Dates to Remember

March 29 Silent Day March 31 Jr/Sr Prom April 8 Easter April 9—13 Easter Recess April 14 Dash for Deaf Kids Teacher of the Year nominations due April 18 May 2 Arts Showcase May 3 Baccalaureate May 18 Graduation

It is with great pleasure that I share our School Performance Score as reported on the school’s report card (Accountability Report) for the 2005-2006 school year, as released by the Louisiana Department of Education. For the first time in three years, our Growth Label is “Recognized Academic Growth.” This means that we made our growth target, making progress in test results, student attendance rate and the drop out rate. Although this is good news, according to No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) our school continues to be recognized as a school that is “Academically Unacceptable.” We know that we are not perfect and the road ahead of us is long, but our faculty, staff and students continue to work hard everyday to become a school that is “Academically Acceptable.” For the students whom we serve, we provide the best communication and language models that promote academic excellence. Please continue to work with us in encouraging your chil-dren to do his or her best and attend school regularly.

Recognized Academic Growth Kenny David

Louisiana School for the Deaf March 2007

On Eagle’s Wings

Generosity One day in February, out of the blue, the school received a telephone call from Maurice Larrimore, owner of All-American Flags and Banners, in Austin, Texas. His wife, Mary, had grown up in Baton Rouge and had deaf neighbors. Mr. Larrimore said that his busi-ness had a very successful year and he was wanting to show his gratitude for his bless-ings. He talked to his wife about this and she suggested that he contact LSD and offer to provide the school with a banner or flag for athletic use. The Larrimores have donated a banner which hangs in the PEC hallway that recognizes the football team’s national championship in the 2005 season, and a “run through” which is a fabric wall that football players will run through when they take the football field at the start of games. We are so grateful to the Larrimores for their generosity and their efforts in finding us!

Generosity, Part 2 The LSD Foundation recently received a sizeable contribution to the Hurricane Relief Fund from the Mill Neck Manor School for the Deaf. Being a year and a half away from the destruction of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, donations ceased arriving more than six months ago. The letter enclosed said, “Our school is lo-cated on the north shore of Long Island, New York and has, in the past dealt with coastal flooding, Nor’easters, and hurricanes. Unlike those in your area, we were fortunate not to experience the devastation felt by the gulf area. Please express our thoughts and prayers to your students and staff.” It is touch-ing to know that our students and their families are not forgotten by the larger deaf community. Thank you, Mill Neck Manor School!

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ArtSign was a Smash! During March 1-3, we had over 65 students from five schools including Arkansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and the Louisiana School for the Deaf, as well as support staff from all of the schools and the staff from LSD. There were countless workshops that the kids enjoyed. The workshops included the chair project, making bowls for the Empty Bowls event, Silk Dancing, Chuck Baird's craft workshop and CJ Jones’ drama workshop. Students went on a field trip to the Shaw Center for the Arts where they created self-portraits. Friday night, March 2, was Open Stage night. The students preformed all kinds of skits that showed their cultural pride representing the states from which they came. The Oklahoma School for the Deaf and the New Mexico School for the Deaf had two differ-ent Native American students that were able to share stories about their tribes. They wore lovely dresses and showed interesting kinds of dance. On Saturday, March 3, the students expressed themselves through drama. LSD set up a labyrinth on the stage and used it to illustrate the “journey to enlightenment” in overcoming struggles and learning from them. We had two wonderful guests from out-of-state, Mr. CJ Jones and Mr. Chuck Baird. The students made all kinds of crafts using their creativity in workshops with Mr. Baird. Mr. Baird wanted the students to be connected to themselves as artists and express themselves from their hearts. Students loved the drama workshops with CJ Jones. He was so fun and funny that the students didn't want to leave him and ended up running late for other workshops. The Sunday edition of The Advocate had an article which in-cluded a picture of the chair project. The decorated chairs are displayed in the Student Center. Many thanks to everyone who helped to make ArtSign such a delightful experi-ence for our students and visitors.

Empty Bowls — Awesome

The fourth annual Empty Bowls Event held on Thursday, March 15, 2007 at LSD was an amazing success. For a $10 donation, attendees were able to enjoy a bowl of Chef John Folse’s renowned chicken and sausage gumbo, and choose from one of more than 2,000 hand-made ceramic bowls. Including money from a silent auction, the event raised in excess of $25,000, an increase of more than $3,000 from the year before. The proceeds of the event are divided between the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank and the Saint Vincent DePaul Society. Countless students and staff worked hard for months in preparing for the event. Special thanks to art teacher, Julie Harrison, who founded Empty Bowls at LSD.

Dash for Deaf Kids, Register Now! The LSD Foundation will host the sixth annual Dash for Deaf Kids on Saturday, April 14, 2007 at 8:00 am. Please register now. The deadline to be guaranteed a t-shirt is March 30. All proceeds from the race benefit the students at LSD, particularly support-ing all of the Positive Behavior Support programs on the campus, as well as the pur-chase of SmartBoard computer equipment for classrooms. The Dash is a 5K race, as well as a one mile fun run around the campus. Registration forms are on the LSD web-site, www.lalsd.org. Click on Foundation, then on Dash. If you are unable to attend the race, you can purchase a Dash t-shirt. For more information, contact Trish Mann at 225-757-3327.

ArtSign Successful Event Clint Sadler

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Condolences Sandra Trice, beloved high school teacher recently passed away. She began work

at LSD in 1990 and retired in January 2007. Her family sent the following obituary. Sandramarie Yvonne Jenkins Trice passed away on Friday morning, February 16th

2007 at Baton Rouge General Hospital, Baton Rouge Louisiana. Born in McKeesport, Penn-sylvania, on September 10th, 1946, she was the only daughter of the late Lieutenant Colonel Harold Augustus Jenkins, Sr. and the late Berniece Marion Pangburn Jenkins. The third of their six children, Sandramarie was baptized on March 16th, 1947 at Saint Stephen’s Episco-pal Church in McKeesport, Pennsylvania.

