Education of deaf children in America can be traced to its permanent roots with the opening of The American School for the Deaf in Hartford, CT, in 1817. Laurent Clerc (1785-1869), a deaf teacher, Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet (1787-1851), a hearing teacher, and Mason Finch Cogswell (1761-1830), parent of a deaf child, teamed up to make this school a reality. One of Gallaudet's sons, Edward Miner, was the first president of (now) Gallaudet University, founded in 1864. Higher education for deaf students is an unique status that is American. To this day, 136 years later, Gallaudet University continues to be the only liberal arts university for deaf students anywhere in the world. Two streets on the NCSD campus are named in honor of Clerc and Gallaudet.

   In 1845 education of white deaf children and white blind children originated in Raleigh as The North Carolina Institute for the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind. This was the ninth state operated school for deaf children in America. It was common in those days to share a campus with blind children. In 1869 funds were provided for a separate school for black deaf children and black blind children in a separate section of Raleigh. It was the first school of its kind in the South. Separation of races ended with the Civil Rights Act of 1963.

   Around 1890 the educational trend was to have separate schools for deaf children and blind children. This led to a series of hearings that, in turn, led to legislative action. The end result was funding for a new school for deaf children and its location in Morganton, both in 1891. The prime advocate for a new school was Edward McKee Goodwin (1859-1937) of Raleigh who, in 1894, became the first superintendent, an appointment he held until 1936. The person instrumental for the location of the new school in Morganton was Col. Samuel McDowell Tate (1830-1897) of Morganton . The school for the blind remained in Raleigh as The Governor Morehead School.

   Goodwin said that the new school had only one mission: the education of deaf children. To make his point clear from the beginning, he made sure that the first brick was laid by two deaf children from the Raleigh school: Maggie LeGrand and Robert C. Miller did the honors on May 16, 1892.

   The original corporate name of the Morganton school on the day it opened was The North Carolina School for the Deaf and Dumb. Legislative action in 1916 changed the corporate name to The North Carolina School for the Deaf, the name it still retains.

Physical Plant
   "Main Building," the name given to the centralized building with the prominent clock tower, was designed by A.G. Bauer, a Raleigh architect. Construction started in 1892 and was completed on time for opening day in 1894. After several alterations during its 106 years, Main Building is now undergoing a major upgrading slated for completion in the summer of 2001.

   The most important work is the upgrading to 21st century building codes for fire, access, and safety in terms of meeting the unique needs for visually oriented deaf children. This upgrade will make the building one of the safest living units for such children anywhere in North Carolina. Extensive fiberglass wiring will provide full use of educational computer technology. All of this is an example of the long time financial support given to NCSD by the NC Legislature.

   Main Building is on The National Register of Historic Places. The National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 encourages the identification of buildings that significant in American history, architecture, archeology, and culture. After the opening of Main Building, a series of some 20 building units were Constructed between 1900 to 1975 in order to keep up with the increased student enrollments.

Administration:
   From 1891 to 1971, the primary governing body of NCSD was a Board of Directors as empowered by the Legislature to function. The members of the Board were appointed by the Governor for stated terms. In 1971-72 the Legislature reorganized state agencies into departments at the top, with divisions placed under the appropriate department. This format has continued down to this day with the re-naming of some departments and divisions as changing times warranted.

   In the spring of 2000 The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) placed NCSD under the jurisdiction of The Division of Early Intervention and Education (DEIE).

   Past NCSD superintendents: Edward McKee Goodwin(1894-1937), Carl E. Rankin (1937-1955), Ben E. Hoffmeyer (1955-1970), Charles L. Henderson (1970-1990), William M. Simpson (acting 1990-1991), Elmer L. Dillingham,Jr.(1991-1995), Charles Bernardo (interim1995), Gary Mowl (1995-1998). Current superintendent/director: Kent Mann, appointed 1999.

Classroom Instruction:
   Education of deaf children has long been based on a curriculum modeled after those of public schools, which also provided a standard for accreditation purposes.

   A long time issue among educators of deaf children was how to instruct those children in the classroom. Should the teachers use speech all the time and expect the children to respond in kind? Should the teachers use American Sign Language (ASL) and expect the children to respond in kind? Should the teachers use a combination of speech and ASL and expect the children to respond in kind?

   Since its founding NCSD was flexible in its approach to the instruction issue on the basis that the instruction must meet the needs of the child, not the other way around. The combined classroom and dormitory environments provided opportunities for each child to meet his/her maximum potential. This potential includes full involvement in student activities and sports participation. Deaf adults, both classroom instructors and dormitory counselors, contributed to this potential, too.

   Today a federally mandated Individual Educational Plan (IEP), designed with parental involvement, spells out the courses of instruction and classroom communication method for each deaf child. NCSD, with its long time flexibility in meeting a deaf child's individual needs, is well suited for the future.

   A contributing factor of NCSD's quality classroom instruction was having its own training program for teachers of deaf children, which was started the same year the school first opened, in 1894. The program is now offered as a college major at near-by Lenoir-Rhyne College in Hickory.

   For any school the end results are its graduates. NCSD graduated 1,791 students between 1895 to 2000, for an average of 17 students per graduation. A statement of the success of these grads are best expressed by a slogan NCSD used on its postage meter stamps for many years: "NC Deaf - Productive Citizens."

Combined Communities: Morganton, Burke, and NCSD
   NCSD became a legislative fact in 1891. Since then its payroll, local purchasing, employee salaries, and student spending have combined to make the school a part of the local economy.

   NCSD's school population decreased over the past years. This resulted in some vacant buildings. Community based public programs contracted to rent these vacant spaces. Burke County Public Schools and Freedom High have leased space for some of its vocational and academic programs. Another plus: courses not offered at NCSD can be taken at either Freedom High or Western Piedmont Community College.

   Probably the biggest and oldest inter-action between the combined communities was in the field of sports. There was intense sports rivalry from 1926 to 1972 between NCSD and these former high schools : Morganton, Glen Alpine, Drexel, Oak Hill, and Salem. The rivalry in football, basketball, and track spawned several school generations that still remember "those games."

   Freedom and East Burke, as 4A powerhouses, closed all local competition for NCSD in 1972. Since then NCSD found comparable sports competition with schools for the deaf in surrounding states. Athletic programs continue to be one of the best extra curricular activities at NCSD.

   In June 1972 NCSD hosted the World Games for the Deaf US team tryouts. 480 deaf athletes from all over the country participated in volleyball, wrestling, tennis, swimming and track and field. This four day event was made possible by the sharing of facilities at Freedom High, Morganton Recreation Center, and NCSD. The News-Herald called it the largest sports event ever held in Morganton.

   Jim Lowdermilk, a Morganton accountant, probably said it best about the Morganton/Burke/NCSD communities when he spoke before a Task Force to Examine Issues Facing NC Schools for the Deaf in 1987. He stated: "The Deaf have become an intricate part of our corporate world and our culture. This school (NCSD) is not superimposed on our community, it is our community."

Sources:
NCSD Publications:
1945 The North Carolina School for the Deaf at Morganton 1894 - 1944
1969 The North Carolina School for the Deaf 75th Anniversary 1894 - 1969
1994 Year by Year: A mini history of the North Carolina School for the Deaf at Morganton 1894 - 1994 (by the author)
The Kelly Messenger 1895 - 1903
The Deaf Carolinian 1903 - 1948
The North Carolinian 1948 - 2000

Author:
William M. Simpson - Historian/Curator - NCSD Historical Museum

Photo captions:
(1) High School Classroom Scene 1908
(2) Main Building 1970
(3) Main Building 1895