The Kentucky Asylum, later the School for the Deaf and Dumb, now the Kentucky School for the Deaf, was created by the Kentucky Legislature in 1822, and was the first such public institution in the US, if not the western hemisphere. From its founding until 1870, it was managed by the Board of Trustees of Centre College. The school went through several early leadership crises. Its first principal, Rev. John Rice Kerr (whose wife and Susan Walker Fry Powell Jacobs were sisters) was well intentioned, but did not know how to teach deaf children. Both he and his wife died within a few days of each other in the great cholera epidemic of 1833. The second, a Mr. David C. Irvine, turned out to be a fraud. The third, a Mr. Dewitt Clinton Mitchell, came from the New York School, and although experienced, his method was crude and he could not attract and retain qualified teachers.
The Centre Board of Trustees then turned to Dr. Thomas Galladet of Hartford for advice. He suggested they send a young man to him who could learn his methods. The Board selected John Adamson Jacobs, then a young man of 18, who was a Centre College undergraduate. On a morning in the summer of 1824, Jacobs mounted a horse, and with his belongings, left for Hartford. He had taught school since he was 14, and it is on record that Dr. Galladet and Mr. Laurent Clerc found this earnest young student from the South a man after their own hearts. His horseback trip from Danville to Hartford would be the subject many years later of a "Ripley's Believe It or Not" cartoon.
When Jacobs returned a little over a year later in 1825, he carried a letter to the Centre Board from Mr. Clerc commending him to them in highest terms as a person "suitable to be the head of your institution" as one "initiated into the secrets of our system" and able to "afford ample and useful instructions inthe various departments of knowledge to the deaf and dumb."
Jacobs was at once made Principal, and justified the warm words of Laurent Clerc by the efficient manner in which he brought order out of a most unsatisfactory situation. Mitchell resigned, and returned to New York and was never heard from again. On September 20, 1835, the minutes of the Board of Trustees of Centre College read, "Mr. John A. Jacobs was appointed Superintendent of the Kentucky Asylum, his duties to commence on the 20th of September, inst. John C. Young, Sec'y."
In the words of one observer, "Mr. Jacobs was one of the really great educators with whom our profession has been blessed in such number. With a brief thirteen months of instruction under Messrs. Galladet and Clerc there were necessarily many things omitted in his training, and his later isolation, far away from other educators, required him to carve out methods and expedients largely by and for himself. He was equal to the task: his contibution to the American system of educating the deaf was large, and of permanent value. So high an authority as Superintendent J. W. Jones of the Ohio School ranks him as one of the three outstanding educators of his time -- a period rich in great names."
John Adamson Jacobs remained Superintendent until his death in 1869. In addition to a couple of textbooks, and many articles, he wrote many, many letters. To incorporate them as part of this journal would be impossible.
On his death in 1869, the Kentucky Legislature declared an official day of mourning. (LMC)
History of Kentucky School for the Deaf
On April 10, 1823, the Kentucky Asylum for the Tuition of the Deaf & Dumb, with subsequent name change to the Kentucky School for the Deaf, became the first state supported school of its kind in the nation and in the western hemisphere. The three schools established in the United States prior to the Kentucky School for the Deaf were private. The Kentucky School was also the first school established west of the Alleghenies.
The impetus for beginning a school for persons who are deaf came from General Elias Barbee whose daughter, Lucy, was deaf. General Barbee, while serving as a state senator in the Kentucky General Assembly in 1822, collaborated with Judge John Rowan, who wrote the legislation authorizing the school in the fall of 1822 and on December 7 that year was signed into law by Governor John Adair. The governance of the school, which grew from the first three pupils in 1823 to more than three hundred a century later, was granted to Centre College Board of Trustees until 1870. This arrangement was quite satisfactory and appropriate in those early years. The success of the school was due to the diligence of the Centre College Trustees and their extraordinary commitment.
The school was the recipient of two federal land grants in 1826 and 1836. These tracts of land in Florida and Alabama were eventually sold to acquire additional capital to acquire additional lands and to assist the construction of facilities for the school. Henry Clay and others were instrumental in acquiring the federal grants for the school.