As the daughter of an army officer, Sandramarie’s early educational experiences in-cluded attending elementary and middle schools in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Germany, and South Carolina. She was a 1963 graduate of Wilkinson High School in Orangeburg, South Carolina finishing third in her class. Upon graduation from High School, Sandramarie attended Brandies University in Massachusetts. She received her Bachelor of Science De-gree in the Teaching of French in July of 1971 and a Masters of Education in May of 1973 from South Carolina State College.

Within her family, and for many who knew her, Sandramarie was acknowledged as a

kind hearted free spirit and a brilliant academician having traveled throughout the United States and abroad. In 1979, Sandra earned a Master of Arts Degree in History from New Mexico State University, in Las Cruces, New Mexico; continuing her quest for learning with study at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina and later at Southern University in Baton Rouge.

Sandramarie moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1988 where she began her career

as a High School Teacher and her long association with the Louisiana School for the Deaf. Sandra will always be remembered for her loving kindness and remarkable compassion. She indisputably exemplified in her daily life the “Golden Rule.”

Sandra married David R. Trice with whom she had a daughter, Davida Renee´. In

addition to her daughter Davida, she is survived by four grandchildren: Rykia Yvonne Maria Trice, Demond Perkins, Tyrelle Trice, and Ja’Maya Trice all of Sikeston, Missouri. Sandra is also survived by three of her five brothers: Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Harold Augustus Jenkins, Jr. and his wife Laverne of Cleveland, Ohio; Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Christo-pher Edwin Jenkins, Sr. and his wife Gail of Hampton, Virginia; Vantony Arthur Jenkins and his wife Brenda of Somerset, New Jersey; as well as an Aunt, Margaret Gittens Dabney of Richmond, Virginia; a God-Daughter Serena Campbell of Silver Springs, Maryland; and a foster daughter Mia Sanders of Miami, Florida. Sandra loved her family, all of her family dearly. Sandramarie was preceded in death by her brothers Captain Kenneth Bruce Jenkins and Stephen Forrest Jenkins. As well as being survived by her daughter, grandchildren, and brothers, Sandra is survived as well by her first cousins: Colonel (Retired) Joseph S. Jen-kins, Jr., of Orangeburg, South Carolina; Margaret Dabney Pegram of Washington, D.C.; Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Everett R. Jenkins, Sr. of Orangeburg, South Carolina; Anne Dabney Arnason of Richmond, Virginia; Colonel (Retired) Kenneth D. Pangburn and his wife Pat of Hinesville, Georgia; Donald Pangburn of Berkley, California; Stephen Pangburn of San Lorenzo, California; Scott Pangburn of San Francisco, California; and a host of nieces, nephews, grand nieces and grand nephews, and very dear and close friends. She was a surrogate parent and mother figure to many. Whether we knew you as Sandra, Mommy, “Ma-Ma´,” Auntie Sandra, or Miss Trice, we will forever love and miss you, and never forget you.

Contributions are being accepted by the LSD Foundation for the Sandra Trice Me-morial Fund to benefit the High School Department.

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Students of the Nine Weeks Congratulations to students chosen for the second nine weeks. Raymond Boudreaux Elementary Deving DeHart Middle School Christell Wilson High School Thank you for being role models for your classmates.

Interpreter Lynne Gomez to Retire Lynne Marie Gomez has worked at LSD since the age of 18 rising from a secretarial position to the Coordinator of the Sign Language and Interpreting Services Department. She is soon to retire after 27 years of state service. Lynne started learning sign language as a young teenager when she interacted with an older cousin who is deaf. Her cousin’s husband is an interpreter and encouraged Lynne to learn ASL. Lynne first learned the manual alphabet and was eager to learn signs from her cousin’s family. As a child, Lynne remembers visiting the old school campus with her church youth group to bring cupcakes to the dorm students. After graduating from Baker High School, Lynne started work at LSD in 1980 as the SWAC secretary. Within a few months she became the sign lan-guage department secretary under the directorship of T. J. O’Rourke, one of the authors of the ABC Signing Book. Lynne took many sign language classes from Ed Wood and continued to improve her skills. In 1985 she earned a Comprehensive Skills Certificate, CSC, and started working as an educational interpreter. In 1988 she achieved a Superior Plus rating on her SCPI. From 1989 to 1994 she was the senior educational interpreter in the Sign Language De-partment. She became part of the SCPI team in the late 1980’s after the program had been es-tablished by Marilyn Mitchell. Lynne became Coordinator of the department in 1994 when Daniel Burch left LSD. She earned a BS in Elementary Education in 2000 from LSU. In choos-ing an education degree, she knew that she would never work as a classroom teacher, but wanted to understand classroom dynamics to help her be a better interpreter. Lynne said, “I have the utmost respect for the instructional staff at LSD.” Lynne counts among her achievements that her department has been able to accommodate most requests for an interpreter, that she has been an advocate for deaf employees and stu-dents, that she has helped educate people about the value and role of certified interpreters, and that she has helped implement the SCPI rating system throughout the campus. Lynne is also proud of the fact that LSD has served as a training ground for numerous interpreters throughout the state. Lynne was instrumental in working with the Louisiana Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf and the Louisiana Commission for the Deaf to develop the standards of the interpreting profession in the state. She has promoted interpreting by exhibiting high professional standards and working to ensure the continued growth of the profession. She is also pleased that soon the Sign Language Department will distribute a free School Signs DVD to every LSD family. Upon retirement Lynne will continue to do contract work for LSD and will continue to do video relay interpreting work for Sorenson Relay. She looks forward to providing direct services with-out the management responsibilities. She wants to spend leisure time playing the piano, playing tennis, attending her sons’ sporting events, and possibly learning to sail or taking some college courses. Lynne, we wish you well in all your future endeavors.

