Texas School for the Deaf
| Texas School for the Deaf | |
|---|---|
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| Location | |
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1102 South Congress Avenue Austin, Texas 78704 United States |
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| Coordinates | 30°15′10″N 97°45′04″W / 30.252858°N 97.751080°WCoordinates: 30°15′10″N 97°45′04″W / 30.252858°N 97.751080°W |
| Information | |
| Type | School for the Deaf |
| Established | 1856 |
| School district | Austin, Texas |
| Grades | PreK-12 |
| Enrollment | 544 (2013-2014) |
| Color(s) | |
| Team name | Rangers |
| Languages | American Sign Language, English |
| Website | Official Website |
Texas School for the Deaf (TSD) is a state-operated primary and secondary school for deaf children in Austin, Texas. The oldest public school in Texas that has been continually in operation, it was first opened in 1857 "in an old frame house, three log cabins, and a smokehouse." The school struggled under inadequate funding during the American Civil War and its aftermath with the students eating food that they grew themselves on the school farm. In 1851 the State Board of Education assumed oversight of the school.
The Texas Legislature created the Texas Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb in 1856, and five trustees appointed by the Governor of Texas governed the new institution. Initially the superintendent of the deaf school was appointed by this board. The school opened in January of the following year, occupying what is today its current campus. By the summer of 1857 there were 11 students enrolled, and until around 1870 the enrollment was 13. During the U.S. Civil War teachers and students made wool clothes and farmed in order to support themselves because the school was unable to pay salaries to the teachers.
Around 1868 the school was renamed to the Texas Deaf and Dumb Institution. Around that time the law regarding who appoints the superintendent changed; now the governor of Texas had the power to directly appoint the superintendent. In 1871 the name was changed to Texas Institution for the Deaf and Dumb. A State of Printing office was established at the TSD in 1876. The institution's name changed again to Texas Deaf and Dumb Asylum around 1877.
Originally TSD only served white students and had white teachers. Black students attended the Texas Blind, Deaf, and Orphan School, which had been established in 1887. As a result, the two schools developed divergent sign-language dialects.
The school's deaf-blind department opened in 1900. The school received its current name during the fiscal year of 1911. The Texas Board of Control received power over TSD in 1919, the year it was formed. By 1923 it had grown into the second-largest school for the deaf in the United States. In 1939 the deaf-blind department was transferred to the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (TSBVI). The school had 450 students in the mid-1940s. TSD was placed under the authority of the Board for Texas State Hospitals and Special Schools, under its current name, in 1949. In 1951 the Texas Education Agency received jurisdiction over the TSD.
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Wikipedia