On Eagle’s Wings - Louisiana School for the Deaf · Page 2 On Eagle’s Wings Grandparents’ Day Is Opportunity to Show Off On Friday, September 1, LSD hosted our sixth annual

Dates to Remember

Mason/Dixon Volleyball Tour-nament October 12—14 Second 9 weeks Begins October 16 Graduate Exit Exam re-testing October 23—27 Homecoming October 28 ACT Testing October 30 Trick or Treating, Elementary Students October 31

We're very excited about our newly renovated school website, the LSD SignPost! The changes were made possible through the generosity of the LSD Foundation and the talented designers at Red Stick Internet Services.

The new navigation tools on the website will make it easier for you to find informa-tion about our programs and services. Our new SignPost will show you the way.

On the new SignPost, it's easy to:

Navigate the site clearly! Hold the mouse over the buttons on the left side of each page to see what is inside each section.

• Get back to the Home Page from anywhere by clicking on Louisiana School for the Deaf at the top left of each page.

• See exactly where you are within the site by looking above the title of each page at the path of links.

• See Upcoming Events listed right on the Home Page. • See all news items - current or archived - by clicking on "see all news in the ar-

chives" on the Home Page. • Quickly access the Calendar, Map & Directions or Contact pages from the

SignPost itself, at the top right corner of each page. • View the new Calendar by month, week or day. • View a single category of Calendar events using the drop-down list. • Receive an e-mail reminder of an upcoming event by submitting your e-mail

address to the SignPost calendar. We hope you enjoy our new SignPost. Now that we have this wonderful site, new features and new information will be posted frequently. Make sure to bookmark our site so you can refer to it easily and often. www.lalsd.org

LSD SignPost School Website Upgraded Debbie Anderson

Louisiana School for the Deaf September 2006

On Eagle’s Wings

Page 2 On Eagle’s Wings

Grandparents’ Day Is Opportunity to Show Off On Friday, September 1, LSD hosted our sixth annual Grandparents’ Day having over 100 family members in attendance. The theme was “Everybody Has Music In-side.” Visitors were welcomed to the Student Center for refreshments, given free materials about deafness provided by DawnSign Press, and were greeted by Kenny David, Interim Director, and Linda Thomas, Administrator of Teaching and Learning. The Elementary Sign Singers, sponsored by Mary Ann Sessums and Jan Olivier, had nine students perform the song, “Everybody Has Music Inside.” Singers in-cluded Justin Shafer, Hope Goss, Troy Goss, Victoria Regueira, Kathleen LeJeune, Chelsey Scott, Ja’aryn Jarrell, Ari Latino, and Raymond Gordon. Three High School Sign Singers, Frannie Crotty, Sadie Snyder and Kevin Williams led the assembly in the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by a dramatic presentation of the original poem written by Connie Tullos, “Who Loves You?” The guest speaker was Beth Forester, recently retired principal, who shared with the audience memories of her own grand-parents and the important role they had in nurturing her. She particularly empha-sized the importance of using “teachable moments” to promote literacy. Numerous door prizes, donated from various departments all over campus, were given at the close of the program. One grandmother won the award for having the most grand-children – 32! Another grandmother won the award for having the youngest grand-child who was 24 hours old! Families then visited in the classrooms of their grand-child and participated in departmental activities. Family members headed home af-ter enjoying a delicious fried chicken lunch in our cafeteria.

Free materials donated by DawnSign Press were given by Phoebe Weaver and Donna Embree.

Elementary Sign Singers

High School Sign Singers Beth Forester, retired Principal, was the guest speaker.


