Kentucky School for the Deaf

Teachers meetings were held monthly and discussion centered around a certain education topic assigned the previous month. Papers presented were published in subsequent issues of THE KENTUCKY STANDARD.

As provided by the Act passed by the Kentucky General Assembly establishing the school in 1822, the school was placed under the jurisdiction of the Board of Trustees of Centre College in Danville, Kentucky. In 1870, the legislature approved a twelve member Board of Commissioners to oversee the school. The commissioners were appointed by the governor to serve six year terms.

While students were allowed to attend the school free of charge, parents or guardians were asked to pay for transportation to and from the school. The school paid for pupil's transportation in hardship cases.

As provided in the act establishing the Kentucky School for the Deaf, jurisdiction of the school was placed under the Board of Trustees of Centre College in Danville, Kentucky until 1870 when the administration of the school was transferred to an independent Board of Commissioners.

According to legislation establishing the school in 1822, the superintendent was to oversee daily operations and was responsible to the school's governing board. The superintendent usually served as principal of the school and as a member of the board as well.

The Kentucky State Board of Education is authorized to provide deaf children with an education. It does so through the Kentucky School for the Deaf at Danville, which serves children with hearing impairments. The board oversees the school's buldings and grounds, prescribes the course of education and terms of admission, and appoints the superintendent of the school. The school is responsible under KRS 167.010-167.150.

Established by an act of the General Assembly in 1822 (Acts, ch. 481, sec. 1), the Kentucky Asylum for the Tuition of the Deaf and Dumb became the fourth school for the deaf to open in the United States, the first school for the deaf west of the Alleghenies, and the first school to be supported by public funds. In 1823, an act was created allowing students from other states to be accepted into the institution only if that state paid their fees and only if Kentucky already had twenty-five students in attendence, free of charge, at the institution (Acts, ch. 172, sec. 2). As a result of the public nature of the Kentucky school, the U.S. Congress granted pieces of land in the Florida and Arkansas territories for the purpose of endowing the school in 1826.

Management of the school was placed in the hands of the Board of Trustees of Centre College in Danville. A committee of twelve "ladies" selected by the board was to aid in the management of the institution. The board was authorized to receive property and money to use and apply to the education of the deaf, appoint teachers, and report to the legislature annually.

In 1870, a nine-member Board of Commissioners, appointed by the governor, replaced the Board of Trustees of Centre College. The board was authorized to receive and expend funds, appoint a superintendent and teachers, and to present an annual report to the governor (Acts, ch. 13, sec. 2-5). The commissioners were appointed to staggered six year terms, with six of the commissioners to be residents of Boyle County. The commission changed to nine members for a four year term in 1948 (Acts, ch. 42, sec. 2).

The name of the school was changed to the Kentucky Institution for the Education of Deaf-Mutes in 1882 (Acts, ch. 97, sec. 1) and to the Kentucky School for the Deaf in 1904 (Acts, ch. 222, sec. 1).

In 1883, an institution for the education of the "colored deaf mutes" was established at Danville under the management of the same board of commissioners (Acts, ch. 1491, sec. 1). In 1910, an act was created keeping funds for the white and the "colored" schools separate, by entitling the school for blacks to appropriations made under any act in which the word "colored" was used to distinguish the school from that of the white deaf (Acts, ch. 99, sec. 6). These acts were repealed in 1960 (Acts, ch. 68, Art. IV, sec. 6).

In 1912, legislation supported by the Kentucky Association for the Deaf was passed, fixing the status of the school as an educational institution spearate from the charitable and correctional institutions (Acts, ch. 71, sec. 1).

The Board of Commisisoners was abolished in 1960 and management of the school was turned over to the State Board of Education (Acts, ch. 68, Art. IV, sec. 1 and 6). The General Assembly created a Kentucky School for the Deaf Advisory Board composed of five members appointed by the governor for four year terms. The board acted in an advisory capacity to the State Board of Education and the superintendent of the school. In 1982, the membership of the board changed from five to seven members appointed by the State Board of Education (Acts, ch. 267, sec. 2).