New Superintendents of Deaf Schools: Colorado; Arkansas; Iowa; St. Mary’s (NY)

Several Deaf schools announced selections of new superintendents in recent months. I’ll recap four of them.

The first is at the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind in Colorado Springs.

At the end of January, the CSDB Board selected Tara Spangler, who was the acting interim superintendent and a deaf teacher and administrator at CSDB since 2006, as the superintendent out of a group of three finalists.

She is CSDB’s first deaf superintendent.

The second Deaf school is the Arkansas School for the Deaf in Little Rock.

At the end of April, Nicole Walsh was named the school’s new superintendent after the board interviewed 10 candidates.

Walsh is hearing and has experience in deaf education and according to a report from KARK news, has advanced skills in ASL.

-——

Sponsored video by Convo: www.convorelay.com

———

[Advertisement from 988 Helpline]

Exciting News! The 988 Lifeline launched new American Sign Language services for callers who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing. It’s a new resource for people to access help when they need it. Visit 988lifeline.org and select “ASL Now.”

———

The third Deaf school is the Iowa School for the Deaf in Council Bluffs.

On May 9, the Iowa Department of Education announced they selected Christopher Kaftan, who is Deaf, as its next superintendent.

He has over 20 years of experience in Deaf education, including many years in administrative positions. He will leave his job as the student services director at The Learning Center for the Deaf in Massachusetts.

The fourth Deaf school is the St. Mary’s School for the Deaf in Buffalo, New York. The school announced on May 13 that its board selected Aimee Bell as the next superintendent.

Bell is hearing and has worked at St. Mary’s since 2008 firstly as a teacher then more recently as an associate principal and as an interim superintendent. She is fluent in ASL.

That’s the recap of the four superintendents recently announced.

CSDB:

https://gazette.com/news/education/colorado-school-for-the-deaf-and-the-blind-makes-history-with-new-superintendent/article_4670a110-befc-11ee-87b4-5b971f3160ab.html

https://inniveestrategies.com/innivee-strategies-welcomes-tera-spangler-as-csdbs-new-superintendent/

ASD:

https://governor.arkansas.gov/news_post/gov-sanders-secretary-oliva-announce-nicole-walsh-as-superintendent-for-school-for-the-deaf/

ISD:

https://educate.iowa.gov/press-release/2024-05-09/iowa-department-education-names-christopher-kaftan-new-superintendent-iowa-educational-services#:~:text=DES%20MOINES%20%E2%80%94%20The%20Iowa%20Department,Iowa%20School%20for%20the%20Deaf.

St. Mary’s:

https://www.smsdk12.org/domain/148