Except for the first four years when the school rented quarters on Main Street and Fourth Street, the school has continually operated at its present campus location on South Second Street in Danville. The school remained open during the Civil War.
From 1870 to 1960 the school was governed by its own Board of Commissioners appointed by governors for terms of six years and later reduced to four years. Legislation was enacted in 1960 to place the jurisdiction of the school with the State Board of Education and the Department of Education. No further changes in governance have occurred. Throughout its rich history, Kentucky governors and legislators have supported the educational efforts of the school.
The school also served deaf persons from outside the Commonwealth on a tuition basis. It was thought in those early years that the Kentucky School might be the only school for deaf persons necessary in the west. Pupils from all the southern states except for Florida were served at KSD. Other states as far away as Montana sent students to KSD for study. When other states established their own schools, that practice ceased.
At first, students were limited in attending the Kentucky School for the Deaf to three terms. Wisely the leadership of the school quickly observed the ineffectiveness of only a three year school experience and successfully expanded the terms of attendance. State and federal laws now permit programs for deaf persons preschool through high school at the Kentucky School for the Deaf. Graduates of the Kentucky School usually attend college, technical school, or enter the work force. Many become professionals and some return to their alma mater to carry on the mission of the school.
Countless women and men have served this school with distinction. It is common practice for officers and teachers to have long tenures. Dr. George M. McClure was associated with the school for 80 years as a pupil, teacher, and Editor of The Kentucky Standard. From the beginning of this noble work, deaf and hearing persons have worked hand in hand to create an environment for learning.
The school has employed fourteen chief school officers (superintendents) since its inception. Especially noteworthy are the Rev. John Rice Kerr, the first superintendent for ten years 1823-1833 and John Adamson Jacobs, third superintendent, who generally can be credited with nurturing the school from its infancy. Jacobs began his work in 1825 as a teacher, became superintendent in 1835, and held that office until his death in 1869. Dr. Harvey Jay Corson, the fourteenth and first deaf superintendent, was appointed in 1994. The present school is modern, dynamic and comprehensive. It is staffed with competent personnel who provide educational programming to deaf and hard of hearing persons from throughout the Commonwealth. The school is fully accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools as a unit school and by the Conference of Educational Administrators Serving the Deaf, a national accrediting body for schools for the deaf in America. It has progressed from slate boards to computers, while retaining its unique family atmosphere. It is the dedicated people through the years who have been the mortar to bond the attributes of success for all those deaf persons who have passed through the tradition laden halls of the Kentucky School for the Deaf. (KSD)
In the front page of a copy of Discourses on Various Points of Christian Faith and Practice (London: J. Hatchard, 1818), Thomas H. Galladet (for whom Galladet College in Washington, DC is named) wrote this note in 1825 to one of his students, John Adamson Jacobs. Jacobs was a student at Centre College in Danville and had planned to become a missionary. He was invited to study Galladet's methods of teaching the deaf, which he accepted, travelling to Hartford, Connecticut on horseback. After completing his studies, Jacobs returned to Danville to become the third Principal of the Kentucky School for the Deaf, a position in which he served for 44 years. On his death, the Kentucky legislature declared a day of mourning. His grandson, John Adamson Cheek, (named for Jacobs) would grow up in a house on the grounds of the School.
The Centre Board of Trustees then turned to Dr. Thomas Galladet of Hartford for advice. He suggested they send a young man to him who could learn his methods. The Board selected John Adamson Jacobs, then a young man of 18, who was a Centre College undergraduate. On a morning in the summer of 1824, Jacobs mounted a horse, and with his belongings, left for Hartford. He had taught school since he was 14, and it is on record that Dr. Galladet and Mr. Laurent Clerc found this earnest young student from the South a man after their own hearts. His horseback trip from Danville to Hartford would be the subject many years later of a "Ripley's Believe It or Not" cartoon.
