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Protests at Deaf School over leadership

The Atlanta Area School for the Deaf in Clarkston, Georgia, hired a white hearing superintendent with weak signing skills to lead the school—which is made up of 80% Black and Hispanic students.

image from Google Maps


Students began protesting—especially since the top leadership at AASD has no people of color and no one who is deaf among them. A dozen teachers and employees have resigned over the issue.


It all began when John Serrano, who was the school's first deaf Latino superintendent, left to become an administrator at Gallaudet University. Serrano was replaced by Lisa Buckner, a hearing white woman, who resigned after a couple of weeks of protests. Now, the Georgia Department of Education, which operates the AASD school, has appointed another white hearing woman as an interim superintendent while a search is underway for a permanent replacement.


Read more about the situation in a New York Times article published this morning here and an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article published earlier this month here.

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