Willie Ross School for the Deaf Elects New Trustees

June 23, 2011 - The Willie Ross School for the Deaf has announced the election of two new Trustees to serve a three-year term.  Dr. Richard Freyman, Professor in the Department of Communication Disorders at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and retired District Court Justice Jacques Leroy will be joining the Board. 

Dr. Freyman, a resident of Longmeadow, earned his Bachelor’s degree from Pennsylvania State University in 1976 in Speech Pathology and Audiology. He went on to earn his M.A. in Audiology from Temple University in 1978, and in 1984 graduated from the University of Minnesota with a Ph.D. Dr. Freyman started as an Audiologist at the Caswell Center in Kinston, North Carolina in 1978, and then became a Visiting Scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1990. Since 1983, Dr. Freyman has instructed in the Department of Communication Disorders at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, and has been a Professor at the University since 1998. Dr. Freyman has authored numerous research publications since 1983 and is a member of the Acoustical Society of America, the Association for Research in Otolaryngology and the American Auditory Society.
 
Jacques Leroy, currently of Longmeadow, a native of Haiti, began his higher education at College Saint Martial in Port-au-Prince where he earned his Bachelor’s degree. From there he attended the Universite d’Haiti, where he studied International Affairs and Diplomacy for two years, and from 1965 to 1966 studied Hispanic Studies for Diplomats at the Instituto Lope de Vega in Port-au-Prince. From 1970 to 1973, Leroy earned both his M.A. and Ph.D. in French Literature from the University of Pennsylvania, and went on to earn his Juris Degree from Harvard Law School in 1978. Along with teaching and practicing law at the University of Pennsylvania, University of Massachusetts/Boston and Harvard, Leroy also taught at Baypath College, National Business Institute and at Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Inc. He has been an associate in the law firm Choate, Hall & Stewart in Boston, worked in the Department of the Attorney General, was Assistant Secretary at the Executive Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation, Administrative Justice in the Department of Industrial Accidents, and up until his retirement in 2011 was District Court Justice in the Trial Court of the Commonwealth.

Judge Daniel Swords, Chairperson of the Nominating Committee, made the announcement by saying, “We are delighted to have two such distinguished members of our community join our Board of Trustees.  We look forward to their contributions to our deliberations as we plan for the future of Willie Ross.”

The school serves children from 18 different school districts in Western Massachusetts.  The Willie Ross School for the Deaf provides a comprehensive educational program stressing academic excellence that focuses on the development of students’ intellectual, social, and emotional growth from the early childhood level through high school. Willie Ross serves students at its main campus in Longmeadowand at its partnership campus located in the East Longmeadow Schools. Mainstreaming opportunities are provided at the partnership campus.