School for Deaf closing

BILL O ’ BOYLE

boboyle@timesleader.com

SCRANTON - The state has notified the School for the Deaf that it will close as of July 1, board members said Wednesday.Funding for the 129-year-old school was not include in the state budget proposal announced Wednesday by Gov. Ed Rendell revealed his $29 billion budget proposal for 2009-10.Marge Davison Matisko, chairwoman of the schools Board of Trustees, and Mahmoud Fahmy, trustee, saidthe decision was announced late Tuesday night and meetings were held Wednesday with state officials, administrative staff and board members.The current enrollment is 91 students.“I am angry; I feel betrayed,” Fahmy said.State Senate Democratic Leader Robert J. Mellow questioned the decision to shut down the school and vowed to fight the plan.“The school is important to our children, who come from 53 different school districts -- and important to northeastern Pennsylvania’s community and economy,” Mellow said. “While I realize that difficult cuts will need to be made as part of the budget process, it makes no sense to close this school.”Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo said the decision was made after great deliberation and with concern for the students and employees.“We don’t believe that the state should be in the business of directly operating schools,” Ardo said. “We have had conversations with the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf as well as the Northeast Intermediate Unit 19 about providing services for these students. We believe that can be done in a much more cost effective way.”Mike Race, communications director for the state Department of Education, said meetings were held Wednesday with school staff to discuss the closure. Mike Walsh, deputy secretary for administration, and Beth Olanoff, policy director, were in Scranton Wednesday to deliver the news to the school’s superintendent, Monita Hara, according to Race.Race said some students could receive help for services they need and some might enroll in the western Pennsylvania school.“We realize these are students with special needs,” Race said. “We know they need special accommodations. We believe they can receive all they need in one of these other settings.”The annual cost per student at the school is $80,000, Race said. The school has an $8 million annual budget and employs 77 full-time workers. It’s the only state-operated school in Pennsylvania and the majority of students reside in northeast Pennsylvania.The school opened in 1880 and operates on 10 acres in Scranton’s Green Ridge section.According to its Web site, it started off as a class for eight deaf children in the basement of a Baptist church in downtown Scranton.Fahmy said he and other trustees asked for time to raise funds to lessen the impact on the state budget, but that idea was dismissed by the administration.“The answer we received was ‘we are not in the business of conducting schools like this any more,’” Fahmy said. “They should have given us some time to develop a strategy to alleviate the funding problem, but the state was not interested.”Fahmy said the school has had many graduates who have gone on to college and have achieved great success.“Can you imagine if you are a parent of a deaf child and now that child is to be mainstreamed into a classroom?” Fahmy asked. “Public schools are not equipped to handle them; they will not receive as good an education.”

Bill O’Boyle, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7218.