OSD: The Truth Finally Comes Out
Commentary: Ever since Jane Mulholland was unexpectedly fired during the winter break, the opposition from both the Deaf and hearing communities against ODE’s decision was immediate and strong. Personally, I’ve heard from approximately 40 of Mulholland’s supporters, mostly deaf, and there were more supporters writing letters to the local newspapers and other blogs. Mulholland was obviously an outstanding administrator to earn this much respect and loyalty. Countless speculations have been made about the real reasons for her unwarranted firing, including the merger of two state schools to save costs. This article just confirmed those suspicions: it was concerned the merger of OSD and OSB.  It is not unusual to see state schools serving both the blind and the deaf, however both the OSD and OSB communities are highly resistant to this idea.Â
In my opinion ODE should have been forthcoming with the taxpayers in the first place. Their lack of transparency breeds mistrust and damages their credibility. MZ
From the newsroom of the Statesman Journal, Salem, Oregon, Wednesday, March 7, 2007 ……
Study: Merge deaf, blind schools
Decision could come this month about cost-saving proposal
BY RUTH LIAO
Statesman Journal
TIMOTHY J. GONZALEZ
STATESMAN JOURNAL
www.ode.state.or.us/newsRecommendations
SOURCE: Oregon Department of Education A study released Tuesday proposes merging the Oregon School for the Deaf and the Oregon School for the Blind into a single Salem-area campus. The study, commissioned by State Superintendent Susan Castillo in December, also proposes creating a new site for both schools. Castillo expects to make a decision by the end of March, she said.
Placing two schools on one site would save money, state officials said. The report said enrollment at both schools has decreased, and student costs have increased. Education costs for the hearing-impaired are projected to be about $60,000 annually per student by 2007-09. The cost could be about $149,000 annually for the vision-impaired. “That’s not sustainable,” said Ed Dennis, deputy superintendent of public schools. “That’s why we need to look at change.”
Dennis said state officials have no intention of closing either school. Moving the School for the Blind in southeast Salem to the School for the Deaf’s northeast Salem campus has been considered several times, most recently in 1993. Currently, 30 students attend the School for the Blind. There are 106 students at the school for the deaf.
There always has been resistance to the idea of combining the schools, said Don Lorenzen, who served as deaf-school director from 1992 to 1999. He said he would not oppose merging campuses as long as the schools were operated separately, particularly if the change would bring upgraded facilities. “I think it could work, especially if both sets of parent groups and all of their stakeholders bought into the idea,” he said.
To read more, click on this: http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/NEWS/703070333/1001
Another article on this:Â Â The Oregonian: Schools for deaf, blind considering a merger
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/117323252859670.xml&coll=7
email contact: mishkazena@aol.com
Commentary: Ever since Jane Mulholland was unexpectedly fired during the winter break, the opposition from both the Deaf and hearing communities against ODE’s decision was immediate and strong. Personally, I’ve heard from approximately 40 of Mulholland’s supporters, mostly deaf, and there were more supporters writing letters to the local newspapers and other blogs. Mulholland was obviously an outstanding administrator to earn this much respect and loyalty. Countless speculations have been made about the real reasons for her unwarranted firing, including the merger of two state schools to save costs. This article just confirmed those suspicions: it was concerned the merger of OSD and OSB.  It is not unusual to see state schools serving both the blind and the deaf, however both the OSD and OSB communities are highly resistant to this idea.Â
In my opinion ODE should have been forthcoming with the taxpayers in the first place. Their lack of transparency breeds mistrust and damages their credibility. MZ
From the newsroom of the Statesman Journal, Salem, Oregon, Wednesday, March 7, 2007 ……
Study: Merge deaf, blind schools
Decision could come this month about cost-saving proposal
BY RUTH LIAO
Statesman Journal
TIMOTHY J. GONZALEZ
STATESMAN JOURNAL
www.ode.state.or.us/newsRecommendations
SOURCE: Oregon Department of Education A study released Tuesday proposes merging the Oregon School for the Deaf and the Oregon School for the Blind into a single Salem-area campus. The study, commissioned by State Superintendent Susan Castillo in December, also proposes creating a new site for both schools. Castillo expects to make a decision by the end of March, she said.
