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Politics & Government

Cleary School for the Deaf in Danger of Losing State Funding

Long Island and New York State 4201 schools rallied in Albany March 10 against proposed state funding cuts and is urging the community to contact state officials in opposition of cuts.

Cleary School for the Deaf in Nesconset is one of three 4201 schools on Long Island and 11 across New York State that may lose direct state funding due to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed budget cuts, which school representatives and local parents said would be disastrous for special needs students.

“The funding for all of our programs was eliminated almost entirely from the budget with the plan being to switch the cost of the local tuition rate back to the local school districts,” said Cleary School Superintendent Ken Morseon.

Morseon added that the results of the budget proposal would be disastrous to the 4201 schools and that it is likely schools will keep the students in the district instead of paying to send them to the 4201 schools.

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Former Cleary student and current teaching assistant Elizabeth Wallace said the 4201 schools provide specialized educational services that can not be recreated by local district schools.

"In public school, most of the teachers don't have experience with deaf children, they have no idea how to communicate with the child or how to help develop the child's learning,” she said.

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Christopher Turi, a former Ceary student, said there is no substitute for students with specialized educational service needs to learn amongst peers.

"If they cut the budget, the education of these kids will be lost. They'll be separated into all different districts ... social life is very important it's a real key part to being in the deaf community,” he said.

Lisa Smith, a parent of a Cleary student, said the 4201 schools are a critical resource for parents as well.

"It was invaluable to have this program available to me when my child was first diagnosed,” Smith said. “Many of the parents that I went through the infant program with never met a deaf person in their life, and then all of a sudden they have a deaf child ... they had no idea what to do. I learned sign language here so I was able to communicate with my child."

She also said the school district couldn’t reproduce the support system Cleary provides.

"If they cut the budget, there will be no environment for the deaf, blind or multi handicapped kids to be together ... If they go into a regular public school they may not be able to learn as well,” said Lauren Smith, Lisa’s daughter.

Representatives from the 11 Long Island and New York State 4201 schools came together for a rally in Albany on March 10. The issue of funding is currently unresolved and time is running out to possibly restore the funding before the state adopts the budget and the 4201 schools are lobbying to convince state lawmakers to put the schools back in the budget.

 

School representatives are urging people to contact local state representatives or to sign an online petition, which can be found by clicking here.

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