LSD Crisis Drill Audrey Gaultier Louisiana School for the Deaf is committed to providing a safe environment for its stu-dents, faculty, and staff and to minimize property damage to the school in the event of an emergency/crisis situation. In order to realize this commitment, the school is in the process of updating our Emer-

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gency Response/Crisis Plan. This plan is written with the explicit intent to protect and sustain life, reduce emotional trauma, assist in emotional recovery from trauma, and minimize personal injury and/or damage to property. The plan incorporates activities for preparedness, response, and recovery for a variety of emergency situations and is in-tended to help maximize the health, safety, and welfare of students, staff, and visitors when confronted by an emergency situation. On Friday March 9, the LSD Instructional Departments conducted Crisis Drills. In prepa-ration for the drills, faculty/staff were given instructions on how to proceed if a weapon was reported hidden on campus. These drills occurred consecutively in the High School, Middle School and Elementary Departments. A Crisis Team is in place and was called upon to respond to the hidden weapon reports. Students were instructed on proce-dures to follow to be safe and secure during an incident of this nature. Faculty/Staff and students responded well to the drills and all incidents were handled in a calm and pro-fessional manner. The drills were a success. Along with our routine fire and tornado drills, LSD will continue to conduct crisis drills throughout the year, in all of the various venues on campus. Information learned from the drills will be utilized to update our Cri-sis Plan and to help train faculty/staff and students to be prepared for an emergency/crisis situation.

Naomi DeDual New Executive Director of the Louisiana Commission for the Deaf Naomi graduated from University of Southern Mississippi in 1986 with a B.A. degree in Psychology. She started work for Louisiana Rehabilitation Services (VR) in 1990 as a rehabilitation counselor with a general caseload. While working at VR, she came into contact with many deaf and hard-of-hearing people since her office was located near the Deaf Specialist's office. When Robert Bevill, a Deaf employee, became the Deaf Specialist, the Regional Manager began offering the employees training in ASL and Deaf culture. Naomi participated in many of these in-service trainings. In 2002, upon Mr. Bevill's retirement, Naomi was hired as the Deaf Specialist. In 2003, she completed Western Oregon University's 9-credit hour training program - Rehabilitation Counselor for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Adults. In 2004, she was pro-moted to District Supervisor, after graduating from the University of North Texas with a M.S. in Rehabilitation Counseling and became a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor. In 2005, Naomi participated in an ASL mentoring project designed to enhance the ASL skills and knowledge of Deaf culture for VR staff. She was mentored by Rhonda Fung and Timothy Terry. In 2006, Naomi became the LRS Program Manager for Deaf Ser-vices, which also included responsibilities as the liaison for Social Security Administra-tion and their Ticket to Work program and coordination of the appeals process for VR. On January 25, 2007, Naomi was appointed as the Executive Director for the Louisiana Commission for the Deaf. Naomi, we at LSD wish you well in your new position.

LAD Sponsors Movie, Forget Me Not The Louisiana Association for the Deaf will sponsor the showing of the full length feature film, Forget Me Not, distributed by ASLFILMS.COM, on Saturday, May 5 at 2:00 pm and 7:00 pm in the LSD Auditorium. Tickets are $10, children under 3 are free. Forget Me Not explores the conflicts facing a family who wins the lottery and escapes to a cabin. While at the cabin, they are unexpectedly introduced to a mysterious stranger. Who is this stranger, and what does he want? Join the family as they go on a suspense-filled journey into their past.

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Last April, a group of LSD teachers and students were part of a truly wonderful experi-ence that culminated in the Red Stick International Animations Festival. The student group actually won the top award in a special category at the Festival for their animated short, “There’s N.O. Place Like Home.” This work can still be viewed on the Internet at both of these sites: www.listenup.org and www.animaction.com. Just look for the Katrina Animation Collaboration links and you will find it. We are thrilled to be invited back this spring. It appears that this will be an annual event, and we are part of the core group of participants. This year’s collaboration will be in a similar format, with teachers and students working together to quickly create a 30-second animated short. The theme this year is organ transplant/donation awareness, which has been chosen because the major source of the funds is the James Redford Institute for Transplant Awareness, or JRI for short. For more information about JRI, please visit http://www.jrifilms.org. The teachers involved will go on Saturday, March 31 to the Shaw Center for several hours to review/learn the project process. Then on April 4th and 5th, the student group will accompany the teachers downtown and participate in an intense 2-day workshop. At the end of these two days, the student animations will be uploaded to the JRI site on the Internet. They will also be entered into a special category of the Red Stick Festival com-petition. The culminating event, the Red Stick Animation Festival, will occur April 18-22, during the week after the Easter break. The student participants will be given passes to all of the animation workshops offered, with interpreters being provided as well. There will be a panel discussion and a screening of the animated shorts produced by the school groups during the 2-day workshop. More information about the Festival can be found at http://www.redstickfestival.org. Perhaps a more important aspect of this experience is that it presents our students with exposure to a possible career option in the area of animation. Workshop presenters at the Festival include animators from Pixar, Sony and other giants in the industry. The partners in this project are the Shaw Center for the Arts, LSU, the Red Stick Inter-national Animation Festival, AnimAction and the James Redford Institute for Transplant Awareness. We are grateful for their financial support and their dedication to giving our youth a “voice” through this truly effective medium.

