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Deaf Community Says KSD Superintendent Search Excluded People With Lived Experience
Summary
Representatives of the deaf community and a KSD teacher urged the State Board to reopen the Kansas School for the Deaf superintendent search and add deaf professionals to the task force, warning that lived experience matters for deaf education.
Petra Horn Marsh, speaking for the Museum of Deaf History, Art and Culture, told the board the superintendent search for the Kansas School for the Deaf lacked deaf representation on the task force or search committee and asked the board to reopen the process and include deaf adults and deaf education specialists.
"There was no deaf input. There was no deaf individuals that served on the search committee," Petra Horn Marsh said, asking the board to "carefully consider" the qualifications of candidates and to reopen the search to include deaf professionals.
Harmony Jarrett, a teacher at the Kansas School for the Deaf and a mother of a deaf child, described language deprivation as a systemic crisis for many deaf children and urged earlier placement, stronger outreach, and partnership with KSD site councils and outreach programs to ensure students arrive with access to language and supports.
Board members acknowledged the comments; staff said the board will track and consider whether KSD needs additional agenda time to address the concerns raised in public comment.
