Students and staff benefit from school’s results

The New Mexico School for the Blind and Visually Impaired looks for innovative curricula and partnerships to help its students, families and employees succeed.

During a recent visit to the Albuquerque campus, employees described a work environment where the mission is “awesome;” a “warm, kind atmosphere” focused on student progress; an “opportunity to change lives for the better;” and colleagues “ready and willing to guide and teach me.”

For these reasons and many others, the school, with facilities in Alamogordo and Albuquerque, is ranked the No. 1 Top Workplace in the midsize category for 2017.

“We are very clear about who we are at the outset,” said Linda Lyle, school superintendent of the hiring and recruitment process. Not only is she looking for top instructors, therapists and nursing staff, but a passion for serving the clients ages preschool to high school. The majority of the students have complete blindness, while a small number have impaired vision. Some also have developmental delays.

“We are looking for people of like minds,” said Lyle. “We want them to see the potential,” she added, summing up the key goal that drives the team of 240 employees, some of whom are also blind or visually impaired. Employees serve about 800 students through the residential-oriented Alamogordo campus, the preschool and kindergarten in Albuquerque and outreach programs.

Many staff members get their first exposure to the school doing internships, externships or clinical practices.

Seeing potential encompasses a larger team — parents, other helping agencies and the New Mexico Legislature, which created the school in 1903.

In Albuquerque, the smiles begin at the front desk where “Miss Tiffany,” also known as Tiffany Munera, said the children, ages 3 to 6, light up her day when they arrive each morning. They make their way to classrooms, the playground, or the popular Miss Tiffany’s work station by using canes, walkers or wheelchairs.

The building, at 801 Stephen Moody SE, has unique design features. Ceilings and walls provide tactile, acoustic and visual cues.

“Innovation is embedded into what we do,” said Lyle, talking about a pilot program that is teaching prison inmates Braille and will lead to them transcribing textbooks for the students. The inmates have been training for more than a year. Lyle said the recidivism rate at similar programs elsewhere in the U.S. is 2 percent.

Lyle, who is retiring in June after 22 years at the helm, said her leaving is bittersweet. But she’s confident the next generation of leaders will bring their own good ideas and practices to the school.

“What I’ve enjoyed most has been finding a community of learners that share my passion for students, vision impairment, helping these kids learn and believing after all these years that we have made a difference and changed some lives for the better because of our work together,” Lyle said.

“We celebrate miracles every day,” said Lyle of a workplace “that focuses on seeing the possibilities and not disabilities.”