From the Desk of Kenny David, Interim Director

LSD to Attend Animations Workshop Again Debbie Anderson

“A Journey to Enlightenment” was the theme for ArtSign 2007 which was hosted on our campus March 1st – 3rd. The participating student artists from schools for the deaf in New Mexico, Okla-homa, Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana were engaged, challenged and entertained by two nation-ally renowned artisans, CJ Jones and Chuck Baird. CJ and Chuck were outstanding and we are grateful that they shared their talents with us. Hosting an event like this would not be possible without the support, encouragement and volunteer services from our student body, faculty and staff – THANK YOU!!! On March 15th, our school had the privilege of partnering with Chef John Folse, The Baton Rouge Food Bank and The Society of Saint Vincent DePaul in hosting the 4th Empty Bowls Event. Nearly 1,500 tickets were sold for this event. Over two thousand clay bowls were made by our students, faculty and staff as well as other participating schools. All proceeds are used to com-

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bat hunger. Again, I extend my gratitude to our faculty, staff, students and community volun-teers for their efforts toward this worthy cause. It is hoped that through experiences like this our students see the significance in volunteering and giving back to the community. By the time you receive this newsletter; our students will have taken the iLEAP, LEAP or GEE state tests. Our faculty has been preparing your child to take the test all year-long. We know how challenging these tests are for our students, so please join us in praising our students for trying their very best. As long as students put forth their best in everything they do, they will be successful. This year we returned to having parent meetings across the state. It was certainly nice to see familiar and some new faces and have face to face conversations about your child’s educational program. There were over 31 families represented at these meetings. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedules to share your feedback and support. Parents play an impor-tant role in our school improvement process, please keep communicating with us. Next year, we will continue having parent meetings so that we can hear from you. The school is saddened at the passing of State Superintendent Cecil Picard. Superintendent Picard was passionate in advocating the best for the children of our state. He leaves a legacy of expanding the quality of education for all Louisianans, from pre-K through high school. The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education has appointed Mr. Paul Pastorek to serve as the Superintendent of Education through January 2008 or until a superintendent is selected. Super-intendent Pastorek is from New Orleans and served on the BESE board for 8 years as the Gov-ernor’s appointee. While serving on the board, Superintendent Pastorek served as President for two terms. We welcome Superintendent Pastorek to his new position and look forward to working with him.

Administrator’s Annotations Linda Thomas

Approaching the end of an academic year is a time of reflection on its highs and lows, and a time of anticipation as we look forward to summer vacation. There is no doubt that one of the low points of this year was the tragic accidental death of one of our students. We will truly miss Tony Wilks. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the many parents who telephoned or wrote with very supportive messages. It is the nature of this school and this Deaf community that, after passing through the initial shock, we have the over-whelming feelings of sorrow and sympathy. As a result of this accident, a family is devastated, a young man is gone, and a number of people are having to come to terms with a tragedy. We will always cherish fond memories of Tony. Another low point this year was the death of one of our colleagues. Sandra Trice was a “mother” to many deaf children (besides her own child, Davida, who is Deaf), a grandmother, and an edu-cator. She enjoyed taking care of many children who had no place to go or who just needed to talk. She was a scholar of history and genealogy. She loved discovering her family history and would help others do the same. We will miss her very much, and will honor her legacy by striv-ing to ensure that our students receive the best instruction possible in the area of social studies. Fortunately, life moves on, and life at school seems to move faster than in most other places. Low points, no matter how low they might be, are quickly overtaken by the high points, and we have experienced many positive moments this past year. • All of our sports teams have been outstanding this year. They have traveled to many other states and faced their opponents with determination. I would put our coaching staff up against any in the country. Besides being teachers of their sports, they approach coaching with a caring attitude. • The dedication of the Elementary staff to after school tutoring is phenomenal, thus we will have students who are much more knowledgeable when they enter Middle School.

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• We initiated the “Reading First” program in Elementary. • Middle School students continue to lead the way using Accelerated Reader. They are the leading point earners at LSD, and set the example for the rest of the school. • High School students are now getting to class on time, doing their homework and paying at-tention to the dress code. Their new PBS incentive plan seems to be working. • Our Academic Bowl team met all their objectives this year and is looking forward to next year’s competition. • We now have SMARTBoards (electronic interactive whiteboards) in almost every classroom. • We have two teacher groups learning approaches to teach in an ASL/English Bilingual edu-cational environment. One group is almost finished with the two-year program of study. • We have finished collecting data for our School Improvement Plan (SIP). We are now at a point where we can start putting all of the data together to write objectives for next year. • We have sent teachers to an unprecedented number of trainings this year. Trainings have also been held here at LSD. One of the biggest was “Tech Day”. • We have had successful parent meetings and good feedback from those meetings. • Our Guidance Staff held retreats/workshops for hurricane-affected students. None of this could have happened without commitment and enthusiasm from teachers who are willing to give so freely of their time and talents. Our staff members provide many opportunities through which our young people take on different challenges and enjoy new experiences. I con-sider myself extremely lucky to have staff members in every area of our school who see them-selves as so much more than classroom teachers. We are fortunate to have such an exception-ally talented group of teachers providing an outstanding education for all of our students in and out of the classroom. Though all have made countless contributions this year, I want to person-ally thank Lorraine Loup, Laurie Grier, and Connie Greenlee for all of their hard work and the hours they put in after their regular work hours. Typical examples of genuine educators are Charles Martin, Lydia Brown, and Nancy Long, who plan to retire this year. Mr. Martin retires with 28 years of service, Mrs. Brown with 28 years of service, and Mrs. Long with 29 years of service. I would like to thank them for their dedication; it has been an honor working with each of them. I wish them a very happy retirement and hope they will come back to see us often. It is the quality of the people who work with our students that makes education work or not. Each staff member, parent, and volunteer at LSD is responsible for the successes of our school. Par-ents, you make it all possible by providing your child with love and support at home. You are the final piece to the puzzle. Thank you for sending us such a wonderful group of students. Each brings a unique personality, potential, set of skills, and talents that make our school such a spe-cial place.