Placing two schools on one site would save money, state officials said. The report said enrollment at both schools has decreased, and student costs have increased. Education costs for the hearing-impaired are projected to be about $60,000 annually per student by 2007-09. The cost could be about $149,000 annually for the vision-impaired. “That’s not sustainable,” said Ed Dennis, deputy superintendent of public schools. “That’s why we need to look at change.”
Dennis said state officials have no intention of closing either school. Moving the School for the Blind in southeast Salem to the School for the Deaf’s northeast Salem campus has been considered several times, most recently in 1993. Currently, 30 students attend the School for the Blind. There are 106 students at the school for the deaf.
There always has been resistance to the idea of combining the schools, said Don Lorenzen, who served as deaf-school director from 1992 to 1999. He said he would not oppose merging campuses as long as the schools were operated separately, particularly if the change would bring upgraded facilities. “I think it could work, especially if both sets of parent groups and all of their stakeholders bought into the idea,” he said.
To read more, click on this: http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/NEWS/703070333/1001
Another article on this:Â Â The Oregonian: Schools for deaf, blind considering a merger
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/117323252859670.xml&coll=7
email contact: mishkazena@aol.com
March 8th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
Thought so. I did an entry on this earlier this year. I believed merging the two schools always has been the hidden agenda. They tried it 3-5 years ago, and Jane objected to it as well as the community plus the local paper, Statesman Journal, got a leak and published the merger article. ODE was thrown a monkey wrench. This time, they did things differently and more sleathily. They learned their mistake from the first time. They knew they needed to remove Jane as an obstacle. This is why they replaced her with a person who has no background in Deaf Education - they need such a person in order for the merger to happen. This fake head for OSD will not block the merger. They needed a silent partner in their unethical politics.
This merger may be the spark Jane needs to sue ODE. She can argue that ODE tried the merger previously and failed due to Jane’s disagreements as well as argue that the fake head who is her replacement has no background in the Deaf Education which in itself says everything in regards to what ODE is doing.
Finally, I doubt they will try to find a new site. They will just move OSD to the current OSB campus. It is beautiful, has more buildings and is in a central location - in downtown Salem. Where OSD is, the neighborhood is lower middle class industrial area. I’ve never liked going to work at OSD in that neighborhood. Gave me the creeps. OSD campus itself is okay, but I believe it is smaller than the campus at OSB.
You are right - the point here is transparency and honesty. ODE proved to the community they couldn’t be trusted. I believe had they been forthcoming in the first place, they may not have met with so much resistance and controversy. Indeed, there would be objections, but if ODE had presented the financials, their ideas, their plans, the community would have eventually accepted the idea of the merger. ODE SERVES the community, not themselves.
March 8th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
OSB is for the hearing blind students, OSD is for the deaf sighted. Where do the Deaf=Blind fit in?
March 8th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
“sleathily” has got to be the best neologism I have seen in a long time.
I’ve also heard that the land/property of the deaf school is in a prime location and more valuable for development? That would also fit.
March 8th, 2007 at 2:12 pm
Let’s recall Ridor’s message about his alma mater, Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind. I remember he mentioned that his school could NEVER have a Deaf superintendent because of the blind program which has a voter block.
Am I safe to say that glorious days of the Deaf in Oregon are over?
March 8th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
Cy, I remember your post. Your hunch turned out right. It seems many government officials lose the sight that they are appointed to serve the taxpayers, not vice versa.
Christine, I think at OSD, I hope.
Anon, the ODB is on land very valuable due to its location. I bet it will be sold and OSB, being the smaller, will be merged into OSD in a lousy section of the town.
Carl, OSD is much bigger than OSB, so I don’t think it’ll be a problem like at VSDB. I guess we’ll find out soon.
March 8th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
Carl, you have a good point! It is odd of not hearing much about the OSB director in the news. He must be going to be a director of these two programs soon(he must be exicted to see his paycheck fatter), even though there are only 30 students in his school while over 100 students at deaf school. If the merge does happen, I hope all the OSD students decide to go to the mainstream schools.
March 8th, 2007 at 2:31 pm
MZ, the OSB campus is a trust land, donated by a newspaper/bank family in the late 1880’s. ODE may find a way around the land restrictions to sell the land.
March 8th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
Glorious days aren’t over!
Hearing in State Legislative that will establish the governing board of trustees and split the OSD from ODE’s control - TODAY!