Welcome to New Staff Larry Massey Instructor Middle School Kelly Jenkins Para-educator Elementary School Lisa Massey Harrell Nurse Student Health Center Jeremy McKiney Food Service Food Service Curt Brown Residential Advisor Elementary Dorm Dustin Cutrer Residential Advisor Elementary Boys Dorm Becky Phung Residential Advisor Middle School Girls Dorm Lisa Chase Instructor Elementary School Chonda Moore Residential Advisor Night Dorm Laura Kliebert Instructor Elementary School Geisele Decuir Administrative Coordinator SWAC Nicole Giardelli Residential Advisor Middle School Girls Dorm Nicole Sterling Para-educator Elementary School Tracy Johnson Para-educator Elementary School

Opening of School The opening day of school for staff members was held on Monday, August 7, 2006. Employees gathered in the Student Center for a delicious breakfast buffet prepared by the Food Service Department. Once in the auditorium, staff were welcomed by Interim Director, Kenny David and Liz Moore, Liaison to Board Special Schools for the Depart-ment of Education. New employees were introduced and years-of-service recognition was bestowed upon staff working at LSD for 20, 25 and 30 years. The Safe and Drug Free School speaker was Dr. Billy Sibley, a professor from the Southern University Psychology Department who taught about the signs and symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, especially as it relates to the hurricane experiences of our students. Borrowing from Staples Office Products commercials, we learned about various re-quired topics using an Easy Button. FERPA (Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act), child abuse reporting and the school’s suicide policy were condensed down to several Easy steps. Special thanks to the Guidance Department, under the leadership of Maria Stephens, for providing such a memorable presentation of these school poli-cies. The morning concluded with the distribution of many Easy Buttons. door prizes.

Years of Service Recognition 20 Years of Service Elaine Castleberry Staff Supervisor, Middle School Dorm John Jumonville Instructor, Vocational Sharon Lee Business Manager Peggy Quiet Activity Coordinator, Middle School Dorm Bobby Sheppard Staff Supervisor, Elementary Dorm Jocelyn Stewart Instructor, Vocational 25 Years of Service Theresa Delaune Accounting Specialist Joey Nipper Instructor, High School Kelvin Spencer Para-educator, High School Bonnie Torres Staff Supervisor, Night Dorm


From the Desk of Kenny David, Interim Director

The school year has gotten off to a fantastic start. Although we began with less positions this year, my hat is off to our dedicated faculty and staff for coming together to assist in preparing the school and its programs ready for students. We will continue to be creative in meeting the needs of our students so that they will have access to the general education curriculum. In order to do this, our faculty prepares lessons that are based on the individual functioning level of their students, as well as making sure subject content in the general educa-tion curriculum is being taught. Doing this can be difficult, but our faculty works very hard at modifying instruction. The school continues to focus on literacy. The state has a mandate that requires students in grades K – 3 to have unin-terrupted time in the mornings to focus on language arts and reading. Our Technology Department has been working hard in upgrading our website. Our new website has been launched and I encourage you to visit it and provide feedback. Last week, I had the privilege of tagging along with Jeannette Webb, Parent Advisor, who serves our northwest – central Louisiana infants and toddlers. I visited in the home of four toddlers and visited with audiologists in preschools/service centers. Our Parent Advisors serve as the “resource” person for our parents. Our Parent Advisors provide parents with “unbiased” information about deafness and educating deaf children. Parent Advisors must be knowl-edgeable about programs offering services in sign language, cued speech, oral speech, etc. Many of our parents have chosen a cochlear implant for their chil-dren. Jeanette provides an array of interventions in working with these chil-dren. It is my plan to continue these visits across the state.

Elizabeth Whitfield Residential Advisor, Night Dorm Lynne Gomez Coordinator, Sign Language and Interpreting Services 30 Years of Service Diana Perque Residential Advisor, High School Girls Dorm Lovie Oyekenu Instructor, Middle School

Homecoming, Save That Date Homecoming is scheduled for Saturday, October 28, 2006 and will include a fair which will be held in the large gym and outside the front of the PE Complex from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The football game will start at 6:30 pm against the Georgia School for the Deaf. Pre-game festivities will commence at 6:15 pm. Students, staff, families and alumni are all invited to come and celebrate with us. Questions about details can be directed to Susan Blackwell, Student Affairs Coordinator at ext. 210.


