Buzz Worthy

Selecting a new School for the Deaf leader reveals a community in flux.

by E. James Beale

education

Taub

Walking through Germantown, it's easy to mistake the campus at 100 W. School House Lane for a branch of either of the prestigious Quaker schools — Penn Charter and Germantown Friends School — flanking it. The illusion doesn't last long, though: Press the campus' doorbell and lights will flash inside while the buzzer remains silent.

Earlier this month, PSD appointed Larry Taub, 55, as its first deaf leader in nearly 200 years. Within deaf culture, appointments like this one have literally started riots as students who wanted a deaf leader ended up getting one with hearing. Twice over the past 20 years Gallaudet University —the nation's pre-eminent deaf university, located in Washington, D.C. — has appointed a new president, and both times, the nominee's hearing status caused students, faculty and staff to stage demonstrations resulting in arrests.

This is the first time that PSD has encountered the dilemma. Retiring Head of School Joseph Fischgrund, who is hearing, was appointed several months before the first of the Galluadet protests. When Fischgrund came in, there was only one deaf school head in the nation; now he says that, as a hearing headmaster, he may well be in the minority. Fischgrund, who speaks in a quiet and friendly manner, seems almost apologetic when talking about the challenge facing deaf schools.

"Our society's social construction of deafness [is] as a disability, as a deficit rather than difference," he says. "The students like and respect me, but they're never going to be able to look at me the same way they will Dr. Taub."

PSD may not have been worried about riots, but search-committee chair Dee Hillas admits that both the school and local deaf community "felt very strongly that it was time for the school to have a deaf head."

The selection — Taub was tapped in January and officially takes over the K-12 charter school this summer — puts PSD in line with growing trend within the deaf community. Taub acknowledged, in a series of e-mail interviews, that there has been a "definite increase in consideration of deaf candidates for top jobs in this country."

Taub holds a masters in education of the deaf from New York University and a Ph.D. in educational administration from Columbia University. He writes impressively on educational philosophy and managed the Baxter School for the Deaf just as it became responsible for its own private funding. No one at PSD would admit that they would hire only a deaf candidate, but their intention seemed clear. It's one thing to reject a potential leader on the grounds that they are not part of the culture they intend to lead; for the deaf community, however, the issue may be more complex.

"There are people within the community who think that the broader community should be integrating into us rather than vice versa. In other words, we've spent 100-plus years trying to 'integrate,' 'mainstream,' etc. and where has it gotten us collectively?" writes Neil McDevitt, a Montgomery Township volunteer firefighter and national coordinator for the Community Emergency Preparedness Information Network for the deaf community. "Since that's a failure, maybe we should focus solely on our culture, our language and our community before we think about everyone else's."

So how does deaf culture couple the need to develop a strong deaf community with the need to integrate deaf students into the community at large? Jay Basch, a 1948 PSD grad who now heads the school's board of trustees, equates the deaf to other Americans for whom English is a second language.

"Like all people, deaf people often find their greatest comfort and joy in social circles with others who have similar points of identity — language, ethnic, life experiences, etc.," he says. But, "easy access in their native and/or natural language is not readily available."

PSD, he adds, teaches them to adjust even though, "a deaf community and a broader community at large are two different things." The idea of a community that fosters both internal strength and external connection is Taub's goal. "Individuals in the deaf community will have opinions and we should freely discuss them," he says, "but it should not compromise the quality of education programs that PSD provides to its students."

Thus, he advocates for a bicultural educational experience where students can ideally have the best of both worlds; using the flash is fine, so long as they understand the buzz.

(e.james.beale@citypaper.net)