The bill has very strong support from parents and the deaf as well as the blind plus the fact that the legislative leadership moved quickly on the bill SB 757 within few days after introduction. At the end of the bill itself, the declaration is there that it is an emergency and it is to go in effect July 1st upon passage.
The hidden agenda? Remember Ed Dennis constantly said “safety issues”. He has not been forthcoming at all on this. Turned out it is “earthquake safety”. Dennis wanted Jane out of way to ensure Castillo and Dennis can try to get their way but the disclosure of this “issue” only speeded up the support for SB 757 because there is absolute NO place anywhere in Willamette Valley that can be even considered earthquake safe. NOTHING!
Blind School property is way too small! It has only 8 acres. Very high priced property and must revert to descendants of original owners, Asahbel Bush, the first owner of Salem’s Statesman (now Statesman-Journal). Note that the newspaper has already gone on record blasting ODE over Jane’s dismissal.
You might want to read more on the issues at “Deaf School United”.
The SB 757 will be posted shortly along with few comments.
March 8th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
This is a prime example of Jordan’s failureship to lead on this issue over his 19 years. He watched the residential schools decline in attendance and influence and he did virtually nothing about it.
That’s not a coincidence. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that he did not support the further existence of the residential schools.
March 8th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
The correct link for ODE’s news is:
http://www.ode.state.or.us/news/
David, you are right about Ed Dennis’s BS safety issue! I could not find any sexual abuse issues on the ODE’s recommendations of the school merge.
Hope the SB 757 will be a SUCCESS!
March 8th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
David,
Im surprised OSB has the larger campus? From where I was, it appeared to be larger than OSD? And more buildings, too? I may be mistaken.
The OSB property is tied up in trust and if OSB is closed or moved, the land goes back to the family - so there is no way for ODE to around that. Which is why I believe strongly given financial situation and choices, ODE would HAVE to move OSD to OSB seeing that OSB’s land is tied up in a trust. It would be cost-probihitive to find a new site and build an enitre campus. They have to choose one of the campus and OSB is the only choice. OSD land can be sold but not OSB. If they move OSB, the land goes back to the family and they re left with OSD whose property is not worth much seeing that it is in an industrial area and 1/3 of the campus consists of swamp. They might build apartment complex or some kind of big-box store on it. Nothing lurcative.
David, I DO hope OSD will be able to sever ties with ODE and form a board to run it.
Greg,
OSB director has been aware of ODE’s intentions to merge the two campuses. Like you said, OSB has a very low enrollment, and he has same visionaries as ODE - if he stays on as the director, he’s run two programs and possibly an increase in salary. Dirty politics as usual.
March 8th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
Well, at this late juncture AND if Jane M. still has anything to say, perhaps she could negotiate something where she would continue to be the head in a joint school since the blind school has so few students? Just a thought……
March 8th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
Let’s use the WV School for the Deaf and Blind (WVSDB), Romney, WV as a good example.
WVSDB faced the enrollment decline in the 90s. The WV state legislature chose to keep both schools open, because of the existing blind school.
If only for the deaf school itself, it would eventually close pretty long time ago.
WVSD have substantial deaf student population than blind pupils, but faced the potential school closing.
Pros and cons of having both deaf and blind schools on the same campus.
The WVSDB hearing school officials tend to lean favorably in blind students over deaf people due to the concept of “audism”. Nothing new about hearing people’s tendency of siding with blind people over deaf ones based on my personal experience and other deaf students.
Having the deaf supt. at the WVSD would be unlikely due to the WV State Board of Education’s skepticism about deaf supt.’s fairness for blind students, etc.
WVSDB usually end up having the audistic supt. and school faculty members.
March 8th, 2007 at 3:37 pm
Greg, that’s right. I forgot about the land trust.
Hopefully the bill will be passed, so the responsibility of OSD will be removed from from ODE and the director position’ll be returned to Jane Mulholland.
March 8th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
Response to #11, Cy
No!
OSBlind has 8 acres while OSDeaf has 52 acres.
OSBlind has 2 or 3 buildings in all.
OSDeaf has 14 buildings plus prime farmland PLUS the creek named “Deaf Creek” habitat protected by the school.