This year, we will host family/caregiver meetings across the state. The pur-pose of the meetings is to inform families about resources available to them. Also, the school wants to involve parents in their child’s education. We hope to learn ways we can better serve the families of our students. Trish Mann, our Parent Liaison, will be sending out information about these meetings once locations are secured and dates established. I look forward to seeing you and talking to you about your child’s education at LSD. I look forward to a prosperous and productive school year. I invite every par-ent to come and visit their child in school or in the dorm. We love to have you here.

Laurie Self, Interim Administrator of Student Life Laurie Self was appointed as the Interim Administrator of Student Life (formerly Dean of Students) effective July 11, 2006. Laurie was named administrator to temporarily take the place of Kenny David while he is serving as Interim Direc-tor of the school. Rhonda Flack is the Interim Residential Team Leader for the Elementary Dorms serving in Laurie’s absence. Laurie began her career at LSD as a student worker 12 ½ years ago. She has worked in the Business, Ex-ecutive and Student Life Divisions in various positions. Laurie also did her in-ternship in the Parent Pupil Education Program at LSD before graduating from LSU in Child Development. Laurie has spent her career at LSD. Thanks, Lau-rie, for being willing to take on these additional responsibilities.

Self Reflections Laurie Self

It has been a very busy start to the 2006-2007 school year! The Student Life Division Management TEAM and VISIONS TEAM have been working hard to develop new pro-grams and activities for the after-school program. The Student Life Division is pleased to welcome several new staff members to LSD. Curt Brown and Dustin Cutrer, LSD Alumni, join the elementary dorm program as Resi-dential Advisors. Chonda Moore is the night Residential Advisor in the Elementary Boys dorm, Becky Phung is a Residential Advisor in the Middle School Girls Dorm, Nicole Giardelli has returned as Residential Advisor in the Middle School Boys dorm, and Lisa Harrell joins the nursing staff in the Student Health Center. A major change made during the summer was to improve after-school activities for the middle school and high school residential students. A new program began after Labor Day that allows residential students to participate in various activities from 3:15 – 5:00 pm in the Student Center. The first 9 weeks workshops include Drama, Media, and Aerobics. The students are excited and motivated about participating in these work-shops.


Administrator’s Annotations Linda Thomas (Upon the retirement of our former Principal, the position was re-named, Administrator of Teaching and Learning)

Welcome to a new school year! I hope you are as excited as I am about the up-coming school year. Whether you are looking forward to your children’s first day of their education at our school or you are returning to the school you know so well, the start of a new school year is an exciting time indeed. As always, it is important for students to be on time to school and get their day started out right. We are trying in every way we can to establish a routine and have classes start on time. A great number of our students attended summer school. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the teachers who worked this extended period in order to support students who needed a little extra help. The students not only benefited academically but had fun while attending the extended school year. New changes will be happening this year. One change is the initiation of the characteristics of Reading First part of the NCLB (No Child Left Behind) law. We have set up specific criteria to help students acquire reading skills. There are no easy answers for successful reading achievement but we do know the skills chil-dren must learn in order to read. They are phonemic awareness, phonics, flu-ency, vocabulary and comprehension. These areas of reading instruction are part of our after school program that provides academic support for our students in grades K-3. Parents have an extremely important role in their child’s education. Parental in-volvement makes a huge difference in a child’s success, yet can be as simple as discussing current events or having a family conversation about the school day or week. Your participation is the key and you are always welcome to give sug-gestions about the education of your child. Our first few weeks have gone very smoothly. The children seem excited to be here and I have seen many smiles. Our goal is that each child enjoys this school year, and in May 2007 that each child achieves at or above Louisiana’s grade level expectations.

