The principal emphasis of the studies previously made of the education of the deaf and the visually handicapped has always been on the question of whether the Schools should be separated rather than on the quality of the education being offered by the Schools. With this in mind the General Assembly in 1966 directed a study of the operation of the Schools which was broader than those which had preceded it.

The Virginia Advisory Legislative Council selected Edward E. Willey, member of the State Senate and member of the Council, as ·chairman of the Committee to make the initial study and report to it. Selected to serve with Senator Willey on the Committee were: Richard M. Bagley, member of the House of Delegates, Hampton; W. Kuhn Barnett, former Director of the Division of Elementary and Special Education, State Department of Education, now retired, Richmond; Frank O. Birdsall, former Director of the Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center, now retired, Afton; Charles P. Blackley; owner of Radio Station WTON, Staunton; A. Gordon Brooks, Director, Division of Teacher Education and Certification, State Department of Education, Richmond; Joseph Carduff, Insurance Broker, Falls Church; Dr. J. D. Hagood, member of the Senate of Virginia and member of the Council, Clover; George H. Hill, member of the House of Delegates, Newport News; S. C. Lampert, retired, a former Chairman of the Norfolk City School Board, Norfolk; Mrs. Mary A. Marshall, member of the House of Delegates, Arlington; Mosby G. Perrow, Jr., Attorney at Law and former member of the Senate of Virginia, Lynchburg; Byron N. Puryear, Contractor, Hampton; James R. Sipe, Attorney for the Commonwealth, City of Harrisonburg and County of Rockingham, Harrisonburg; Robert W. Stewart, Attorney at Law, Norfolk; and Dr. Rudolph C. Thomason, Ophthalmologist, Richmond. The Committee organized and elected Mr. Hill as Vice-Chairman. G. M. Lapsley and Wildman S. Kincheloe, Jr. were appointed to serve as Secretary and Recording Secretary, respectively, to the Committee. The Committee made a physical inspection of each of the institutions and conferred at length with the governing boards of the two institutions and the superintendents and staff members of each. It held a public hearing at which it heard those interested in the operations of the two Schools and the quality of the education there provided. Also, opinions of experts from other sections of the Country were expressed at this hearing. The Committee considered the information before it and, after completing its deliberations, made its Report to· the Council. Having reviewed the Committee's Report, the Council now makes its Report.