The 14th Amendment indicates that no child should be denied equal access to schooling. However, Lyn and Soren Petro believe their 9-year-old daughter Brooke is not being given the same education as her peers.
Because she is blind. Not every student is the same, but that doesn't mean they don't deserve the same quality of education. In the Blue Valley school district, this presents a problem.
Public schools don't accommodate the real needs of blind students, they instead force blind kids to become dependent on adults and audiobooks. Over time, this makes them unable to lead independent lives when they are adults.
Before Brooke began preschool, her parents and the district came to a contracted agreement. The Petros would pay out of pocket to send Brooke to a private school that can meet her needs, while the school district would provide Brooke's textbooks in braille.
Now Lyn has to sit for hours a day, typing out Brooke's books, and sending them to a braillist — another expense.
"Some things we just can't keep up," Lyn said. "My daughter's sitting in class without books."
The parents feel if the school had provided a better education for blind students, one equal to their seeing peers, they wouldn't be in this mess in the first place.
"If you fully educate a visually impaired person, they can get a job and be employed and live a normal life," said Soren.
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