Self Reflections Laurie Self

Welcome Spring! During the past few months the Student Life Division has been busy hosting many special activities and we are looking forward to our upcoming events. Mardi Gras Training Although students were home for 1 week during the Mardi Gras recess the Student Life staff participated in 2 days of staff training. This year the Student Life staff partici-pated in training in the areas of Positive Behavior Support, Boundaries, Internet Safety, Art Sign Preparation, and Evacuation drills. The 2 day training ended with a King Cake social for all train-ing participants. Art Sign ’07: A Journey to Enlightenment Art Sign ’07 was a huge success for the students from LSD and visiting schools. There were plenty of exciting workshops, a night of drama, and

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Business Division Employees of the Month

socials that provided time for all students to mingle and meet new friends that they will cherish for a lifetime. Art Sign ’07 would not have been possible without the committee chairpersons and volunteers that gave so many hours to this exciting event. A special thanks to everyone who gave their time to Art Sign ’07. We couldn’t have done it without you! Upcoming Events The staff in the after school program have been busy planning for upcoming activities which include the Deaf Invitational Track Meet during the weekend of March 23rd, Jun-ior Senior Prom on Saturday March 31st, and the dorm Easter / Spring parties. Also, stay tuned for the Student Life End of the Year trips that are sponsored by the LSD Foundation and are currently in the planning process by the dorm’s Student Development Specialists.

New Employees The Student Life Division would like to welcome two new hires to our pro-gram. Michael Mack is a former LSD graduate and was recently hired as the Student Develop-ment Specialist in the After School Behavior Center. The night dorm program would also like to welcome Ms. Darlene Hudson to our night shift. James Denley, RA, Elementary Boys dorm and Alexiss Marchand, Student Health Center, LPN.

Mary Little was selected as the Employee of the Month for February 2007. She was selected for Excellent Work Product, Attitude and Adaptability, Good Communications Skills, Leadership, Extra Effort, and Safety and Service to Customers. Mary began working for LSD in October 1994 as a Cook 1 and is now a Food Service Specialist 7. Mary is a very hard working supervi-sor. She is respected and well-liked by the Food Service employees and other staff around campus. Mary is very active in the kitchen and helps to solve problems in the lunch room. She has a great attitude and does not mind putting on an apron and adjusting to whatever task is needed. Mary has good communication skills and is always helpful with the hearing as well as the deaf staff and students. She is willing to take leadership of new projects to make sure they are completed correctly. Mary is there, whenever help is needed, to ensure the shift runs smoothly. Mary sets a good example for everyone to follow. Congratulations, Mary. Dorothy Iron was selected as the Employee of the Month for March 2007. She was selected for Excellent Work Product, Attitude and Adaptability, Good Communications Skills, Leadership, Extra Effort, and Safety and Service to Customers. Dorothy began working at LSD in the Custo-dial Department almost 30 years ago, starting work here in May 1977. Dorothy keeps the Ele-mentary Department sparkling. She also cleans the B2 Dorm which is the Day Dorm. Her dedi-cation and hard work is noticed by both the students and the teachers. In addition to making the work environment safe and clean, she always has time for a friendly smile for everyone in the department. Dorothy is considered a part of the Elementary family and the students look for her each morning. The little ones love and respect her and the staff considers her a friend, co-worker and an excellent role model. The Elementary Department has expressed its thanks for taking such good care of the department. Congratulations, Dorothy.

Mary Little Dorothy Iron

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Student Health Center Carolyn Lea

Story Café was held on February 28th, 2007 and March 14, 2007 at the Elementary School Library. Parents and family members who attended received videotapes of the signed stories, tips on how to read to Deaf children, the children’s storybooks, I Love You Sun, I Love You Moon and The Snowy Day, and sign language lessons on how to sign the stories. Lynne Gomez, Coordinator of the Sign Language/Interpreting Services Department presented the lessons. Check your child’s backpack in Fall, 2008 for infor-mation about the next Story Café.

Elementary News

As the school RN, I’d like to inform you about the dangers of meningococcal disease, commonly known as meningitis, a potentially fatal bacterial infection that can strike teenagers and college students. The disease can come on quickly and may cause death or permanent disability within hours of the first symptoms, and although rare the disease may be prevented through vaccination. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now recommends routine meningococcal disease immunization at the preadolescent doctor’s visit (11 to 12 years old). For those teenagers who have not been previously vaccinated, immunization also is recommended at high school entry and for all incoming college freshmen who will live in a dormitory. Teenagers and college students have an increased rate of meningococcal infection compared to the general population, accounting for nearly 30 percent of all U.S. cases annually. Of those who survive, up to 20 percent suffer long-term disabilities, including brain damage, loss of hearing, organ failure and limb amputations. Meningococcal disease can be misdiagnosed as something less serious, because early symptoms are similar to those of influenza or other common viral illnesses, including high fever, headache, nausea and stiff neck. That is why immunization is so important. A conjugate meningococcal vaccine is now available that public health officials antici-pate will provide longer protection against four of the five strains of bacteria that cause meningococcal disease. Although teenagers and college students are at increased risk for contracting the disease, up to 83 percent of cases in this population may be pre-vented through immunization. As your child’s school nurse, I encourage you to speak to your child’s physician about meningococcal disease and to consider immunization. This immunization is covered by LA Medicaid. For more information about meningococcal disease and immunization, please feel free to contact me directly at (225) 757-3246 or toll free 888-769-8111, ext. 246 or visit the CDC Web site at www.cdc.gov.

Story Café Peggy Gray

Lynne Gomez

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Throw Me Something Mister Joyce Pourciau

One of our favorite traditions at LSD is our annual Mardi Gras parade presented by our Elementary Department. Each child in our "Krewe of Alphabet" wears a costume de-picting a specific letter of the alphabet. It's fun and a good way for our children to learn language and vocabulary skills while they also learn about south Louisiana's Mardi Gras traditions. This year, King Justin Alexander and Queen Aubree Jackson led the parade around the floor of our gymnasium, while our older students waited on the bleachers, hoping to catch Mardi Gras beads and trinkets. In addition to the LSD Krewe of Alphabet, two other local Krewes visited the Elemen-tary Department to give our students a taste of the real thing. Donned in their elabo-rate costumes, members of the Krewe of Artemis and Krewe of Jupiter paraded through the Elementary building throwing their goodies to the children and taking time to visit and pose for pictures with the students. This close up experience of Mardi Gras was an excellent experience for all our children – one they are sure to remember. Everyone truly came to "pass a good time"; or as many say, "Laissez les bon temps rouler!" (Let the good times roll!)