Elementary residential students and staff are off to a very busy year. Due to the in-creased number of elementary residential students, the elementary residential program has been relocated to the C1 building, formerly the ABC (After-School Behavior Cen-ter) Dorm. Elementary Students will also begin the YMCA soccer season soon. I en-courage parents of participating students to come for games and support their child. In addition to working hard in school and enjoying the after-school activities, our Middle School and High School students are busy participating in the LSD sports programs including football, cheerleading, cross country and volleyball. Good Luck to all LSD athletes!


Business Division Employees of the Month Anita Paynes was selected the Business Division Employee of the Month for June 2006. She was nominated for Excellent Work Product, Attitude and Adaptability, Lead-ership, Good Communication Skills, Extra Effort, and Safety and Service to Customers. Anita began working at LSD in the Food Service Department in October 2002. Anita is very knowledgeable about every area of cooking and food service. She is an easy per-son to work with and is always smiling. Anita works very hard to get her product out on time and then volunteers to fill in wherever she is needed. She often goes out of her way to help the staff in other departments, as well. When Anita is on the serving line, she encourages everyone to eat their vegetables and signs to the kids and the staff. Anita's attitude and experience have made her a good role model for her co-workers. As of the middle of June, Anita resigned from Food Service to accompany her husband to a new position in Maryland. We miss you Anita! Linda Hawkins was selected the Business Division Employee of the Month for July 2006. She was nominated for Excellent Work Product, Attitude and Adaptability, Lead-ership, Good Communication Skills, Extra Effort, and Safety and Service to Customers. Linda began working at LSD in the Food Service Department in January 2003. Linda works hard to create high quality, good tasting products, such as the delicious king cakes served during the Mardi Gras season and the cinnamon roles served for Em-ployee Appreciation Day in May. Linda took a cake baking and decorating class, at her own expense, to improve her skills in the bakery. Linda communicates well and takes on leadership roles. She shows that she is a team worker by helping her co-workers whenever she is needed. Linda's friendly demeanor, delicious baked goods, and team-work exemplify the quality of service our students and staff expect from the Food Ser-vice Department and the Business Division. Karen Walker was selected the Business Division Employee of the Month for August 2006. She was nominated for Excellent Work Product, Attitude and Adaptability, Lead-ership, Good Communication Skills, Extra Effort, and Safety and Service to Customers. Karen began working for the state in 1996. She began working at LSD as a Security Guard in 1998. In 2003, Karen was promoted from Security Guard Supervisor to her present position of Custodial Manager. Recently, Karen has been assisting the Mainte-nance Department with many additional job tasks such as mail, payroll, and employee evaluations. This has been especially challenging considering the additional workload in her department due to reduced staff. Karen began assisting with these duties without being asked and performs them cheerfully. She has been able to complete the work with minimal training and exceptional results. Karen is providing essential services to the Maintenance Department. By assisting with these duties, Karen helped to ensure the smooth flow of documentation within the department and ensured that no tasks were left undone. Wesley Roberts was selected the Business Division Employee of the Month for Sep-tember 2006. He was nominated for Excellent Work Product, Attitude and Adaptability, Leadership, Good Communication Skills, Extra Effort, and Safety and Service to Cus-tomers. Wesley began working for the LSD in 2001 as a Maintenance Repairer and he is now a Mobile Equipment Operator. Wesley has every quality than an employer would want in an employee. He is extremely hard working and dependable. Wesley doesn't ask why a job needs to be done; he just digs in and works hard until the job is completed. He is honest, loyal, and devoted to doing the very best job he can at all times. Wesley also has a great attitude. He never says a negative thing about anyone and he is well-liked and respected by everyone on campus. Wesley is a team player


Anita Paynes Linda Hawkins

Karen Walker Wesley Roberts

Elementary News

PBS Cart Rolls Again Joyce Pourciau

The Elementary Department has begun its second year of PBS (Positive Behavior Support). The children earn “eagle bucks” by demonstrating exemplary behavior, both in and out of the classroom. Whenever a child is “caught” being obedient, inde-pendent or courteous, he/she is rewarded with an eagle buck. These bucks can later be traded in at the PBS cart for special prizes and treats. What a wonderful way to reinforce positive behavior!!

