Killing NCSD [Editorial Cartoon]

I’m posting this a little early this week, as I may start a new project this Monday.

Even when I was a student at NCSD, we were surrounded by disrepair and neglect. Reminders that the school had passed its glory days showed in the declining enrollment and the abandoned halls around campus. As each year passed the graduating classes grew smaller and fewer went on to college.

It was also interesting how more students transferred into the high school than moved up through the grades. Deaf schools are often considered the garbage bins, the place where failed deaf mainstream students are tossed into. NCSD was no different. It hurts to think that with the right management, it could be so much better. One only has to look at examples like the California schools, Indiana School for the Deaf, and charter bilingual-bicultural deaf schools across the nation to see potential.

The problem started long before OES, but OES is still accountable. This is happening now under OES’s watch. Using competition with public schools as an excuse doesn’t fly — the best schools attract the best students. Push for a new policy where deaf students are screened at the deaf schools first, even! The State of NC can do so much better, especially considering that it has excellent boarding schools already under wing, the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics — AND the North Carolina School for the Arts.

Make NCSD a star school, hire the right Deaf people who can make this happen!

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This editorial cartoon was done for Clerc Scar.

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