King Justin Alexan-der and Queen Au-bree Jackson

Left: Krewe of Jupiter Right: Krewe of Artemis

Elementary Safe and Drug Free School Day Mindy Dill

On March 7, 2007, the students in the Elementary Department enjoyed fun and interesting work-shops as a part of the Safe & Drug-Free Schools Day program. The theme of the workshops was “Too Smart to Start!” Lisa Chase and Robby Porter gave a workshop about alcohol. The students watched an interesting video clip that explained the risks of alcohol use/abuse.

Julie Anderson, Amber Bradley and Laura Kliebert conducted a workshop about prescription drugs. Our students learned not to take any medicine from anyone, other than their doctor, nurse or their parents. They used a lot of interesting pictures on their Smartboard that easily got the students’ attention. Mary Barber and Linda Davis presented a “stinky” workshop for our students! Students got to see the soda bottles being squeezed that “inhaled” the cigarettes. They all were in awe as the soda bottles became black. This activity demonstrated what hap-pens to their lungs if they smoke. They saw a difference between healthy, pink lungs and black lungs.

Our kids got to do a variety of role-plays related to drugs and safety topics with our high school students who are members of Jr. NAD Organization (Junior National Association of the Deaf). Bryon Smith and April Thomas demonstrated great leadership skills with our students. They were great role models! Mr. Matt Landry and a police officer came to our school to demonstrate how a K9 dog works with the police department. Matt hid the drugs around the room and their dog was able to find the drugs by scratching the item that had the drugs. Our students got so intrigued that they asked a ton of questions!

Police officer and drug sniffing dog

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Elementary Dorm News Kattie Nolen and Heather Vicknair

Middle School News

The Elementary YMCA Basketball season has come to an end. The younger team is learning the concept of the game and playing for the second year. We had two new players on the younger team this year. Scotty Bonin is one if the new students in the Elementary Dorm, and Troy Goss, an elementary day student last year and a residen-tial student this year. We welcome these new players to the team. The older basketball team did a wonderful job this year. We had five new players this year. David Penton, Shayon Morris, Kayla Duplessie, Alexia Powell and Jacob Owens. All of these students joined the Elementary Dorm at the beginning of the year. Both teams did a great job. Baseball season is approaching quickly. This year we will have a coach’s pitch team and a T-Ball team. Good luck to all players and enjoy your season. The Elementary Dorm celebrated Birthday parties & YMCA Basketball Awards Night. The Elementary YMCA players thank the YMCA for donating the beautiful trophies. The Elementary Dorm recently had our monthly good behavior party. We enjoyed our-selves with delicious chicken, dancing, a piñata, and plenty of games. Our next behav-ior trip will be on March 27. The upper elementary kids will be going to laser tag for sev-eral rounds of play. The lower elementary kids will enjoy going to Chuck E. Cheese on March 28 for pizza and plenty of games. Have fun and keep up the positive attitudes!

Our Middle School students are reading, reading, reading every week. To date, they have read over 3,700 books! Paige Watson, daughter of Chris Watson (H.S. teacher) and Amy Watson has read over 49 books. She has earned over 200.3 points on the Accelerated Reader quizzes she took. This is the highest Accelerated Reader score in our school since the program began several years ago. Peyton McCrary, son of Mi-chael and Marilyn McCrary of Shreveport, entered LSD a few weeks ago. In the short time he has been here, Peyton has earned 146.5 points. Peyton has read all of our Harry Potter’s books and scored 85, 95, 95, 100, 100, and 100 on the tests. Way to go Peyton!

The Accelerated Reader program is a great program for many of our students, espe-cially our reluctant readers. There are 8,239 quizzes available for books in all of our libraries, from Elementary to High School. Reading levels range from .4 to 12.0. Many of our students have become hooked on reading and enjoy taking the quizzes. Points earned are accumulated and traded for a reward at the end of the nine weeks. Many of our Middle School students look forward to the AR parties. Elementary students look forward to the AR store and quarterly AR lunches. In addition, our students seize the opportunity to increase their word power (vocabulary). We have 945 Accelerated Vo-cabulary (AV) quizzes available. Students like Brittani Davis eagerly search for the red dot, indicating the book has an AV quiz.

We are proud of the accomplishment of all of our students. We are especially honored to be a part of Paige and Peyton’s successes. To all of our students Keep On Read-ing!!!

Watson and McCrary Have Top Accelerated Reader Scores Mary Smith

Paige Watson

Peyton McCrary

Elementary students enjoy AR reward luncheon.

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5th Graders Entertain Lower Elementary with Folktales Mike Owens

The state curriculum for fifth grade calls for the study of folktales and the fifth grade class of Mr. Owens put the study to good use. On Thursday, March 1, 2007, the class visited several lower elementary classrooms to share the folktales they had been studying in class. Not only did the class tell the stories, but they also appeared in cos-tume. Mr. Owens shared the story of “Little Red Riding Hood” followed by the “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” by Kendra Scott who was dressed in a blond wig and a story time costume. Paige Watson, in the princess costume, complete with cape and crown, told the interesting story about a boy who would not trade his red cat for even the King’s crown titled “The Cap Mother Made”. Nasya Mays presented the story “The Gin-gerbread Boy” in her old maid costume and apron. In bibbed overalls, Peyton McCrary told the story of “The Three Little Pigs”. The activity required the students to prepare an outline of the story then organize note cards to help them remember the tale, and then tell their folktale in class first as practice.