When Jacobs returned a little over a year later in 1825, he carried a letter to the Centre Board from Mr. Clerc commending him to them in highest terms as a person "suitable to be the head of your institution" as one "initiated into the secrets of our system" and able to "afford ample and useful instructions inthe various departments of knowledge to the deaf and dumb."
Jacobs was at once made Principal, and justified the warm words of Laurent Clerc by the efficient manner in which he brought order out of a most unsatisfactory situation. Mitchell resigned, and returned to New York and was never heard from again. On September 20, 1835, the minutes of the Board of Trustees of Centre College read, "Mr. John A. Jacobs was appointed Superintendent of the Kentucky Asylum, his duties to commence on the 20th of September, inst. John C. Young, Sec'y."
In the words of one observer, "Mr. Jacobs was one of the really great educators with whom our profession has been blessed in such number. With a brief thirteen months of instruction under Messrs. Galladet and Clerc there were necessarily many things omitted in his training, and his later isolation, far away from other educators, required him to carve out methods and expedients largely by and for himself. He was equal to the task: his contibution to the American system of educating the deaf was large, and of permanent value. So high an authority as Superintendent J. W. Jones of the Ohio School ranks him as one of the three outstanding educators of his time -- a period rich in great names."
John Adamson Jacobs remained Superintendent until his death in 1869. In addition to a couple of textbooks, and many articles, he wrote many, many letters. To incorporate them as part of this journal would be impossible.
On his death in 1869, the Kentucky Legislature declared an official day of mourning. (LMC)
History of Kentucky School for the Deaf
On April 10, 1823, the Kentucky Asylum for the Tuition of the Deaf & Dumb, with subsequent name change to the Kentucky School for the Deaf, became the first state supported school of its kind in the nation and in the western hemisphere. The three schools established in the United States prior to the Kentucky School for the Deaf were private. The Kentucky School was also the first school established west of the Alleghenies.
The impetus for beginning a school for persons who are deaf came from General Elias Barbee whose daughter, Lucy, was deaf. General Barbee, while serving as a state senator in the Kentucky General Assembly in 1822, collaborated with Judge John Rowan, who wrote the legislation authorizing the school in the fall of 1822 and on December 7 that year was signed into law by Governor John Adair. The governance of the school, which grew from the first three pupils in 1823 to more than three hundred a century later, was granted to Centre College Board of Trustees until 1870. This arrangement was quite satisfactory and appropriate in those early years. The success of the school was due to the diligence of the Centre College Trustees and their extraordinary commitment.
The school was the recipient of two federal land grants in 1826 and 1836. These tracts of land in Florida and Alabama were eventually sold to acquire additional capital to acquire additional lands and to assist the construction of facilities for the school. Henry Clay and others were instrumental in acquiring the federal grants for the school.
Except for the first four years when the school rented quarters on Main Street and Fourth Street, the school has continually operated at its present campus location on South Second Street in Danville. The school remained open during the Civil War.
From 1870 to 1960 the school was governed by its own Board of Commissioners appointed by governors for terms of six years and later reduced to four years. Legislation was enacted in 1960 to place the jurisdiction of the school with the State Board of Education and the Department of Education. No further changes in governance have occurred. Throughout its rich history, Kentucky governors and legislators have supported the educational efforts of the school.
The school also served deaf persons from outside the Commonwealth on a tuition basis. It was thought in those early years that the Kentucky School might be the only school for deaf persons necessary in the west. Pupils from all the southern states except for Florida were served at KSD. Other states as far away as Montana sent students to KSD for study. When other states established their own schools, that practice ceased.
At first, students were limited in attending the Kentucky School for the Deaf to three terms. Wisely the leadership of the school quickly observed the ineffectiveness of only a three year school experience and successfully expanded the terms of attendance. State and federal laws now permit programs for deaf persons preschool through high school at the Kentucky School for the Deaf. Graduates of the Kentucky School usually attend college, technical school, or enter the work force. Many become professionals and some return to their alma mater to carry on the mission of the school.
