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Pocono News Section
SSSD Students, Staff Want Answers
SSSD Students, Staff Want Answers - Friday, April 17, 2009 at 5:16PM EST
SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY -- After 129 years of service, the Scranton State School for the Deaf is set to close in just 36 school days.
Jeff Andrulonis is one of hundreds of frustrated parents. He and his wife drive his daughter four hours one-way to the school.
"She and Kristen literally wake up at 3:30am on Monday to drive in, that's how important this school is to us," he said.
Students and staff don't know what they're going to do. They say they're still waiting on details from the Department of Education to find out if SSSD can stay open for another year.
"Graduating from here and going to college, I feel like all of that was destroyed in an instant when they told us," said Radoslava Slavova through an interpretor. She's a junior at SSSD. Her family moved from Bulgaria for the school. "I mean, it really it hurt me to the core."
"I feel horrible with all of us being separated," signed Freshman Kira Uber of Nanticoke. "I want to see my friends all the time. They're like my second family."
"It's not a simple solution of bait and switch, take one program out and plug another one in," added Ruth Gerrity, President of SSSD Teachers' Association.
Governor Rendell announced in February that SSSD was cut from next year's proposed state budget. Representative Kevin Murphy says he was first told it was due to money. When it came out that SSSD is cheaper than mainstream education, the Department of Education then told him it was due to poor academic performance. He says the change in reasoning means there's no research to back up the decision.
"It's more than a dollars and sense issue," said Rep. Murphy. "It's about children who are building self esteem, social skills, and there's so much available to them here."
Monday, he's proposing to keep the school open at least another year, while the state studies the costs of running it. | |
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