Schools for the Future

School Vision Centers

By Deborah Willia

One of the most frustrating issues for a teacher is having students with visual impairments who don’t have their corrective eyewear in class.  This is compounded when a teacher has several students with vision problems in the same class.  Often, the problem is that their parents cannot afford to pay for proper eye care, or they cannot pay for the eyewear that is prescribed for their children.  A non-profit department of Luxottica, an eyewear company will help the students at Public School 188 on New York’s Coney Island and Public School 18 in the Bronx by establishing vision centers inside both schools in September.  This venture is part of a partnership with the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), and the centers will be funded by Medicaid reimbursements as part of the UFT’s Community Schools Initiative to strengthen social services in schools.”
According to The Huffington Post article by Rebecca Klein, this is not the first time that this has been tried.  Last year, the UFT partnered with OneSight to establish a vision center in an Ohio school with a significant low-income population.  OneSight Executive Director, Dr. Jason Singh, noted that OneSight found that 64% of the students examined at the school needed glasses.  Dr. Siingh noted, “Eighty percent of what we learn is visual, and yet one in four kids have an undiagnosed vision problem.”
Here is an overview of the impact of the OneSight Vision Center at Oyler School: