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Not so different The Post and Courier - Charleston SC newspaper
It's cool to be different at Charleston County School of the Arts.
Middle and high school students at the arts magnet school celebrate diversity, and it's led to a school-wide culture in which each student's unique gifts are embraced.
It's for those reasons that school Principal Jim Reinhart didn't hesitate when Superintendent Nancy McGinley approached him about whether his school would house the district's program for deaf students. Hearing-impaired students had been placed at the Charlestowne Academy campus, but the board decided to close that school and four others this spring to save money.
The district's 20 deaf students are a small but close-knit community, and they wanted to stay together. In the past, they had been split among three sites -- elementary school students in West Ashley, middle school students in Mount Pleasant, and high school students in North Charleston -- and the separation was problematic. They couldn't share resources, teachers or curriculum, and students couldn't interact with a broader population of their hearing-impaired peers.
The county didn't have another K-12 campus, but School of the Arts has a middle and high school program. If the superintendent wanted a school that would welcome these students, Reinhart said he couldn't think of a better place.
Deaf elementary students went to North Charleston Elementary School while middle and high school students went to School of the Arts. The older students said they felt apprehensive and anxious about the move. They feared the unknown and wondered whether they would be able to find the help they needed. But those worries are long gone, and their passion for their new school is evident. The students hardly could wait to talk about their new home, and they communicated in sign language about their appreciation for the tougher classes and the open-hearted nature of their classmates.
"I think here is so much better," seventh-grader Alexandria Cavadias said in sign language through an interpreter. "Our classes are much harder here. I think School of the Arts is the best."
Hearing-impaired students have become a much-loved addition to the student body. Alongside their hearing classmates, deaf students take academic classes and electives, eat lunch and participate in after-school clubs. Hearing students have asked their deaf friends to start a sign language club, and the sign for applause has become a common sight in the school's classrooms.
"Here at School of the Arts, we're not isolated," said Dean Walters, one of the deaf students' teachers. "We are part of the school community."
Hearing-impaired students don't have full access to the school's offerings in the same way that students who audition for the school receive, but they can apply for full admission to any of its arts programs.
Junior Ebony Clemmons is among the deaf students' advocates. She's gotten to know them through her English class and an after-school club, and she's learned a few sentences in sign language. She wants her deaf peers to feel welcomed and supported, not afraid or ostracized.
School of the Arts "is not a normal school," she said. "It's a family."
It's cool to be different at Charleston County School of the Arts.
Middle and high school students at the arts magnet school celebrate diversity, and it's led to a school-wide culture in which each student's unique gifts are embraced.
It's for those reasons that school Principal Jim Reinhart didn't hesitate when Superintendent Nancy McGinley approached him about whether his school would house the district's program for deaf students. Hearing-impaired students had been placed at the Charlestowne Academy campus, but the board decided to close that school and four others this spring to save money.
The district's 20 deaf students are a small but close-knit community, and they wanted to stay together. In the past, they had been split among three sites -- elementary school students in West Ashley, middle school students in Mount Pleasant, and high school students in North Charleston -- and the separation was problematic. They couldn't share resources, teachers or curriculum, and students couldn't interact with a broader population of their hearing-impaired peers.
The county didn't have another K-12 campus, but School of the Arts has a middle and high school program. If the superintendent wanted a school that would welcome these students, Reinhart said he couldn't think of a better place.
Deaf elementary students went to North Charleston Elementary School while middle and high school students went to School of the Arts. The older students said they felt apprehensive and anxious about the move. They feared the unknown and wondered whether they would be able to find the help they needed. But those worries are long gone, and their passion for their new school is evident. The students hardly could wait to talk about their new home, and they communicated in sign language about their appreciation for the tougher classes and the open-hearted nature of their classmates.
"I think here is so much better," seventh-grader Alexandria Cavadias said in sign language through an interpreter. "Our classes are much harder here. I think School of the Arts is the best."
Hearing-impaired students have become a much-loved addition to the student body. Alongside their hearing classmates, deaf students take academic classes and electives, eat lunch and participate in after-school clubs. Hearing students have asked their deaf friends to start a sign language club, and the sign for applause has become a common sight in the school's classrooms.
"Here at School of the Arts, we're not isolated," said Dean Walters, one of the deaf students' teachers. "We are part of the school community."
Hearing-impaired students don't have full access to the school's offerings in the same way that students who audition for the school receive, but they can apply for full admission to any of its arts programs.
Junior Ebony Clemmons is among the deaf students' advocates. She's gotten to know them through her English class and an after-school club, and she's learned a few sentences in sign language. She wants her deaf peers to feel welcomed and supported, not afraid or ostracized.
School of the Arts "is not a normal school," she said. "It's a family."