Atlanta Area School for the Deaf students hold protests
On Monday morning, a group of high school students at the Atlanta Area School for the Deaf (AASD) protested in front of the campus to demand the recently-appointed hearing superintendent, Lisa Buckner, be replaced with a Deaf superintendent. The students also said school administrators with the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) are perpetuating audism on BIPOC students.
One of the student leaders is 18-year-old senior Trinity Arreola, who is the president of the Latino Student Union.
On Monday, she posted a video on Facebook introducing two other leaders: Makayla Smith, the president of the Black Student Union, and Katrina, who is the treasurer for the BSU.
Here is a clip from Trinity on Monday.
Trinity Arreola:
“We are protesting here at the Atlanta Area School for the Deaf. The reason why we decided to protest is because we want to replace the superintendent from a hearing person to a deaf superintendent. Also the Department of Education has oppressed BIPOC/POC deaf students with audism.”
Alex:
A hearing passerby named Josh Davis observed the protest on Monday and posted on Facebook a video and shared his thoughts. Here is the video.
Davis said students explained that “they believe their school should have a superintendent who (at the very least) knows and understands American Sign Language and Deaf culture.” Davis said he hopes that Kenney Moore, who is the Director of the Division of State Schools with the Georgia Department of Education, will pay attention to the students’ concerns.
Trinity posted on Facebook this morning that students are still protesting. She posted two images of students sitting on the floor in a school hallway. The protest hashtag is #DeafSuperintendentnowATL.
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The AASD used to have a deaf superintendent, John Serrano, who was the first deaf leader in the school's history. He stepped down in the summer to accept a new job at Gallaudet University.
The AASD is considered a “state-operated day school” that is placed under the administration of the Georgia Department of Education’s Division of State Schools. On the GaDOE website, it explains that the division oversees the AASD, the Georgia Academy for the Blind, and the Georgia School for the Deaf.
From doing some research, my understanding is that after Serrano’s departure, the GaDOE appointed an interim superintendent named Jan Stevenson, who is hearing, and appointed Buckner as an interim assistant principal. Within the past two weeks GaDOE announced Buckner as superintendent. Buckner used to work for AASD as a state testing coordinator.
Deaf news outlet Sign1News conducted interviews with several students at the campus yesterday. A student named Jordan said he really missed the previous deaf superintendent, Serrano. Jordan said the new superintendent doesn’t sign and depends on interpreters to communicate with deaf students. Jordan said this felt oppressive.
Another student named Monserrat said she felt that the GaDOE did not communicate well with the AASD community on the process of selecting potential candidates for superintendent.
I reached out to AASD’s previous interim superintendent and current superintendent and did not receive a response. I also reached out to the GaDOE and was told they are working on a response.
I hope to do a follow-up story on the AASD protests this week.
Student leader video: https://www.facebook.com/trinity.arreola/posts/1513876415631155
Josh Davis: https://www.facebook.com/josh.davis.3388630/posts/10165946522615651
Sign1News: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2F3lXmASFw