Schools for Deaf

With all the new attention being paid to California’s public schools (funding, class-size reduction, more textbooks, plant modernization, etc.), I think that two of our institutions are being ignored. These are the California Schools for the Deaf at Riverside and Fremont. The Riverside school is the closest to Los Angeles, so I will address the problems at that site. My stepdaughter attends that school and I have been there many times.

The plant was built in 1950 and is practically worn out. The roofs leak. The dorms are worse than a cheap motel. The teaching staff is underpaid and many personnel are leaving for higher pay in the public schools.

I am concerned that the state Department of Education, the Legislature and the governor have been ignoring the deaf because deaf children don’t really speak up for themselves very well. I would like some attention paid and some money allocated for major improvements in the programs for the deaf in California. I suggest $500 million for each of the two state schools. All I am asking is that the state institutions be treated as well as the public schools.

DAVE MARESH

Yucca Valley