Students redeeming their Eagle Bucks for prizes


Middle School Dorm News Elitre Ashley and Clint Sadler The Middle School Dorm has a new PET (Presentation Station) computer and Smart-board. The PET computer gives us the ability to multitask with our workshops. We are thankful to Debbie Anderson for recommending the website, UnitedStreaming.com. This is a valuable site since it has so many visual resources available. We have been able to improve our workshops by incorporating clips from this site. The best part is that they provide closed captioning for the video clips. We recently downloaded a video clip related to our bullying workshop. The bullying workshop had more impact on our students thanks to UnitedStreaming.com. This cutting edge technology wouldn’t have been possible without the PET computer, Smartboard and Debbie Anderson’s guidance. It is like a dream come true for our students. We are grateful to Commercial Properties Development Corporation for the funding the provided the Smartboard.

A new school year has begun and the Elementary Department is busy settling in with new classes, new friends, new routines and new teachers. This year, we welcomed 15 new students to our department. We are also happy to welcome two new teachers. Laura Kliebert is beginning her teaching career at LSD as a 1st grade teacher. Laura received her B.A. degree in Deaf Education from the University of Southern Mississippi. You may recognize Laura from last year, as she did part of her student teaching at LSD in Ms. Reechia Colbert’s kindergarten class. She is married and has no children. Her hobbies include singing and playing the piano. Lisa Chase is currently teaching 4th grade this year at LSD. She began teaching last fall in the Middle School at LSD, but unfortunately was let go in January as a result of budget cuts. Lisa has an Associate degree in Early Childhood Education from Delgado University, a B.A. degree from LSU in Elementary Education, and a Master’s degree in Deaf Education from McDaniel College. She is married with 2 grown sons and one granddaughter. Lisa enjoys cooking and baking. We are very fortunate to have these two teachers join our staff. They will surely be an asset to our school.

Elementary Welcomes Two New Teachers Joyce Pourciau

Laura Kliebert Lisa Chase


On-the-Job Training Program Off To A Busy Start Wanda Bozeman

This year the On-the-Job Training Program at LSD has a changed outlook; Mrs. Pam-ela Ross and Mrs. Wanda Bozeman are the new coordinators of this program. The main goal of the program is to get productive, paying jobs that will keep each student participant working for the entire year. Lots of time has been spent contacting former employers and new employers. Ms. Earthley Batiste provided lots of much needed as-sistance contacting former employers. Mrs. Ross and Mrs. Bozeman have also con-tacted a variety of businesses encouraging them to set up jobs that our kids can do for future employment. Plans are also to help these students transition into similar jobs in their hometowns. After completing applications, securing birth certificates and social security cards, going to training classes and on interviews during the first 3 weeks of school, 17 LSD stu-dents have secured paid employment at off-campus sites. The important life line of transportation and job coaching has been provided by Ms. Michelle Hyatt and Mrs. Susan Lefors who have kept the school vans busy bringing students to work and pick-ing them up. Joe Boudray, Kentrel Mason, and Terrell Sumers are working at the McDonald’s in the LSU Union. The boys clean tables and cook. Brittany Beal works at the McDonald’s on Perkins. At her jobsite she restocks napkins, straws, and condi-ments as well as cleans tables. Gregory Smith and Byron Smith are working at the McDonald’s on Nicholson in the lobby and the kitchen. Heather Johnson and Crystal Conner are working at Chick-Fil-A. John Holmes is a bag boy at Calandro’s Grocery Store on Perkins Road where everyone likes his friendly smile. Shamika Sers is busy putting promotional packages together at La Capitol Federal Credit Union. Our carpen-try teacher, Mr. Houston Moss and his crew, Kerry Cloar, Jeremy Benoit, Alan Beteta, and Brandon Freed have contracted with Ms. Fleet, speech teacher, to do remodeling work on her house. Another of our talented teachers, Mr. John Jumonville, is over-seeing Antonio Nguyen and Curtis Ford as they work at the State Captiol Grounds. Brendan Mann works at Our Lady of the Lake College where he does clerical chores in their office. Other students starting work in the next few days are India Rankins at Raising Cane’s Fried Chicken on Siegen Lane, Shawn Cooper returning to the job he had last year at McDonald’s on Highland, and Jalessa Smith at McDonald’s on Govern-ment Street. Miranda Picou and April Thomas are providing office help to the secretar-ies in the Elementary and High School Departments. Jessica Johnson and Kelsey Smith are part of this program also. We are still looking for jobs for Jessica and Kelsey and may place them in on-campus jobs. Hopefully these jobs will help our students de-velop a good work ethic, help them earn money, and help in the transition process once they leave LSD. If you have a chance, please patronize the businesses that have helped our students begin their transition into the real world. Let them know you are from LSD. Last but not least, if you have a lead for a job, please contact Pam Ross or Wanda Bozeman in the Career and Transition Office at 225-757-3295.

