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http://www.chicoer.com/Stories/0,1413,135~25088~2873615,00.html
DURHAM - A district with no deaf or hard of hearing students may become the home base for the county's deaf and hard of hearing education program.
Recently Corin Meester and Bonnie McWilliams of the Butte County Office of Education, asked the Durham Unified School District to consider hosting the classes for deaf and hearing impaired students.
Meester told the district Board of Trustees she would like to see the majority of the county program consolidated on the Durham campuses.
The goal would be to bring two classes to Durham this fall and a third the following academic year.
Putting the classes in Durham would be better for the county office, according to Meester, because the location is centrally located, also it will give the program a permanent home where its equipment can be stored.
At present the program is offered at five different campuses throughout the county. Classes in Chico and Oroville would remain open even if the Durham arrangement is made.
Meester said it would be good for the district because it will use currently empty classrooms, put additional students on campus for which the state would pay the district and provide an additional "foreign" language that the unimpaired students could take.
She explained American Sign Language is an accepted "foreign" language and the program's sign language teacher would be available to teach it in the high school to a general student population.
The districts of residence, where the students live, would cover the cost of transportation.
DUSD Superintendent Penny Chennell, in a telephone interview after the presentation, said the offer is unusual in her experience.
"This is one of those programs I can't see any negative to. A lot of issues have real solid pros and real solid cons, I can see only win-win," said the superintendent.
At present DUSD has no students in the deaf and hard of hearing program, however, Chennell doesn't see that as a negative.
"I'm really excited about the opportunity for Durham to expose our own students to those who are deaf and hard of hearing," she said.
Also the consolidation of classes in a single location and since the program itself is K-12 in scope, will give the students in the program and chance to mingle and learn from each other.
"We've operated the program for two years and teachers have said for two years we've got to consolidate this," Meester told the trustees.
Chennell said roughly 75 percent of all school funding comes from the state subsidy for average number of students on campus each day.
According to Meester, the state subsidy comes to $5,800 per student per year.
However, Chennell said the program won't have much financial impact on the school district immediately.
She predicted, assuming it goes into effect, the additional students could start showing up financially by the 2006-2007 academic year.
Chennell said what the program could do is "stabilize" the district's attendance, which has suffered some small but steady erosion in recent years.
The proposal will go before the DUSD trustees again May 24 for a final decision.
DURHAM - A district with no deaf or hard of hearing students may become the home base for the county's deaf and hard of hearing education program.
Recently Corin Meester and Bonnie McWilliams of the Butte County Office of Education, asked the Durham Unified School District to consider hosting the classes for deaf and hearing impaired students.
Meester told the district Board of Trustees she would like to see the majority of the county program consolidated on the Durham campuses.
The goal would be to bring two classes to Durham this fall and a third the following academic year.
Putting the classes in Durham would be better for the county office, according to Meester, because the location is centrally located, also it will give the program a permanent home where its equipment can be stored.
At present the program is offered at five different campuses throughout the county. Classes in Chico and Oroville would remain open even if the Durham arrangement is made.
Meester said it would be good for the district because it will use currently empty classrooms, put additional students on campus for which the state would pay the district and provide an additional "foreign" language that the unimpaired students could take.
She explained American Sign Language is an accepted "foreign" language and the program's sign language teacher would be available to teach it in the high school to a general student population.
The districts of residence, where the students live, would cover the cost of transportation.
DUSD Superintendent Penny Chennell, in a telephone interview after the presentation, said the offer is unusual in her experience.
"This is one of those programs I can't see any negative to. A lot of issues have real solid pros and real solid cons, I can see only win-win," said the superintendent.
At present DUSD has no students in the deaf and hard of hearing program, however, Chennell doesn't see that as a negative.
"I'm really excited about the opportunity for Durham to expose our own students to those who are deaf and hard of hearing," she said.
Also the consolidation of classes in a single location and since the program itself is K-12 in scope, will give the students in the program and chance to mingle and learn from each other.
"We've operated the program for two years and teachers have said for two years we've got to consolidate this," Meester told the trustees.
Chennell said roughly 75 percent of all school funding comes from the state subsidy for average number of students on campus each day.
According to Meester, the state subsidy comes to $5,800 per student per year.
However, Chennell said the program won't have much financial impact on the school district immediately.
She predicted, assuming it goes into effect, the additional students could start showing up financially by the 2006-2007 academic year.
Chennell said what the program could do is "stabilize" the district's attendance, which has suffered some small but steady erosion in recent years.
The proposal will go before the DUSD trustees again May 24 for a final decision.