GSDs Brief History

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GSDs Brief History

• Thanks to the students of GSD who researched and
  did the powerpoint! Diane Conti was the teacher.

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Weve Come a LONG way!

• A Short History of the
• Georgia School for the Deaf

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The Georgia School for the Deaf, established in
1846, is a state-funded residential school
operating under the auspices of the Office of
Special Services of the Georgia State Department
of Education and the Georgia State Board of
Education. The school works cooperatively with
the Georgia Department of Education, Division for
Exceptional Children, and Local Education
Agencies to ensure that appropriate educational
programs are available for hearing impaired and
multi-handicapped hearing impaired students
residing in Georgia. The Georgia School for the
Deaf serves students, ages 3-21 from preschool
through high school. Multi-handicapped hearing
impaired students are served in a special
services program. In addition, a state-wide,
home-based, early intervention program (Georgia
PINES) serves infants from birth to five years
old, and a comprehensive diagnostic and
evaluation center is provided. The school offers
training and technical assistance to parents,
public school programs, community groups, and
other agencies on a regional and statewide basis.

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The Georgia School for the Deaf was first called
The Georgia Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb.
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The school began in a one-room log cabin.
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In the past, the GSD was divided into two
campuses the Fannin Campus and the Gordon
Campus.
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The GSD is located in Cave Spring, Floyd County,
Vans Valley, GA.
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Cherokee Indians were driven out of Georgia.
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Oliver Porter Fannin was the first person to
undertake the education of the first four deaf
children in Georgia. He served at the GSD from
1847-1858.
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The American School was established in 1817.
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Later the first four children from Georgia were
sent to Hartford, Connecticut to be educated.
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Fannin Hall was named for O.P. Fannin. Mr.
Fannin spent a year at the American School
learning the methods of teaching the deaf. Cave
Spring recognized O.P. Fannin by naming street
in his honor.
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He studied under Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and
Laurent Clerc.
Gallaudet
Clerc
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J. B. Edwards was the first deaf teacher in
Georgia.
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Before the Civil War, S.F. Dunlop and William
D. Cook served as superintendents of the GSD.
Dunlop
Dunlop
Cook
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Samuel F. Dunlop served the GSD from 1858-1860.
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W.D. Cook served the GSD from 1860-1862.
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In 1862, the school was closed for the duration
of the war.
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Under Wesley O. Connors leadership, vocational
training began at the school.
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In 1874, the print shop began and printed The
Cave Spring Enterprise, the town newspaper.
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Mr. Connor gave over 60 years of service to the
deaf in Georgia.
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Mr. Connors son was later superintendent of the
New Mexico School for the Deaf.
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A collection of rocks and minerals was given to
Berry College in Rome, as a loan from Mr. Connor.
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In 1916, James Coffee Harris became
superintendent.
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In 1937, Clayton H. Hollingsworth became
superintendent.
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Mr. Hollingsworth married Hazel Wright of Cave
Spring.
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The federal agency, Works Projects
Administration, helped renovate and build the GSD.
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Under Mr. Hollingsworth, John Lloyd Caple served
as vocational principal.
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During 1953-1957, Alfred L. Davis served as
superintendent.
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Samuel A. Newton served as superintendent during
1957-1961.
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The Georgia School for the Deaf is under the
direction of the State Board of Education.
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Straight Language for the Deaf was pioneered by
Edith Fitzgeralds Key.

• Fitzgerald KeyA printed system to help deaf
  children learn to speak, red and write
  syntactically correct English sentences. The
  Fitzgerald Key was developed in 1929 at the Texas
  School for the Deaf by Edith Fitzgerald, a deaf
  supervising teaching.Its set of six words and
  symbols help children analyze the relationships
  between units of connected language, enabling
  them to write good sentences and correct their
  own errors. Under the system, a child places
  individual words under the headings of subject,
  verbs, and predicates, indirect and direct
  objects, phrases and words telling where, other
  word modifiers of the main verbs and "when" words
  and phrases. The system is still widely used
  today (Turkington,C., Sussman,A.E. 1992, pp.
  77-78).

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Dr. Marie Sewell Kennard worked with Miss
Fitzgerald and received an honorary doctorate
degree from Gallaudet.
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Our present school building is named in honor of
Dr. Kennard.
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Miss Katherine Casey served for many years as
supervisor of the Primary Department.
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Mrs. Mary Turner served as supervisor of the
Advanced Department (High School).
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Freeman Hall was named for Samuel Freeman.
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Virginia Berry served as secretary under five
GSD superintendents.
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On February 23, 1876 the Georgia General Assembly
passed an act that authorized the purchase of a
building and 10 acres for the establishment of a
school for African American deaf.
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The school for African American deaf opened in
1882.
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Fred L. Sparks served as GSD superintendent from
1961-1970.
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John L. Caple served as superintendent from
1970-1973.
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Helen Muses Green Pavilions was published in
1961.
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Under the leadership of Walter Brown and Alvin
Edward Steele, Jr., the Jr. NAD GAD chapter was
established at the GSD in 1964.
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Louise Guinn Osborne was the first president of
the Jr. NAD GAD during 1964-65.
46
Donna McGee served as the first Miss GSD Pageant
Queen in 1984.
47
In 1984 the GSD moved to the Perry Farm Campus
from the Fannin Campus due to asbestos
contamination on the main campus.
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After the move to the new campus, four
superintendents/directors served GSD
Vera Y. Owens 1984-1985
Michael D. Elliott1985-1995
Rae Ann Redman1995-1996
Patricia S. Pike1996-2003
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In the recent years, these served as GSDs
leaders

• Russell Fleming 2003-Nov. 2003
• 10 months Wilmont W. McChord 2003-June 2005 19
  monthsCynthia Ashby 2005-March 2006
• 8 months
• Lee Shiver 2006-Present

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Adonia Smith is a 1988 graduate of GSD who holds
a PhD degree.
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Diane Conti was the first teacher of the year at
GSD, being voted by the staff and students in
2006.