April 22, 2009 04:23 PM
April 22, 2009 04:23 PM
By Caroline Moses - bio | email
BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) -Blind students could soon go to school on the same campus as deaf students, thanks to Louisiana's budget woes. Legislators largely endorse the idea of merging the two onto one campus. They say it could save significant money and prevent program cuts. But, some legislators are concerned about what it will mean for students safety.
"I'm concerned about that...very concerned." Pat Smith is a former East Baton Rouge school board member, now state representative. Both the Louisiana School for the Visually Impaired and the School for the Deaf are in her district. Smith likes the idea of combining campuses but only if the School for the Deaf has transformed it's security and it's policies. "I'm really hoping they've thought this out."
You may remember, there have been numerous allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct among students and administrators in recent months. State superintendent Paul Pastorek said in October of last year he wants to train more staff to help deal with any future situations. "Probably the biggest issue for me is the lack of proficiency in American sign language. " said Pastorek in an interview from October.
Now, in a budget committee hearing, legislators say Pastorek has still not done enough. "The staff and everyone at the school was to have the ability to communicate with students and seems to me you've not done that." said Smith. "We still are working on training people to be fully certified in sign language." said Pastorek.
But Pastorek feels enough progress has been made to ensure someone nearby will be able to communicate with students in emergencies. He says that a fixed time-keeping system, new alarm system and monitoring system make the Louisiana School for the Deaf ready to welcome visually impaired students. "We believe the risks are manageable and have security systems in place to be able to maintain the safety and security of kids." said Pastorek.
Representative Pat Smith is not convinced. She's also concerned that there is no current director for the deaf school. Smith says the acting leader, Kevin Lemoine, does not know sign language and was recently fired as Zachary High School's principal. "Having a director is important because that's the leader of the school, no different than any other school."
State superintendent Pastorek says Lemoine is learning sign language. He also says it could take another year to find the right permanent director for the deaf school.
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