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People
You Should Know
Interview
by Stuart Wittenstein Name:
Louis M. Tutt Organization:
Contact
Information: CSDB,
33 N. Institute, Please
explain what you do: I
am the principal for 60 blind and low vision students and 40 staff that make up
the School for the Blind, the residential program, transition program, and
nursing staff, as well as the Colorado Instructional Media Center (CIMC).
My greatest pleasure is
working with the teachers and families of the How
did your career begin? Why did you
choose the career that you did? I
took a leave of absence from teaching physical education in MSB
needed a motor skills teacher for their rubella deafblind children.
The P.E. teachers at MSB were struggling with how to engage this new
population of students – and in fact the deafblind students were segregated
from the rest of the school population. Graduate
students from MSU and experts in deafblindness mentored me and taught me to
“be consistent and repetitious” in my teaching deafblind children.
I soon began to see progress with these students and found that
enormously rewarding. The need for
these kinds of services was great and soon I was being asked to present at other
schools for the blind and help them develop similar programs, eventually
collaborating on the book, “Movement and Fundamental Motor Skills for Sensory
Deprived Children” (Kratz, Tutt, & Black, 1987). What
2 or 3 accomplishments have given you the most satisfaction?
The
first two are described above: (1)
Developing
a formal motor skills program at the (2)
Co-authoring
a book with Dr. Betty Kratz and Dr. Laura Black from (3)
Nomination
for member-at-large CEC’s Board of Directors.
I lost by only 100 votes (smiles). Then
in my “second career” as an administrator: (4)
I
became the first African American superintendent of a school for the blind in (5) I served the Council of Schools for the Blind (COSB) as president from 1991-1994 and was awarded COSB’s prestigious William English Leadership Award in 1995. This was particularly rewarding for me since Bill English was a mentor, fellow coach and superintendent, and a personal friend. What
is the most important lesson you learned from your work?
The
most important lessons that I have learned from my work are patience and
flexibility. Our patience is always
tested by the unexpected, and so flexibility is a must.
Patience is needed to get one through in critical moments. Who
has been your mentor or greatest inspiration throughout your career?
Bill
English, retired teacher, coach and administrator of several American schools
for the blind, had a profound impact on my work in the field of blindness.
His encouragement and friendship helped me to believe I could succeed in
leadership positions. He always
impressed me as gracious, down-to-earth, and accessible –attributes I have
tried to emulate. What
do you think it takes to be successful in our field?
Obviously,
it takes patience and flexibility, but also perseverance and tenacity.
One needs the skills of the long distance runner, endurance, confidence,
the ability to deal with pressure and come back re-energized.
More than anything, however, is a love for blind and low vision children
and wanting the best outcomes for them. How
would a friend, colleague, or professor describe you?
Probably
a good listener, having a good sense of humor and pretty good organizational
skills. What
are your interests outside of work? What
do you do with your time off? Playing
racquetball when I can, and reading books written by Larry McMurtry. What
is your favorite book? What are you
reading now? My
favorite book is Lonesome Dove and I am reading Gabriel, a book
about a young African American boy whose family moved from If
you could do so, how would you plan your career differently?
If
I could, I would start out in the blindness field as an undergraduate as opposed
to a graduate at What
words of wisdom would you like to share with the members of DVI? Love
what you do and don’t be discouraged by the bureaucracy. I
encourage each member of DVI to volunteer in professional organizations – not
out of obligation as much as out of their own need for professional growth.
Through my service to DVI, I have met so many other professionals and
learned and grew and shared with them through their perspectives on our field. It’s
an honor to serve, as I have served DVI, as a Board member, Governor, and
Representative. I was actually
DVI’s last Governor and first Representative as we saw CEC through their
structural reorganization. I was
thrilled to be recognized for my service by receiving the DVI Distinguished
Service Award in What
challenges do you see before us? Of
course, funding and keeping the need for specialized services for blind and low
vision children before the powers that be. What’s
next for you? I
retired once and I will retire again in the next few years.
I would like to serve on a board at a specialized school for the blind. Anything
else you’d like to add… I
wish to thank those 35 rubella deafblind children who gave me a chance back in
1971 and the many professionals I met in the field over these last 35 years at
four different schools for the blind. I
wish to thank them for their patience and flexibility with me. I
especially want to thank my friend and colleague, Herb Miller.
Herb pulled me out of my shell. He
was one of a kind. I was fortunate
to know him and to be one of his professional and personal friends.
I miss “Red Socks!” Return to DVIQ 2005 Page |