Parents, faculty at Pa. School for the Deaf upset over budget cuts
They said the school is cutting direct services to students, but the school claims changes were made at the federal level.
THE PENNSYLVANIA School for the Deaf is slated to cut key positions, including counselors and therapists who work directly with students, to close a budget gap, according to a group of parents and teachers.
The group, which is scheduled to demonstrate today outside a board meeting at the school's Germantown campus, also claims officials have refused to disclose the finances or work with stakeholders to find another solution.
"We want them to be at PSD and we want them to thrive and the door just keeps getting shut," said Pat Pomroy, the grandmother of two children at the 195-year-old school.
Pomroy and others claim the private school, which educates students who are deaf or hard of hearing, is getting rid of more than a handful of positions to close a reported $800,000 budget deficit for next year. Some of the positions may be contracted out, they said.
Pomroy questioned how PSD - which is funded by the state - could wind up with that kind of deficit. She said she fears the changes will cause a disruption for students who need stability. "Now their counselor that has been working with my 5-year-old granddaughter, her last day was last week at PSD because her hours have been totally cut."
Maelyn Entwistle, a fifth-year teacher at the school, said the faculty is highly specialized and would be hard to replace.
"It's hard to find [physical therapists] and [occupational therapists] and counselors who can sign fluently and interact with these kids, so I don't know where they would find other signers who could provide the same services," Entwistle said.
But the head of the school claims the federal government made a change at the beginning of the year which will provide the money for physical and occupational therapy to the school districts instead of directly to PSD, and PSD will then contract with the districts.
"We'll just create the contract for the school district and they'll continue to provide the services for our kids," said PSD Head of School Marja Brandon, noting that she hopes to retain the same specialists who are currently on staff.
Brandon acknowledged the school is dealing with financial challenges, which she said are a result of no funding increases for the past five years despite rising costs for pensions and health care. She declined to discuss the school's budget until after it is voted on today by the board.
Brandon said the school could not renew the librarian, but added a sign language position requested by staff. A second reading specialist position is being cut because it is redundant, but the school will retain one reading specialist.
"Every position cut is a loss, but at some point schools have to find a way to keep a program alive," she said.
Some of the acrimony can likely be traced to the faculty's decision earlier this year to organize due to problems with the school's administration. The American Federation of Teachers, which represents about 160 faculty there, said the school has hired a "union-busting" firm.
Brandon said the firm is handling labor negotiations.
"I want nothing more than to see the newly unionized environment a really positive environment," she said, "but more than that I am going to keep the needs of the kids first because nothing matters more than that."