Troxell: Deaf student education to continue

From: Kerrville Daily Times - Kerrville,TX,USA - Apr 28, 2006

By Aurora Meyer
The Daily Times

Superintendent Dan Troxell clarified the deaf education program in the Kerrville Independent School District will continue indefinitely, despite reports earlier this week that the program was in risk of closing.

“The program will be around forever,” he said. “This is a program that can’t be eliminated. It is impossible to do so.”

Troxell added the program will continue, because the district “would be in clear violation of the law to not provide services.”

The district is required by law to make special needs programs — such as speech, hearing impairment and various others — available to students who need them, he said.

“The program option would always be there in the district, but if you don’t have the service need, then obviously you wouldn’t have the program during that time,” Troxell said. “For example, if you had no students who had speech needs, you wouldn’t have a speech pathologist meeting those kids’ needs that year.”

Troxell compared the program to extra-curricular activities such as band and baseball.

“If you have nobody signed up for orchestra, you’d have no program, although the following year orchestra may continue,” he said. “It’s no different than any other program.”

Students in the deaf program are not all completely deaf; there are students who have hearing impairment. Those students’ needs also are met with the deaf program.

“You’re going to have a need for signers, interpreters and deaf ed teachers, I would think, forever,” he said. “I can’t imagine that ever not being the case. The program will absolutely continue without fail.”

© 2006 Kerrville Daily Times. All rights reserved.