There is NO way around for ODE to get their hands on Blind school property because of the clause in the “deed in trust”
The SB 757 I posted has the provision concerning the Blind School, however in today’s hearing there are few amendments to close one loophole and to address the blind school concerns (they want same protections as OSD against ODE, too). One amendment being offered is to drop the word “State” officially from both schools for good, ending any notation of the “stigma” associated with the word “state”.
Futhermore, the bill made it clear both schools can not be relocated OUT of Marion County, period.
March 8th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
By the way, how many acres does Gallaudet University campus has?
March 8th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
#11, Cy
About the postion of OSB Director, the report by ODE, ironically says the Deaf School retains the control of consolidation, not the Blind, so the OSB director might be out of luck once the SB 757 passes and make law.
March 8th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
David, Gallaudet campus has 99 acres.
Anyway, the OSB director must not be passive about the OSB history and the orginal land owner Asahel Bush’s wish.
“The school operates today on the same eight and one half acres Asahel Bush donated to the state in perpetuity, so long as it was used to provide educational opportunities for the handicapped.”
http://www.salemhistory.net/education/oregon_school_blind.htm
March 8th, 2007 at 4:26 pm
It is interesting to see all comments and appreciate them. I would like to set the record straight. SB 757 is school board of trustee for OSD but ODE still retians most of the control. This morning we had a hearing and working session. We support the concept of school board and opposed the continuing involvement of ODE in OSD. OSB joined in and requested that OSB be added to the bill. The supporters of OSD and OSB requested that the bill be revised. The sponsors of this bill are showing support to our input. ODE announced that they support the concept of the school board but did not say what areas they are not willing to give up. We will have to wait and see how this bill will be re-written. The positive comment we got this morning is Senator Walker, the sponsor of this bill, is committed to see this bill passed in this legislature session. Cross our fingers for us that we get what we want.
Another issue:Merging OSD and OSB will never happen because both schools’ faculties, staff, alumni and friends are very strong in oppositing to a merge of both schools. We all have to be alert and be ready to fight until the school boards are passed and be formed by July 1, 2007.
March 8th, 2007 at 4:56 pm
The OSB land has not been not been in trust for many years. The state has full ownership and can sell.
The article you quoted some time ago was written by a person who, with the best intentions, published in Salemhistory website a past condition of land use that is no longer true.
March 8th, 2007 at 7:45 pm
Virginia, there is a restriction on the will about the OSB land. If the ODE decides to sell the land for any purposes other than the handicapped, they have to pay the full what worth the land is. The money goes to the estate family. It won’t be cheap. The ODE may not make any more money if they sold the land.
The government had discussed about this deed about 12 years ago, when they brought the issue up about the costs of the OSB and OSD.
March 8th, 2007 at 8:44 pm
David,
That’s odd. I saw more than just a few buildings on the campus at OSB and it sure looked large. OSD has a large section of land that is not in use. I was told by Jane herself that that section is unusable due to unstability of the soil - “too swampy” was what she said. So, it ended up as a science project for middle and high school classes. Jand commented that the swampy part of the property is “worthless.” So if OSD were to sell, there would not be much of a profit. Therefore OSB would be more a
feasible choice if a merger were to happen.
Virginia,
Even if ODE has full control of OSB, it doesn’t own the property. Trust is still attached to that property. As David said, the land would go back to the family one way or another. ODE would stand to lose one way or another.
Dot,
I hope the revision would come out with more control given to both schools and a board formed for each schools. Other schools for the deaf would serve as good models. Where I work, the board has full power - the state’s end is merely financial. State does not run the school. It only supervise some employees who work for state and not for the school which is Human Resources to keep the hiring process unbiased and fair. The HR offices are not on campus - they are in different locations in both cities where the two campuses are. That’s just one instance of what state controls. The rest, the board runs the operations of the schools. Policy and educational decisions are made by the board.
March 8th, 2007 at 9:37 pm
Response to #22
the back side, or rather say the lower portion is by all accounts former swampland. Has the character of a wetland in rainy season. Nothing can be built in that part except for farm buildings. There’s a creek running by there, by the name of “Deaf Creek”.
This creek’s habitat is maintained by the school’s students in a joint program with state’s Wildlife department to keep the creek clean. It feeds into Willamette River, so all means must be made to keep the creek safe and clean, and stocked with wild plants, etc.
I am looking forward to see amended SB 757 asap… I did recommend some amendments to take care of few basic concerns. I should know by late tonight what had been offered.