Beyond the Funding: The Hard Truth About Enrollment & the Future of Deaf Schools
The recent court victory for Arizona school funding is a good news, but we need a reality check. As Jimmy Gore taught us, relationships with legislators bring stability, but they don't bring students.
The "manufactured crisis" we are facing at ASDB isn't just about leaky roofs; it's about a dwindling student population that our current "Deaf Only" model isn't fixing. If we keep thinking that a "Language Rich Environment" can only exist in a bubble, we are ignoring the real world.
In this talk, I dive into:
• The Jimmy Gore Lessons: Why legislative support is only half the battle.
• The "Audiologist Plant" & Enrollment: Why our current mindset is scaring away the very families we need to serve.
• Models of Success: What we can learn from leaders like Rachel Zachman and Gregory Visco (Riverside) about integrating Deaf Culture within a broader educational ecosystem.
• The Long-Term Solution: Why co-enrollment and "sharing our world" with hearing students (Gen-Ed partnerships) is the only way to make our 56-acre campus sustainable for the next 100 years.
We can’t just save the buildings; we have to save the enrollment. It’s time to stop fearing the "hearing world" and start inviting it in so our culture can actually thrive.