LSD may reopen Nov. 3

• By SONIA SMITH
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Oct 15, 2008 - Page: 1B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek announced Tuesday a tentative reopening date of Nov. 3 for the Louisiana School for Deaf, which he closed Oct. 8 after reports of sexual misconduct at the school.

“It is a new day in this school,” Pastorek said during a news conference. “We’re committing ourselves to eliminating unreasonable risks (to students).”

Pastorek said he plans to take a phased approach to reopening the school, allowing the children who are easier to handle to return first.

Parents have suggested allowing day students back first, followed by residential ones, Pastorek said, but he is also weighing allowing younger children to return first.

Of the school’s 193 students, from 55 to 60 percent are residential students and from 40 to 45 percent are day students, he said.

The Nov. 3 target date is dependent on the ability to retrain key staff and install a surveillance system, Pastorek said.

Efforts are under way to ensure all staff are proficient in American Sign Language, Pastorek said. Currently, five of the school’s six nurses and a full 25 percent of teachers are not proficient in ASL.

The school is holding two-hour sign language immersion classes every morning and afternoon to remedy this, Pastorek said.

“We’re making progress there, but it’s going to take some time,” he said.

Pastorek said he will look wherever he needs to — including out of state — to hire additional staff, including counselors, who are fluent in ASL.

“If we are serious about building a quality program, we will be able to find quality people,” he said.

The department signed a $285,000 contract Friday to install 174 video cameras — many of them motion activated — in public and outdoor areas throughout the school’s 116-acre campus, Pastorek said.

The surveillance company indicated the installation will take 30 days, but Pastorek said he is hoping they can expedite the process.