School for deaf needs aid to remain open

Six-year-old Juliauna curled her middle fingers inward and extended her thumb, pinky and pointer finger, expressing what she hasn't said out loud.

Her mother was astounded by what her first grader had learned at school.

"For the first time, she was able to tell me she 'loves' me," Amber Sanders said. "She came up to me out of nowhere and said that (in sign language)."

But Juliauna's school, the Las Vegas Charter School for the Deaf, could close soon. Officials say they need to raise $28,000 to keep the school open through the end of May.

"It's devastating. I don't know what I'm going to do," Sanders said.

Major donors have withdrawn support because of the depressed economy.

"Nobody wants to close it, but it might have to be a business decision," said Wendy Jordan, a member of the school's governing board.

While privately managed, the school receives public funding as a charter school, about $5,000 for each of its nine students in kindergarten through 3rd grade. School officials had hoped eventually to expand to the 5th grade.

The public funding must be supplemented with private donations because deaf and hard of hearing students have so "many extra needs that must be accommodated," such as physical and speech therapy, Jordan said.

The school has a staff of two teachers, an aide and an administrator. It rents classroom and office space from the Northshore Learning Tree, a preschool on West Gowan Road near Buffalo Drive in northwest Las Vegas.

Teachers are trained in research-proven techniques from Gallaudet University, the federally chartered school for the deaf and hard of hearing in Washington, D.C., said Cathy Bennett, the school director.

Students get a bilingual education in both English and American Sign Language. Learning American Sign Language helps students learn English, Bennett said.

The school opened the fall of 2008 to correct what its founders saw as a deficiency in local public education.

Nevada is one of a few states without a school for the deaf. The Las Vegas alumni of deaf schools in other states wanted to give local youth the same kind of opportunity they had, officials said.

Sanders said she was lucky enough to find the school because it's located down the street from where she lives. "I took that as a sign," she said.

Sanders decided to enroll her daughter after she was told her hard-of-hearing daughter would not get much support in the Clark County School District.

"They could not guarantee somebody would be signing in the classroom," Sanders said.

The best she could hope for was "somebody would come in once a week and work with her."

If the charter school closes, Sanders said her daughter would go back the school district "until we figure something else out."

She said Juliauna is just beginning to "mutter" or speak verbally.

"I am afraid she will be lost in the school district," she said.

To learn more about the school, go to lvcsd.org.

Contact reporter James Haug at jhaug@reviewjournal .com or 702-374-7917.