LSD To Host ArtSign in Spring LSD is part of a consortium of five residential schools for the deaf that take turns hosting an arts conference every two years. LSD will host the event in the spring, dates to be announced. Clint Sadler, former Middle School Student Development Specialist and current Student Life Student Development Specialist, will lead the team of LSD staff who will plan the event. Stay tuned for more details.


Sports Football Team Starts Season with 2—0 Record Darren Gremillion

The 2006 LSD War Eagle Football team has raced to a 2-0 record outscoring its’ oppo-nents 134-44. LSD beat South Carolina 70-22 on September 9 and then defeated Eastern North Carolina 64-28 on September 16. Both games were held on the LSD campus. Running Backs Terrell Sumers, Tuvia Hall and Phillip Hayes led the LSD of-fensive attack with over 900 yards rushing in the first 2 games. Senior Quarterback Kyle Murphy has been near perfect passing the football and has thrown 2 touchdown passes to date. LSD will take it’s show on the road for their next 3 contests. The War Eagles will travel to Sulphur, Oklahoma to take on the Oklahoma School for the Deaf Indians on Septem-ber 23 and then take a week off before traveling to Morganton, North Carolina on Octo-ber 7 to take on a very good North Carolina School for the Deaf Bear football team.

Football Team (photo by Mike Braud)

Cross Country Season 2006 Chip Stirling

The cross country team will have a hard time trying to be as good as the 2005 team. Last year both the boys and girls finished third at the Class C State Meet. We also had the individual state boy’s champion, James Davis. Now is a different season. Many of last year’s runners either graduated or decided not to run. We are basically starting over with the boys’ team and have a very young girls’ team. We have high hopes that the third place finishes can be duplicated, but that will require a lot of hard work. Top runners for the boys will be Tony Wilks, Rhett Leboeuf, Adam Guy, Ryan Poindexter and Michael Williams. The girls will be led by Megan Garig, Brittney Stuckert, Victoria Ward, Destiny Adams, and a return runner, April Thomas. We will compete in meets on September 27, October 4 and 11, and November 1 (all on the LSD campus). We will run on November 8 at Highland Road Park and No-vember 13 in the State Meet in Natchitoches. Good luck to all runners.

Louisiana School for the Deaf P. O. Box 3074 Baton Rouge, LA 70821-3074

On Eagle’s Wings

The next edition of On Eagle’s Wings will be published in November, 2006. Anyone wishing to provide feedback or submit articles should contact Trish Mann.

Documents

On Eagle’s Wings - Louisiana School for the Deaf · Page 2 On Eagle’s Wings Grandparents’ Day Is Opportunity to Show Off On Friday, September 1, LSD hosted our sixth annual