INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Association of the Deaf is calling on the Governor and the General Assembly for help. It states this budget crisis is forcing 26 staff members to be cut, including teachers, nurses and more.
The association will also have to reduce its housekeeping contract. Every staff member will be responsible for cleaning their own classrooms, hallways, stairways and all areas besides the bathrooms.
"To cut this staff that has strong relationships with the students is not fair to our community," said Jeffrey Spinale Jr., President of the Indiana Association of the Deaf.
The Indiana School for the Deaf is a tuition-free state public school for early childhood education and K-12 students who are deaf or hard of hearing.
It expressed that a $3 million cut by lawmakers is detrimental.
"We serve 350 students from all over the state of Indiana from preschool to 12th grade, which means if the students happen to be 4 years old, let's say, and there's an emergency overnight, we don't have any more overnight healthcare and we're trying our best with the resources that we have left and any staff available outside of campus might have to take them to get that emergency care. 9 teachers as well as 4 sub-teachers were also laid off," said Spinale Jr.
The association wants Indiana's Governor Mike Braun and General Assembly to:
- Restore the school's operational budget back to $20.4 million with the additional 2% increase that was given to other public schools
- Give long-term financial stability to make sure that the school does not face another crisis for professional staffing
- Tour the school and meet families and students
"This is the only accessible deaf and hard of hearing school with bilingual education in the whole state of Indiana. This is known as one of the top deaf schools in the country," said parent Katy Aiello.
Aiello's 5-year-old son, Clay, starts kindergarten there in the fall after excelling in ISD's toddler and Pre-K programs.
"They do a really great job trying to establish a sense of community and like really appreciating deaf culture and making the kids, you know, understand that to be proud of themselves," said Aiello.
While her family loves the staff, she's worried they will be overworked.
"Kids that are boarding there will have no access to a nurse at night. We're losing cafeteria staff, and they're reducing the food budget so that my son eats at the school cafeteria every day. What is that going to mean for his lunches and his nutrition? They're doing custodial responsibilities, like that's too much. They need to be able to focus on the kids," she said.
Parents and staff feel that while public schools are getting more funding, ISD is being asked to do more with less.
In addition to staffing cuts and added responsibilities, school staff will have five fewer professional work development days than other Indiana public schools, and athletic training is also being cut.
