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Push to Insulate Deaf Students From Dissimilar School - City Room Blog - NYTimes.com
The students at Public School 347 in Manhattan sit at round tables when they eat lunch — the better to see one another’s hands when they chat using sign language.
Their school, the American Sign Language and English Lower School, and its secondary school counterpart are New York City’s only public schools for the deaf, hard of hearing and children of deaf adults. The lower school program has 211 students, in prekindergarten to eighth grade, and the secondary program has 157 students, in grades 9 to 12.
They share a building on East 23rd Street with two other programs, but the building is almost entirely used for students with similar needs.
Yet the Department of Education is proposing to move more than 250 students from the Clinton School for Artists and Writers, in Chelsea, into the building this fall — a move that parents and teachers said would make both learning and socializing more challenging for the sign language students.
The Clinton School students are now housed at P.S. 11, on West 21st Street. The P.S. 11 elementary school program there is expected to grow to 620 students from its current 571, and education officials want to move the Clinton School students out to make room for the influx.
The Department of Education has proposed relocating schools and programs all around the city to accommodate shifts in population, setting off parent and teacher protests and heated debate.
Patti Anderegg, who has been teaching at P.S. 347 for 33 years, said the move of Clinton students into P.S. 347 would inevitably result in larger classes. This could be a hardship for the sign language students, she said, as A.S.L. classrooms are set up in small, circular arrangements so students can easily see one another sign.
“Kids are visual learners,” Ms. Anderegg said. “But many of our students are only visual learners. They can’t learn through the ears. If they’re not looking at you, they can’t learn.”
On Thursday at P.S. 11, the Education Department hosted the third of four public hearings on the proposal to relocate Clinton to the P.S. 347 building (affectionately known as “47″) until the 2013-14 school year, when a new building is expected to be ready for it to move into.
“The move of Clinton to 47, and eventually to a new facility, is necessary in order to create additional elementary capacity in the West Village and Chelsea,” said the District 2 superintendent, Daria Rigney, at the public hearing.
Jack Zarin-Rosenfeld, an Education Department spokesman, said a task force organized by the department had concluded that, with the expected growth of P.S. 11, the P.S. 11 building could no longer support the two schools. The department found that the P.S. 347 building had ample space for all of the proposed programs, he said.
“We’ll work closely with all of the school communities to ensure a smooth transition into next school year and beyond,” Mr. Zarin-Rosenfeld said in an e-mail message.
The “47” Alumni Association of the Deaf board and its members have been protesting the proposed changes, wearing “I Love ASL” T-shirts to hearings and speaking out, through interpreters.
Samantha Black, the P.S. 347 PTA co-president, has also been working to make it clear why the American Sign Language school needs the space. (The building also houses P138M, a District 75 program with 45 students there, and Quest to Learn, which moved into the building in 2009 but will move out for the 2010-2011 year.)
“It’s nuts and bolts,” Ms. Black said of the school’s approach. “Understanding the kids. Treating them correctly. Respecting their language.”
David Bowell, the acting principal at P.S. 347, who is deaf, said the school would cope with the changes. He said the relationships between students and teachers were more important than where they were taught.
“If they told us we need to put all the classrooms in the Dumpster, then I would still do a damned good job,” Mr. Bowell said in sign language through an interpreter. “And so would my school.”
The students at Public School 347 in Manhattan sit at round tables when they eat lunch — the better to see one another’s hands when they chat using sign language.
Their school, the American Sign Language and English Lower School, and its secondary school counterpart are New York City’s only public schools for the deaf, hard of hearing and children of deaf adults. The lower school program has 211 students, in prekindergarten to eighth grade, and the secondary program has 157 students, in grades 9 to 12.
They share a building on East 23rd Street with two other programs, but the building is almost entirely used for students with similar needs.
Yet the Department of Education is proposing to move more than 250 students from the Clinton School for Artists and Writers, in Chelsea, into the building this fall — a move that parents and teachers said would make both learning and socializing more challenging for the sign language students.
The Clinton School students are now housed at P.S. 11, on West 21st Street. The P.S. 11 elementary school program there is expected to grow to 620 students from its current 571, and education officials want to move the Clinton School students out to make room for the influx.
The Department of Education has proposed relocating schools and programs all around the city to accommodate shifts in population, setting off parent and teacher protests and heated debate.
Patti Anderegg, who has been teaching at P.S. 347 for 33 years, said the move of Clinton students into P.S. 347 would inevitably result in larger classes. This could be a hardship for the sign language students, she said, as A.S.L. classrooms are set up in small, circular arrangements so students can easily see one another sign.
“Kids are visual learners,” Ms. Anderegg said. “But many of our students are only visual learners. They can’t learn through the ears. If they’re not looking at you, they can’t learn.”
On Thursday at P.S. 11, the Education Department hosted the third of four public hearings on the proposal to relocate Clinton to the P.S. 347 building (affectionately known as “47″) until the 2013-14 school year, when a new building is expected to be ready for it to move into.
“The move of Clinton to 47, and eventually to a new facility, is necessary in order to create additional elementary capacity in the West Village and Chelsea,” said the District 2 superintendent, Daria Rigney, at the public hearing.
Jack Zarin-Rosenfeld, an Education Department spokesman, said a task force organized by the department had concluded that, with the expected growth of P.S. 11, the P.S. 11 building could no longer support the two schools. The department found that the P.S. 347 building had ample space for all of the proposed programs, he said.
“We’ll work closely with all of the school communities to ensure a smooth transition into next school year and beyond,” Mr. Zarin-Rosenfeld said in an e-mail message.
The “47” Alumni Association of the Deaf board and its members have been protesting the proposed changes, wearing “I Love ASL” T-shirts to hearings and speaking out, through interpreters.
Samantha Black, the P.S. 347 PTA co-president, has also been working to make it clear why the American Sign Language school needs the space. (The building also houses P138M, a District 75 program with 45 students there, and Quest to Learn, which moved into the building in 2009 but will move out for the 2010-2011 year.)
“It’s nuts and bolts,” Ms. Black said of the school’s approach. “Understanding the kids. Treating them correctly. Respecting their language.”
David Bowell, the acting principal at P.S. 347, who is deaf, said the school would cope with the changes. He said the relationships between students and teachers were more important than where they were taught.
“If they told us we need to put all the classrooms in the Dumpster, then I would still do a damned good job,” Mr. Bowell said in sign language through an interpreter. “And so would my school.”