Countless women and men have served this school with distinction. It is common practice for officers and teachers to have long tenures. Dr. George M. McClure was associated with the school for 80 years as a pupil, teacher, and Editor of The Kentucky Standard. From the beginning of this noble work, deaf and hearing persons have worked hand in hand to create an environment for learning.
The school has employed fourteen chief school officers (superintendents) since its inception. Especially noteworthy are the Rev. John Rice Kerr, the first superintendent for ten years 1823-1833 and John Adamson Jacobs, third superintendent, who generally can be credited with nurturing the school from its infancy. Jacobs began his work in 1825 as a teacher, became superintendent in 1835, and held that office until his death in 1869. Dr. Harvey Jay Corson, the fourteenth and first deaf superintendent, was appointed in 1994. The present school is modern, dynamic and comprehensive. It is staffed with competent personnel who provide educational programming to deaf and hard of hearing persons from throughout the Commonwealth. The school is fully accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools as a unit school and by the Conference of Educational Administrators Serving the Deaf, a national accrediting body for schools for the deaf in America. It has progressed from slate boards to computers, while retaining its unique family atmosphere. It is the dedicated people through the years who have been the mortar to bond the attributes of success for all those deaf persons who have passed through the tradition laden halls of the Kentucky School for the Deaf. (KSD)
In the front page of a copy of Discourses on Various Points of Christian Faith and Practice (London: J. Hatchard, 1818), Thomas H. Galladet (for whom Galladet College in Washington, DC is named) wrote this note in 1825 to one of his students, John Adamson Jacobs. Jacobs was a student at Centre College in Danville and had planned to become a missionary. He was invited to study Galladet's methods of teaching the deaf, which he accepted, travelling to Hartford, Connecticut on horseback. After completing his studies, Jacobs returned to Danville to become the third Principal of the Kentucky School for the Deaf, a position in which he served for 44 years. On his death, the Kentucky legislature declared a day of mourning. His grandson, John Adamson Cheek, (named for Jacobs) would grow up in a house on the grounds of the School.
The Kentucky Asylum, later the School for the Deaf and Dumb, now the Kentucky School for the Deaf, was created by the Kentucky Legislature in 1822, and was the first such public institution in the US, if not the western hemisphere. From its founding until 1870, it was managed by the Board of Trustees of Centre College. The school went through several early leadership crises. Its first principal, Rev. John Rice Kerr (whose wife and Susan Walker Fry Powell Jacobs were sisters) was well intentioned, but did not know how to teach deaf children. Both he and his wife died within a few days of each other in the great cholera epidemic of 1833. The second, a Mr. David C. Irvine, turned out to be a fraud. The third, a Mr. Dewitt Clinton Mitchell, came from the New York School, and although experienced, his method was crude and he could not attract and retain qualified teachers.
The Centre Board of Trustees then turned to Dr. Thomas Galladet of Hartford for advice. He suggested they send a young man to him who could learn his methods. The Board selected John Adamson Jacobs, then a young man of 18, who was a Centre College undergraduate. On a morning in the summer of 1824, Jacobs mounted a horse, and with his belongings, left for Hartford. He had taught school since he was 14, and it is on record that Dr. Galladet and Mr. Laurent Clerc found this earnest young student from the South a man after their own hearts. His horseback trip from Danville to Hartford would be the subject many years later of a "Ripley's Believe It or Not" cartoon.
When Jacobs returned a little over a year later in 1825, he carried a letter to the Centre Board from Mr. Clerc commending him to them in highest terms as a person "suitable to be the head of your institution" as one "initiated into the secrets of our system" and able to "afford ample and useful instructions inthe various departments of knowledge to the deaf and dumb."
Jacobs was at once made Principal, and justified the warm words of Laurent Clerc by the efficient manner in which he brought order out of a most unsatisfactory situation. Mitchell resigned, and returned to New York and was never heard from again. On September 20, 1835, the minutes of the Board of Trustees of Centre College read, "Mr. John A. Jacobs was appointed Superintendent of the Kentucky Asylum, his duties to commence on the 20th of September, inst. John C. Young, Sec'y."
