New Dawn School needs funding

To the editor:Our 11-year-old grandson is blind. He attends New Dawn School in Sikeston, Mo. The school is a beautiful building. The teachers are wonderful with these children. How sad it is when they cannot get enough funding to buy equipment these children need and deserve. They have various problems. Some cannot walk. Some need wheelchairs. The equipment they are using is outdated. Some of the communications tools they use are duct-taped to hold the batteries in. We called the office of our U.S. representative Jo Ann Emerson on April 2 to see how we could go about getting proper funding for this school and the children. The response: "They don't qualify." We asked about the No Child Left Behind Act and the Disability Act. The response: "They don't fall under this."

These kids do not ask to be disabled. They do not ask for anything. I believe this was an uncaring attitude. We did not receive any answers to our question or any help, so we notified Washington, D.C. I hope we receive a better response from them.

REBECCA and GARY MARRON, Benton, Mo.