Kendra Scott Peyton McCrary Nasya Mays Paige Watson

Ancient Greek Myths Come Alive for 6th Graders Mike Owens

Studying myths is part of the state curriculum, and the sixth graders in Mr. Owens’ English Language Arts class took on the role of telling their own selected myths for the camera on March 1, 2007. The students prepared outlines of their sto-ries as well as note cards in order to present their myth. Each boy was dressed in pe-riod togas and laurel wreaths, and the girls as well had costumes depicting the period, with jewelry and makeup. Each student was videotaped telling his or her story as clearly and accurately as possible. The story telling how Icarus made wings to escape prison only to crash and die because he flew too close to the sun, was told by Tammy Garner. The romantic myth of Atalanta and her race with Hippomenes was told by Courtney Charlot. Brittani Davis told the myth about Midas and the golden touch. Quentin Ross told how Pegasus helped Bellerophon kill a terrible monster. Catie Tay-lor’s myth was about the love story of Cupid and Psyche. The dramatic story of The-seus and the Minotaur was Chris Honore’s myth. After the videotaping, the students went back to class to watch each other’s storytelling.

Left to Right: Brittani Davis Catie Taylor Chris Honore Courtney Charlot Quentin Ross

Tammy Garner

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4-H Club Visits Red Lobster, Metairie, La Ra’Kiya Wilkinson

On Wednesday February 7, 2007 the 4-H Club visited the Red Lobster Restaurant in Metairie, Louisiana. The 4-H Club members study economics in Louisiana and Red Lobster allowed us to tour their place of business. We followed a guide named Mr. Melvin. We were able to touch and hold real live lobsters. They felt cold and wet. The lobsters were very big. Red Lobster restaurants are part of the Olive Gar-den and Smokey Bones Restaurant. They are a very big business. The manager provided lunch for us. We could choose a shrimp, burger, fish, grilled cheese or chicken lunch. It was a very nice trip.

LUMCON Trip Doug Clements

High School News

Shane McNeil and Gregory Manuel hold a lobster.

Thirteen environmental science students will be traveling to LUMCON (Louisiana Uni-versities Marine Consortium) April 23 and 24 to study Louisiana’s coastal wetlands and the reasons for its loss. Located in Cocodrie, south of Houma, LUMCON is one of the premier research facilities in the southern United States. The students will take advan-tage of the laboratories to study microscopic life and chemical conditions found in Lou-isiana coastal regions. The students will also take two boat excursions. The first will be on the research vessel, The Acadiana, for a trip out into Terrebonne Bay, where stu-dents will collect samples of aquatic life and test the conditions of the bay. The second trip will be an extended tour of the marsh area around the facility. Students participat-ing in this expedition are Kyle Murphy, Phillip Hayes, Jordan Snyder, Megan Hill, Erin Phillips, Jeryka Bourg, Adam Guy, April Thomas, Jeremy Benoit, Miranda Picou, Jo-seph Decuir, Kevin Williams, and Ronald Alexander. Chaperoning the trip will be Mona Alkadi, John Jumonville, Erica Kouzmanoff (student teacher) and Douglas Clement.

High School Dorm News

New Furnishings: Out with the Old, In with the New Tim Kuyrkendall

The furniture in the High School Dorm is in a very bad state. High School Dorm resi-dents did not know when rickety chairs might collapse or what strange surprises might come out of the hole in the sofa cushions. We recently got good news! We are getting new furniture!! The High School Boys’ Dorm will receive 40 brand spanking new sets of desks, chairs, lockers, and beds. For the next two years, we will continue to get new furniture to replace the old furniture. Next year, the plan is for the recrea-tion area will receive new furniture to replace its old chairs and sofas, and the year after that the High School Girls' Dorm will get new sets of desks, chairs, lockers, and beds. We are very excited about having new furniture coming and look forward to the old furniture being phased out. In addition to "in with the new" at the High School Dorm we will get some new disco light equipment. In the past, we have had a music system to accompany high school dorm dances and parties, but something was miss-ing. There was no visual representation of the music. We are ordering sound acti-vated disco lights to provide an interactive experience with music played during our dances and parties. The kids will definitely enjoy that.

Page 15 On Eagle’s Wings

We also are looking forward to upcoming events such as the Jr-Sr prom, "Celestial Magic" on March 31, Deaf Schools Invitational Track Meet on March 24, and REACH reward outing for Level 1 students on March 22. Out with winter and in with the spring season!

On The Job Training at McDonald’s Wanda Bozeman

The seniors had a busy year! As the year winds down, they are looking forward to the prom, the senior trip, and graduation. As part of our Community Skills series, we had a good workshop on automobile responsibility. We covered mandatory vehicle insurance, ownership, DWI and DUI. Booklets from the LA Department of Justice were used which contains very useful information about automobile insurance. We went to Guy's Towing Service to learn the importance of having insurance, and we toured the wrecking yard full of DWI autos and vehicles with no insurance. Guy's towed 42 vehicles in one day for having no insurance! The highlight of the visit was seeing the Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) garage. It was a locked garage and we were asked not to touch anything inside. There was a vehicle inside being dusted for fingerprints and VIN number identification. The vehicle was involved in criminal activity. After that awesome experience, we went to the Chimes East Restaurant for dinner. For those students who maintained Level One status for the 2nd 9 weeks period, we played laser tag on January 9. We spent the evening playing laser tag and games in the arcade area. It was lots of fun. On March 22nd, we went to the Rok Haus in Lafayette to do some extreme rock climbing! It was a great experience for our best behaved stu-dents.

Senior News/Dorm News Walker Estes

Level 1 students on Laser Tag outing in January.