In the words of one observer, "Mr. Jacobs was one of the really great educators with whom our profession has been blessed in such number. With a brief thirteen months of instruction under Messrs. Galladet and Clerc there were necessarily many things omitted in his training, and his later isolation, far away from other educators, required him to carve out methods and expedients largely by and for himself. He was equal to the task: his contibution to the American system of educating the deaf was large, and of permanent value. So high an authority as Superintendent J. W. Jones of the Ohio School ranks him as one of the three outstanding educators of his time -- a period rich in great names."
John Adamson Jacobs remained Superintendent until his death in 1869. In addition to a couple of textbooks, and many articles, he wrote many, many letters. To incorporate them as part of this journal would be impossible.
On his death in 1869, the Kentucky Legislature declared an official day of mourning. (LMC)
History of Kentucky School for the Deaf
On April 10, 1823, the Kentucky Asylum for the Tuition of the Deaf & Dumb, with subsequent name change to the Kentucky School for the Deaf, became the first state supported school of its kind in the nation and in the western hemisphere. The three schools established in the United States prior to the Kentucky School for the Deaf were private. The Kentucky School was also the first school established west of the Alleghenies.
The impetus for beginning a school for persons who are deaf came from General Elias Barbee whose daughter, Lucy, was deaf. General Barbee, while serving as a state senator in the Kentucky General Assembly in 1822, collaborated with Judge John Rowan, who wrote the legislation authorizing the school in the fall of 1822 and on December 7 that year was signed into law by Governor John Adair. The governance of the school, which grew from the first three pupils in 1823 to more than three hundred a century later, was granted to Centre College Board of Trustees until 1870. This arrangement was quite satisfactory and appropriate in those early years. The success of the school was due to the diligence of the Centre College Trustees and their extraordinary commitment.
The school was the recipient of two federal land grants in 1826 and 1836. These tracts of land in Florida and Alabama were eventually sold to acquire additional capital to acquire additional lands and to assist the construction of facilities for the school. Henry Clay and others were instrumental in acquiring the federal grants for the school.
Except for the first four years when the school rented quarters on Main Street and Fourth Street, the school has continually operated at its present campus location on South Second Street in Danville. The school remained open during the Civil War.
From 1870 to 1960 the school was governed by its own Board of Commissioners appointed by governors for terms of six years and later reduced to four years. Legislation was enacted in 1960 to place the jurisdiction of the school with the State Board of Education and the Department of Education. No further changes in governance have occurred. Throughout its rich history, Kentucky governors and legislators have supported the educational efforts of the school.
The school also served deaf persons from outside the Commonwealth on a tuition basis. It was thought in those early years that the Kentucky School might be the only school for deaf persons necessary in the west. Pupils from all the southern states except for Florida were served at KSD. Other states as far away as Montana sent students to KSD for study. When other states established their own schools, that practice ceased.
At first, students were limited in attending the Kentucky School for the Deaf to three terms. Wisely the leadership of the school quickly observed the ineffectiveness of only a three year school experience and successfully expanded the terms of attendance. State and federal laws now permit programs for deaf persons preschool through high school at the Kentucky School for the Deaf. Graduates of the Kentucky School usually attend college, technical school, or enter the work force. Many become professionals and some return to their alma mater to carry on the mission of the school.
Countless women and men have served this school with distinction. It is common practice for officers and teachers to have long tenures. Dr. George M. McClure was associated with the school for 80 years as a pupil, teacher, and Editor of The Kentucky Standard. From the beginning of this noble work, deaf and hearing persons have worked hand in hand to create an environment for learning.
