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RIVERSIDE: School for Deaf chief hosts Halloween event | Luke Test Subsection - The Press-Enterprise
For Mal Grossinger, superintendent of the California School for the Deaf, the trick is to connect with students and serve as a role model.
So for a treat, why not invite them once a year to his Orangecrest home for a little soiree?
That's just what he did Monday. Disguised as a witch with long, stringy hair, pointy hat and tattered dress worn over his jeans, Grossinger hosted his second annual Halloween party for 35 kids and their parents.
He and his wife, Linda, decorated their house with spider webs, grotesque masks and the ghosts of costumes past, such as a severed foot.
“They know I'm the superintendent who runs the school,” he said, signing through an interpreter, Laurie Waggoner.
“I'm someone for them to look up to. They see me on campus, run up to me and hug me. It melts my heart.”
It melted it again Halloween. As Grossinger sat in a chair signing “The Skeleton and the Mummy,” the young eyes of an Egyptian queen, Cat Woman, Harry Potter, The Joker and a princess stayed glued to his flying fingers and expressions.
The superintendent provided such sound effects as “huff puff” and “flippety flap” through big gestures, grimaces and gasps to the very quiet group. In a case of mistaken identity, it turned out that the skeleton and the mummy were really the best of friends with no need to be afraid of one another.
After the story, Linda Grossinger, dressed as Raggedy Ann in a red wig, served cupcakes.
Her face full of painted whiskers, her mouth full of cake, Winter Slyder, 6, said she was “Catrina.”
Skylin Macy, 9, wearing a mermaid costume and lipstick, loved last year's party so much, she's been asking Grossinger every few months when he'd throw another one. “My friends are here,” she said through the interpreter. “I liked the superintendent's story.”
Erika Thompson, who has worked at the California School for the Deaf in Riverside for 15 years, donned a Spiderwoman costume to match her two Spiderman-clad sons, Caleb, 5, and Blake, 3. Both can hear and sign.
Thompson was thrilled to see Blake socialize, signing and talking with the children. “This is new for him,” she said through Waggoner. “At his preschool, he doesn't use his voice. He has more confidence here. It's a good place to participate through sign language.”
For Mal Grossinger, superintendent of the California School for the Deaf, the trick is to connect with students and serve as a role model.
So for a treat, why not invite them once a year to his Orangecrest home for a little soiree?
That's just what he did Monday. Disguised as a witch with long, stringy hair, pointy hat and tattered dress worn over his jeans, Grossinger hosted his second annual Halloween party for 35 kids and their parents.
He and his wife, Linda, decorated their house with spider webs, grotesque masks and the ghosts of costumes past, such as a severed foot.
“They know I'm the superintendent who runs the school,” he said, signing through an interpreter, Laurie Waggoner.
“I'm someone for them to look up to. They see me on campus, run up to me and hug me. It melts my heart.”
It melted it again Halloween. As Grossinger sat in a chair signing “The Skeleton and the Mummy,” the young eyes of an Egyptian queen, Cat Woman, Harry Potter, The Joker and a princess stayed glued to his flying fingers and expressions.
The superintendent provided such sound effects as “huff puff” and “flippety flap” through big gestures, grimaces and gasps to the very quiet group. In a case of mistaken identity, it turned out that the skeleton and the mummy were really the best of friends with no need to be afraid of one another.
After the story, Linda Grossinger, dressed as Raggedy Ann in a red wig, served cupcakes.
Her face full of painted whiskers, her mouth full of cake, Winter Slyder, 6, said she was “Catrina.”
Skylin Macy, 9, wearing a mermaid costume and lipstick, loved last year's party so much, she's been asking Grossinger every few months when he'd throw another one. “My friends are here,” she said through the interpreter. “I liked the superintendent's story.”
Erika Thompson, who has worked at the California School for the Deaf in Riverside for 15 years, donned a Spiderwoman costume to match her two Spiderman-clad sons, Caleb, 5, and Blake, 3. Both can hear and sign.
Thompson was thrilled to see Blake socialize, signing and talking with the children. “This is new for him,” she said through Waggoner. “At his preschool, he doesn't use his voice. He has more confidence here. It's a good place to participate through sign language.”