Parents and protestors at the Detroit Day School for the Deaf have entered the building and intend to occupy it until administrators agree to reopen it.
Detroit Public Schools closed the building this summer. It was constructed in 1970 for hearing impaired students.
The parents who entered the building with members of the activist group BAMN said the district plans to move their children to schools that are not prepared to serve their needs.
“She was supposed to go to a different school this morning and have an aide on the bus. They didn’t have an aid on the bus, so I really wasn’t sending her,” said Lenise Rodriguez, 24, whose 4-year-old daughter attended the school.
Kenya Johnson, 37, said her daughter, Jermaia Dukes, 6, is hard of hearing and has learned sign language. She said everyone at the Day School for the Deaf, including janitors and lunch aides, knew sign language.
“How is another school going to meet her needs?” Johnson said. "This school was built for these children."
BAMN protestors were part of the occupation that led school officials last year to reverse a decision to close the school for students who were pregnant and parents.
