Many deaf Americans got the wrong idea about the Florida state law's mandatory requirement of every deaf students to be schooled at the Florida School for the Deaf in St. Augustine - northeast part of Florida.
The Florida educational system happened to be overhauled under former Governor Jeb Bush and another governor. It heavily provided parents of deaf youngsters with the assigned Individualized Education Program (IEP) advocates which gave parents necessary information to make best parental options and decisions for their deaf offspring.
In the end, the following result for the successful retention and education for deaf youngsters in the state of Florida. The Florida School for the Deaf happen to have the largest student enrollment numbers like 700 deaf students nowaday.
The deaf schools of the deaf across America should be not closed due to state budgetary problems in any way.
FSDB is one of the fine example for the state government and board of education to invest in the necessity of deaf education, not shortchange any deaf youngsters with the foundation of sound education. Other states could do that!
Some misspending and illogical approaches at the FSDB campus with the 10-feet tall metal fence surrounded the entire school campus. The misplacement of security fence perimeter clashed with the Spanish-style villa buildings which the fence were too closed to every building.
Asked upon one hearing local - motel operator why the FSDB put up that kind of fence. Her reply - "Keep bad kids inside". What an ignorant lady with some ASL signing fluency! The motel was just few feet away from the FSDB campus!
The reality was what happened with the last hearing superintendent, who overboard with the prison-like security fence perimeter in fear of child snatching and sexual molestation by total strangers.
That is a classic example of spending mispriorities within many schools of the deaf like the unnecessary installment of ten-foot tall security fence and other pointless purchases of audistic equipments for speech therapy and AVT therapy.
The WV School for the Deaf (WVSD) spent multi-thousands and thousands on constant boys' dormitory rooms and lockers, but usually ignored girl dormitories in real needs of major renovation in the 1980s. Deaf boys at the WVSD kept damaged the dormitory renovations anyway.
WVSD also spent nearly spent the removal of both intermediate and advanced boys' Roman-style shower room and replaced it with every dormitory rooms with its own private bathroom. Kinda costly for the state to spend on the impractical facility development like private bathroom. More work for the school custodians clean up every separate private bathrooms within assigned dormitory room. Whew!
One WVSD hearing teacher said "We have to prevent any possibility of homosexual acts among deaf male students". *chuckles* Gentle reminder for the school better off spending on more educational materials and quality of education than preoccupied with the moral issues for deaf students as what I told very same hearing teacher, Ms. Maureen Wypsoal. She just gulped!
The Roman-style boys' shower room was very educational experience of assessing the human body progress for deaf boys to appreciate the human anatomy and diversity. How educational! Many deaf boys enjoyed spending in the steamy atmosphere and had futile conversations on life itself. Nothing imply any kind of homosexual acts anyway.
Don't the WVSD use its own common sense about more possibilities of homosexual acts in private bathroom while nobody is around.
The state government and legislators need to re-examine what they are doing to deaf youngsters in their own state before closing any school for the deaf.
ASLize yours,
Robert L. Mason
