District Welcomes School for Deaf

Plans to move the Orange County School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing to a location in the Los Alamitos Unified School District on Bloomfield Street are expected to win approval this month.

Trustees will tour the property between McAuliffe Middle and Los Alamitos Elementary schools and then are expected to give their approval at the Aug. 28 meeting.

“It’s a matter of finalizing the agreements and contracts and being sure that all the I’s are dotted and the Ts are crossed,” said Del Clark, board president. “We’re extremely happy about this. . . . Both our principals are very pleased to have these children take advantage of the programs at their schools.”

The school for the deaf now operates at Walter Knott Elementary School in Buena Park. The county will place four new, $90,000 portable classrooms for the deaf students on the Los Alamitos Elementary School campus during winter break. The portables will be turned over to the elementary school once construction of the permanent campus is complete.

The small school was forced to leave its previous home at San Marino Elementary School in Buena Park because of state-mandated class-size reductions, which meant the elementary school needed more space. The school for the deaf has had a 30-year tenure in the Centralia Unified School District.

The school for the deaf serves about 40 children up to sixth grade. It provides specialized education for students with cochlear hearing implants. These students are trained to hear and speak, rather than use sign language. The new campus will have space for 65 students.

“It’s an ideal place for the school of the deaf,” Clark said. “This school needs to be placed in an area without a high-decibel area because of [the students’] implants.”

The implants amplify even the smallest environmental noises. Teachers wear special microphones that transmit directly to the implants to cut down on excess background noise.

District officials also are happy to find a use for the land. It was bought by the school district when a new campus was proposed for the Orange County High School of the Arts.

When the arts school didn’t move to the site, the property “was just sitting there doing nothing,” Clark said. “It used to be a railroad spur, but since the tracks were pulled up, [the land] has just been idle. It’s a really wonderful opportunity.”

Chris Ceballos can be reached at (714) 966-7440