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Clarke School for the Deaf
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| Clarke School for the Deaf |
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Students Speak for Themselves
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| Location |
Northampton, Massachusetts
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| Information |
| School district |
Northampton, MA |
| President |
Mr. William Corwin |
| Principal |
Judy Sheldon
Michael O'Connell
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| Staff |
Over 100 staff members |
| Enrollment |
Approx. 60 students
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| Faculty |
Over 30 faculty members |
| Type |
School for the Deaf |
| Grades |
K-8 |
| Athletics |
Soccer and Basketball |
| Mascot |
Cougars |
| Established |
1867 |
| Homepage |
Clarke School for the Deaf |
Clarke School for the Deaf is a private school located in Northampton, Massachusetts that is specialized in educating deaf children using the oral method and opposes any use of sign language on campus. However, it respects the decisions of the child to use sign language outside of campus or later in life as a second language.
Introduction
Clarke School for the Deaf was founded in 1867 in Northampton, Massachusetts as the first permanent oral school for the deaf in the United States and has gained an international reputation as a pioneer and a leader in the field of auditory/oral education. Clarke School was not only the first school to teach children with hearing loss to speak in the United States, but also the first to initiate education in the early years and the first to recognize the importance of students entering mainstream classrooms. Clarke School also was the first to train teachers in auditory/oral education and in 1962 enhanced the Teacher Education Program by partnering with Smith College where graduates can earn a Masters of Education of the Deaf. The school has been fortunate in having outstanding leadership to determine its programs and policies. Alexander Graham Bell, President Calvin Coolidge, and First Lady Grace Coolidge served on Clarke’s Board of Trustees.[1]
Today, Clarke School has campuses not only in Northampton, but
- Clarke School East[2] in Canton, Massachusetts
- Clarke School Philadelphia[3] about 10 miles west of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Clarke School New York in New York City, New York[4]
- Clarke School Jacksonville in Jacksonville, Florida[5]
All of the satellite schools are early intervention schools where young children from birth to five years old attend before starting in a mainstream school.
President Coolidge
According to historians at the school, Calvin Coolidge (standing far right of picture below) lived on campus where he met his future wife in Grace Anna Goodhue (standing far left of picture below). They lived in Adams House, a faculty house behind to the school's main dormitory. Grace Coolidge was a teacher at the school at the time when one morning President Coolidge (a lawyer working for a local practice) was in his second floor bathroom shaving allegedly with a top hot, a tank-top shirt and boxers when he saw Grace Goodhue while she was working in a garden between the house and the dormitory. Later, Coolidge asked Grace out on a few dates when in 1905, Grace Goodhue left the school after only three years of service to marry Calvin. After finishing his work as a local lawyer in Western Massachusetts, Calvin would go on to be the Mayor of Northampton, Governor of Massachusetts, Vice President and President of the United States of America.
Clarke School in the Media
In 2007, Clarke School was featured in the PBS documentary, "Through Deaf Eyes" produced by Larry Hott. It is about deafness and the deaf culture in the United States and the choices parents face between sign language and spoken language.
Clarke in Pictures
A panorama of Clarke School for the Deaf
References
External links
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