Illinois School for the Blind name heads back to Jacksonville roots
Jacksonville’s school for blind and visually impaired students would regain its longtime name, a change alumni and families will recognize on signs, records and state references.
Jacksonville’s state school is headed back to the name many longtime residents still use: the Illinois School for the Blind. The Illinois House passed legislation May 22 to restore the historic title for the Illinois School for the Visually Impaired, a move that gives Morgan County a familiar name again and reaches deep into the city’s shared memory of the campus.
For Jacksonville families, alumni and staff, the change is more than a label. The school has been part of the city since 1849, and many people still identify it by the older name tied to generations of students, teachers and neighbors. The campus sits on 18 acres in Jacksonville, about 35 miles west of Springfield, and serves students from birth through age 22 as a residential and day school. Restoring the Illinois School for the Blind name puts the institution back in line with the way many in town have talked about it for years.
The school’s history shows why the old name still carries weight. It began as the Illinois Institution for the Education of the Blind in 1849, became the Illinois School for the Blind in 1905, was renamed the Illinois Braille and Sight Saving School in 1954, and took the Illinois School for the Visually Impaired name in 1977. Helen Keller visited the school in 1915, a reminder that the Jacksonville campus has long held a place in the broader history of education for blind students. The return to the older name brings back a title that was used for decades, not a new identity.
The measure moving through Springfield is SB3224 in the 104th Illinois General Assembly. The bill is titled Illinois School for the Blind and would amend the Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities Act while making conforming changes in several other state laws, including the Personnel Code, School Code, School Safety Drill Act, Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act and the MRSA Prevention, Control, and Reporting Act. The Senate passed the bill 47-0 on March 26, and the House later assigned it to the Human Services Committee on April 27, with a hearing scheduled for May 6 at 8 a.m. in Springfield.
State Rep. CD Davidsmeyer of Murrayville, who grew up in Jacksonville, backed the change. For Morgan County, the practical effect is that state law, agency references and public identification for the school would once again reflect the name many in Jacksonville never stopped using.
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