The school has employed fourteen chief school officers (superintendents) since its inception. Especially noteworthy are the Rev. John Rice Kerr, the first superintendent for ten years 1823-1833 and John Adamson Jacobs, third superintendent, who generally can be credited with nurturing the school from its infancy. Jacobs began his work in 1825 as a teacher, became superintendent in 1835, and held that office until his death in 1869. Dr. Harvey Jay Corson, the fourteenth and first deaf superintendent, was appointed in 1994. The present school is modern, dynamic and comprehensive. It is staffed with competent personnel who provide educational programming to deaf and hard of hearing persons from throughout the Commonwealth. The school is fully accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools as a unit school and by the Conference of Educational Administrators Serving the Deaf, a national accrediting body for schools for the deaf in America. It has progressed from slate boards to computers, while retaining its unique family atmosphere. It is the dedicated people through the years who have been the mortar to bond the attributes of success for all those deaf persons who have passed through the tradition laden halls of the Kentucky School for the Deaf. (KSD)
In the front page of a copy of Discourses on Various Points of Christian Faith and Practice (London: J. Hatchard, 1818), Thomas H. Galladet (for whom Galladet College in Washington, DC is named) wrote this note in 1825 to one of his students, John Adamson Jacobs. Jacobs was a student at Centre College in Danville and had planned to become a missionary. He was invited to study Galladet's methods of teaching the deaf, which he accepted, travelling to Hartford, Connecticut on horseback. After completing his studies, Jacobs returned to Danville to become the third Principal of the Kentucky School for the Deaf, a position in which he served for 44 years. On his death, the Kentucky legislature declared a day of mourning. His grandson, John Adamson Cheek, (named for Jacobs) would grow up in a house on the grounds of the School.
The Centre Board of Trustees then turned to Dr. Thomas Galladet of Hartford for advice. He suggested they send a young man to him who could learn his methods. The Board selected John Adamson Jacobs, then a young man of 18, who was a Centre College undergraduate. On a morning in the summer of 1824, Jacobs mounted a horse, and with his belongings, left for Hartford. He had taught school since he was 14, and it is on record that Dr. Galladet and Mr. Laurent Clerc found this earnest young student from the South a man after their own hearts. His horseback trip from Danville to Hartford would be the subject many years later of a "Ripley's Believe It or Not" cartoon.
When Jacobs returned a little over a year later in 1825, he carried a letter to the Centre Board from Mr. Clerc commending him to them in highest terms as a person "suitable to be the head of your institution" as one "initiated into the secrets of our system" and able to "afford ample and useful instructions inthe various departments of knowledge to the deaf and dumb."
Jacobs was at once made Principal, and justified the warm words of Laurent Clerc by the efficient manner in which he brought order out of a most unsatisfactory situation. Mitchell resigned, and returned to New York and was never heard from again. On September 20, 1835, the minutes of the Board of Trustees of Centre College read, "Mr. John A. Jacobs was appointed Superintendent of the Kentucky Asylum, his duties to commence on the 20th of September, inst. John C. Young, Sec'y."
In the words of one observer, "Mr. Jacobs was one of the really great educators with whom our profession has been blessed in such number. With a brief thirteen months of instruction under Messrs. Galladet and Clerc there were necessarily many things omitted in his training, and his later isolation, far away from other educators, required him to carve out methods and expedients largely by and for himself. He was equal to the task: his contibution to the American system of educating the deaf was large, and of permanent value. So high an authority as Superintendent J. W. Jones of the Ohio School ranks him as one of the three outstanding educators of his time -- a period rich in great names."
John Adamson Jacobs remained Superintendent until his death in 1869. In addition to a couple of textbooks, and many articles, he wrote many, many letters. To incorporate them as part of this journal would be impossible.
On his death in 1869, the Kentucky Legislature declared an official day of mourning. (LMC)
History of Kentucky School for the Deaf
On April 10, 1823, the Kentucky Asylum for the Tuition of the Deaf & Dumb, with subsequent name change to the Kentucky School for the Deaf, became the first state supported school of its kind in the nation and in the western hemisphere. The three schools established in the United States prior to the Kentucky School for the Deaf were private. The Kentucky School was also the first school established west of the Alleghenies.
