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The Willie Ross
School for the Deaf is a
small school with an ambitious mission and a rich history. The focus of the
school, since its founding by parents in 1967, has been on providing quality
programs and services to the deaf or hard-of-hearing students that it serves.
Willie Ross has always invested in student programs before facilities and has
long acknowledged that its human resources are the most precious resource that
it possesses.
In the mid-1960’s, a group of parents came together,
united by the needs of their children who had been deafened by the rubella
epidemic that swept the eastern seaboard. Their common goal was to ensure that
the best possible educational programs and services were available for their
children. From the initial establishment of the parent group, they shared a
common goal: to have their children live at home, and they realized, well before
their time, that inclusion must begin with the family before it can occur at a
school.
At the time, residential placement for all deaf children
was the prevailing option. When the existing programs did not welcome their
vision of the benefits of a day placement, they were undaunted by the
rejection. The parents, confident of their decision, moved ahead and
established their own day school. They recognized that it is the families’
responsibility, before it is the school’s, to ensure that we leave no child
behind. They were united in their goal that, first, their children would be
full and contributing members of their families. They were secure in their
knowledge that an appropriate education would be the means to ensure that their
children would become full and contributing members of their communities. As a
result of their efforts, the Willie Ross
School for the Deaf first
opened its doors in 1967.
The legacy of their vision and their dedication to
improving the lives of their children through education serves as the school’s
beacon to this day. A tenet of the founders’ legacy is the recognition that
instructional models must evolve as the needs of the students that they serve
evolve. They realized that a school’s history, even before Willie Ross had a
history, can help guide the development of new models, but a simple preservation
of historical approaches cannot promote students’ educational success. They
learned from the residential schools’ resistance to the establishment of a day
program that parents must be advocates for their children to ensure they receive
the most appropriate programming.
The commitment to recognizing the value of different
approaches is demonstrated by the ongoing development of the Willie Ross model.
For example, Willie Ross began as an oral school, but over time the limitations
of an oral-only approach became clear to the members of the Willie Ross
community.
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Rather than abandon the approach completely, sign language was
integrated into the methodology, and Willie Ross adopted a simultaneous
communication approach. The value of both sign and spoken language was
recognized. Over time, the Willie Ross
School has integrated other
communication approaches, as well, to enhance students’ access to the
instructional model.
The advancements in the utilization of residual hearing
through digital hearing aids, FM classroom auditory training system, and
cochlear implants have been recognized and maximized in a fashion that cannot
occur when only a single method is available.
The value of integration for deaf students with hearing
students was understood, and the value of integrating approaches to enhance
instruction was adopted. This foundation led to Willie Ross’s development of
the dual-campus model. The school offers a center-based educational environment
at its Longmeadow Campus. The Partnership Campus, housed in the East Longmeadow
Public Schools, offers mainstreaming opportunities for for Willie Ross students.
Willie Ross also recognizes and supports the notion that
not all children with a hearing loss should be placed in a school for the deaf.
Drawing on that belief, the school established its Outreach Division which
provides services from infancy through age twenty-two. Whether it is a toddler,
identified through universal newborn screening and being served at home, or high
school students, receiving tutoring at their home schools, our services are
there assisting them with their studies. The school recognizes that certain
students with a hearing loss can be placed in their local school. The Outreach
Division provides the support and specialization that is needed to ensure that
the academic environment is responsive to the students’
needs.
The Outreach Division sponsors the Laurin Audiological Center, located in Pittsfield, made possible by the generosity of
one of our Trustees. The cities of Springfield
and Pittsfield
receive extensive audiological support for their students with a hearing loss
who attend their local public schools. The Curtis L.
Blake Center for Audiological Services at the Longmeadow
Campus services the students in the western part of the state and the
Laurin Center services the students in Berkshire County.
Willie Ross has grown, Willie Ross has changed, and
Willie Ross will continue to search for and introduce improved instructional
methods. The school welcomes all of its students by responding to their
needs. The Willie Ross community celebrates the diversity of our students and
recognizes that no single approach or method is appropriate for all students.
We will embrace the differences by offering programs which are student driven
and not insulated from change because of history. The mission of the Willie Ross School for the Deaf has always been and
always will be to provide the best possible program to its
students.
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