Program of The New York Institute for Special Education 
        accepts children with learning and emotional disabilities from five to 
        eleven years of age, the graduates of which show dramatic improvement in 
        academic, social, and behavioral abilities;
Whereas students in the Schermerhorn Program of The New York Institute for 
        Special Education participate in individually designed academic and 
        modified academic programs that emphasize independence and are given an 
        opportunity to develop job behaviors and skills through pre-vocational 
        activities and in career experience programs;
Whereas The New York Institute for Special Education has continuously played a 
        leadership role in advocating for quality education of children with 
        disabilities; and
Whereas The New York Institute for Special Education has continuously played a 
        leadership role in conducting and promoting research relating to the 
        education of children with disabilities: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),  
That the Congress--
            (1) commends The New York Institute for Special Education 
        for providing excellent education for students with blindness 
        and visual disabilities for 175 years, and for broadening its 
        mission to provide the same quality education to students with 
        emotional and learning disabilities; and
            (2) recognizes the high importance of, and supports all 
        efforts to improve, education for physical, emotional, and 
        learning disabled children.

            Passed the House of Representatives December 6, 2006.

            Attest:

                                                 KAREN L. HAAS,

                                                                 Clerk.