New York State School for the Deaf at Rome.

CURRENT FUNCTIONS. The New York State School for the Deaf at Rome (in Oneida County) is the sole state owned and operated school for the deaf in the state. The school receives deaf children between the ages of 3 and 21 who demonstrate hearing loss within established measurable parameters. Pupils are appointed to the school by the commissioner of education according to Education Department regulations. Governance of the school is through a nine-member Advisory Board of Visitors, appointed by the Regents for five-year terms, which advises the school's superintendent. The school offers programs in preschool, elementary, and secondary education, including prevocational and vocational training. Throughout its long and distinguished history the school has maintained a reputation as one of the nation's model schools for the deaf.

ORGANIZATIONAL HISTORY. The school opened in 1875 and operated continuously as a private school, with some state support, until it became a wholly state owned and operated facility in 1963. Since that time the school has been under the jurisdiction of the State Education Department and the Board of Regents. The idea to establish a school for the deaf came from Alphonso Johnson, a deaf man who proposed creation of the school to a group of businessmen in Rome, New York, in 1874. Together with Dr. Thomas Gallaudet (oldest son of Thomas H. Gallaudet), these prominent citizens, including Edward Huntington, John Jervis, John Bissell, and Bloomington Beach, established the school. It was incorporated in January 1875 and opened in March 1875 with four pupils in a rented house. It was called the Central New York Institution for Deaf Mutes.

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