Video: Levittown Residents Speak Out in Support of Special Needs Schools

Noel Rodriguez, a 12-year-old from Levittown, is in sixth grade at Mill Neck Manor School for the Deaf. He says he knows what it’s like to be the only deaf child in a district school.

"I didn’t really like that school," he signed (interpreted by Glen Sheprow). "Mill Neck is a much different place. I learned sign language here, I’ve made a lot of friends at this school...I have a lot of friends here and I’m able to talk with them just like any other kid."

Mill Neck Manor School for the Deaf is one of 11 4201 special needs schools in danger of losing their direct state funding due to proposed education cuts in Governor Andrew Cuomo’s first state budget.

This Saturday, March 26, Mill Neck Manor School for the Deaf is holding a petition rally at the Broadway Mall in Hicksville, asking the community for support in saving these special needs schools. Their goal is to gather enough signatures to convince the Governor to restore the state funding.

"We need their support," Assistant Superintendent Francine Atlas Bogdanoff said of community members. "These are people who live in the area, some know about us really well some not as well, but the hope is that all of these will be compiled and sent to the governor… so he sees we’re really serious; we’re not giving up."

The Governor argues that eliminating state funding just shifts the responsibility of payment for the special needs students from the state to the local school districts. The 4201 schools believe that the districts, already facing a challenging economic climate, will simply keep the students in their home districts and not send them to the special needs schools.

Noel says while he doesn’t completely understand what is going on with the state budget, the idea of cuts in funding to his school makes him very nervous. "I would be really upset if that were to happen," he said. "I would be really nervous about going to another school. My experience at that other school was that people didn’t like me there."

Susanna Pauley, also from Levittown, has been a social worker for the past 19 years at Mill Neck Manor School for the Deaf. As a deaf person herself, she attended both public schools and deaf schools as a child. Pauley can say fist-hand that there is a difference between the quality of education deaf students receive at each.

"I feel that the services offered here are much more important than what can be provided in a mainstream program," she signed. "In my opinion, we need to keep schools for the deaf alive. It would be very embarrassing for New York State not to have schools for the deaf while other states continue to provide those services to deaf students."

Pauley said there is a very important social aspect to consider as well. "I think it’s extremely important for the students who come here to attend this type of school, because everybody here is the same… if they were mainstreamed, they would most likely be the only deaf person in a hearing school," she said.

The school is asking anyone who would like to help to contact their local state representatives or to sign an online petition at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/save-ny-4201-school-funding/.

For more information, visit www.millneck.org.

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