Several students work at McDonalds. McDonalds has provided a good work experi-ence for our students and has done so for several years. Our students are provided with McDonald shirts and caps and must go through training just as all of their employ-ees do. Students are expected to be at work on time on all of their scheduled work days. They are to inform their bosses if they cannot attend work. Of course, our stu-dents work right along with the other employees in the various work stations at McDon-ald’s. One of the first jobs our students learn is to take care of the lobby. They keep it clean by wiping off counters and tables, sweeping, damp mopping and replenishing pa-per supplies and condiments. Some of them help keep the restrooms and parking lot clean, also. Others have gone on to filling orders and others are cooking. All of them have earned raises this year. Joe Boudray and Kentrel Mason work at LSU McDon-ald’s. Brittany Beal works at McDonald’s on Perkins Road near College Drive. Shawn Cooper works at McDonald’s on Highland Road at Airline Hwy. Gregory Smith, Ashish Sandhu, and Kelsey Smith work at McDonald’s on Nicholson near the Gates of LSU. We have a former student, Audrey Brown, who works with this group also. Mrs. Pamela Ross has established a good rapport with the management at McDonalds since she accompanies them to their training sessions. She has been offered a job at McDonalds to be full-time trainer! Stop by and see our students.

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LSD POWERLIFTING ENDS SEASON ON POSITIVE NOTE The boys’ and girls’ powerlifting teams competed in the 2007 State Championship held at Pineville High School on March 2, 2007. Eight boys and four girls qualified for the competition. Rhett LeBoeuf (114 lb. class) and Donna Harrison (105 lb. class) both placed 3rd overall in their respective divisions. Crisanthony Frazier (114 lb. class) fin-ished in 5th place in his division. The boys’ team claimed 4th place in their team divi-sion by scoring 20 points. Other competitors for LSD included: Raven Prejean, Des-tiny Adams, Taza Davis, Curtis Ford, Derion Savioe, Michael Williams, Romaldo Magee, Kentrell Mason and Akeem Guidry. LSD BASKETBALL TEAMS AWARDED POST SEASON HONORS Several players from the boys’ and girls’ basketball team were awarded District 9-C for a season of long hard work. Phillip Hayes, Joy Fraychineaud, and Sadie Synder were selected to the All-District First Team. Terrell Sumers was named to the Second Team. Erin Phillips, Megan Garig and Adam Guy were named All-District Honorable Mention. Sadie Snyder was also selected District 9-C Girls Basketball Defensive Player of the Year. Please congratulate these students when you see them. They worked hard to achieve these honors.

Sports Darren Gremillion

TRACK SEASON WARMING UP Chip Stirling

The boys’ and girls’ track teams have begun another season. Both teams are trying to stay at the top of the list by the time the State Meet rolls around. The girls will be young this year. Miranda Picou is one of the only two seniors. April Thomas returns this year after being at a different school last year. Erin Philips, Britt-ney Stuckert, Megan Garig, Victoria Ward and Lauren Adams give the team a lot of youthful experience. There are eight other girls who fill out the roster. If the girls stay focused, they can finish in the top two for the state meet in their division. They have finished in second place for five years in a row! The boys’ team has experience, experience, experience. They are working hard and want to make this a 3-peat by finishing first in their division for the third year in a row. Terrell Summers, Tuvia Hall, Kentrell Mason, Adam Guy, Michael Williams, Derion Sa-voie, Adderius Pickrom and Rhett Leboeuf give the team depth since they all competed at the State Meet last year. Phillip Hayes has been an early surprise and should be in good shape by the time the State Meet arrives. Several meets will be held at LSD in the next few months. Please come and support our track team.

Summer Camp The Bill Rice Ranch has over 50 years of Christian camping experience. Deaf students aged 9 to 19 can attend one week of camp in Murfreesboro, Tennessee for FREE! Sessions for deaf campers are held June 10 - 15, June 17 - 22, June 24 - 29, July 8 - 13, July 15 - 21 or July 29 - August 3. A group from Louisiana will be attending the June 17 - 22 session. For more information call 1-800-253-2767 or e-mail Nathan McConnell at nmcconnell@billriceranch.org . Trish Mann at LSD has application forms. She can be reached at 888-769-8111, ext. 327.

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Teacher of the Year Nominations Sought You are invited to submit a nomination for LSD Teacher of the Year for 2007 - 2008. The honoree is invited to participate in the district Teacher of the Year competition in the fall of 2007. The qualifications for this honor are in accordance with the BESE/SDE Teacher of the Year Awards Program Guidelines for Selecting Candidates: The candidate should be an exceptionally dedicated, knowledgeable, and skilled

teacher in an active teaching status, pre-K through 12th grade. LSD has determined that teachers who are teaching outside of the classroom (resource teacher, ALC, etc.) are eligible for consideration.

Candidates with supervisory and administrative responsibilities should be of secon-

dary consideration. Principals, assistant principals, supervising teachers, guidance counselors and librarians are ineligible since the major purpose of the program is to recognize contributions of teaching.

The candidates should have the respect and admiration of students, parents and

co-workers. They should be active in their communities as well as in their schools, often distinguishing themselves as leaders. Candidates should be actively involved with school groups and activities and affiliated with educational organizations.

The candidate should be poised and articulate and able to manage a busy sched-

ule. S/he should represent LSD well. Nominations are due by 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 18. Nominees will be con-tacted on Thursday, April 19 and asked if they will accept the nomination. Interviews will be held on Wednesday, April 25 and a recommendation will be made to the Director and Principal on Thursday, April 26. The selection process will culminate with the an-nouncement of the Teacher of the Year at the Retirement Party on Friday, May 25. Teacher of the Year must have the following qualifications: • Superior ability to inspire students of all backgrounds and abilities to learn. • Exceptional skill and dedication as a teacher. • The earned respect and admiration of students, parents and colleagues. • Leadership qualities within the school and community. • Poise and the ability to represent LSD well. Please provide at least one paragraph about the reason you are nominating your candi-date. Include information about the nominee’s teaching ability, involvement outside the classroom (if any), passion for education, professional development, etc. Return your nomination to Trish Mann via e-mail (pmann@lalsd.org) or standard mail (P. O. Box 3074, Baton Rouge, LA 70821-3074) by Wednesday, April 18.

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 May, 2007. Anyone wishing to provide feedback or submit articles should contact Trish Mann.