The impetus for beginning a school for persons who are deaf came from General Elias Barbee whose daughter, Lucy, was deaf. General Barbee, while serving as a state senator in the Kentucky General Assembly in 1822, collaborated with Judge John Rowan, who wrote the legislation authorizing the school in the fall of 1822 and on December 7 that year was signed into law by Governor John Adair. The governance of the school, which grew from the first three pupils in 1823 to more than three hundred a century later, was granted to Centre College Board of Trustees until 1870. This arrangement was quite satisfactory and appropriate in those early years. The success of the school was due to the diligence of the Centre College Trustees and their extraordinary commitment.
The school was the recipient of two federal land grants in 1826 and 1836. These tracts of land in Florida and Alabama were eventually sold to acquire additional capital to acquire additional lands and to assist the construction of facilities for the school. Henry Clay and others were instrumental in acquiring the federal grants for the school.
Except for the first four years when the school rented quarters on Main Street and Fourth Street, the school has continually operated at its present campus location on South Second Street in Danville. The school remained open during the Civil War.
From 1870 to 1960 the school was governed by its own Board of Commissioners appointed by governors for terms of six years and later reduced to four years. Legislation was enacted in 1960 to place the jurisdiction of the school with the State Board of Education and the Department of Education. No further changes in governance have occurred. Throughout its rich history, Kentucky governors and legislators have supported the educational efforts of the school.
The school also served deaf persons from outside the Commonwealth on a tuition basis. It was thought in those early years that the Kentucky School might be the only school for deaf persons necessary in the west. Pupils from all the southern states except for Florida were served at KSD. Other states as far away as Montana sent students to KSD for study. When other states established their own schools, that practice ceased.
At first, students were limited in attending the Kentucky School for the Deaf to three terms. Wisely the leadership of the school quickly observed the ineffectiveness of only a three year school experience and successfully expanded the terms of attendance. State and federal laws now permit programs for deaf persons preschool through high school at the Kentucky School for the Deaf. Graduates of the Kentucky School usually attend college, technical school, or enter the work force. Many become professionals and some return to their alma mater to carry on the mission of the school.
Countless women and men have served this school with distinction. It is common practice for officers and teachers to have long tenures. Dr. George M. McClure was associated with the school for 80 years as a pupil, teacher, and Editor of The Kentucky Standard. From the beginning of this noble work, deaf and hearing persons have worked hand in hand to create an environment for learning.
The school has employed fourteen chief school officers (superintendents) since its inception. Especially noteworthy are the Rev. John Rice Kerr, the first superintendent for ten years 1823-1833 and John Adamson Jacobs, third superintendent, who generally can be credited with nurturing the school from its infancy. Jacobs began his work in 1825 as a teacher, became superintendent in 1835, and held that office until his death in 1869. Dr. Harvey Jay Corson, the fourteenth and first deaf superintendent, was appointed in 1994. The present school is modern, dynamic and comprehensive. It is staffed with competent personnel who provide educational programming to deaf and hard of hearing persons from throughout the Commonwealth. The school is fully accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools as a unit school and by the Conference of Educational Administrators Serving the Deaf, a national accrediting body for schools for the deaf in America. It has progressed from slate boards to computers, while retaining its unique family atmosphere. It is the dedicated people through the years who have been the mortar to bond the attributes of success for all those deaf persons who have passed through the tradition laden halls of the Kentucky School for the Deaf. (KSD)
In the front page of a copy of Discourses on Various Points of Christian Faith and Practice (London: J. Hatchard, 1818), Thomas H. Galladet (for whom Galladet College in Washington, DC is named) wrote this note in 1825 to one of his students, John Adamson Jacobs. Jacobs was a student at Centre College in Danville and had planned to become a missionary. He was invited to study Galladet's methods of teaching the deaf, which he accepted, travelling to Hartford, Connecticut on horseback. After completing his studies, Jacobs returned to Danville to become the third Principal of the Kentucky School for the Deaf, a position in which he served for 44 years. On his death, the Kentucky legislature declared a day of mourning. His grandson, John Adamson Cheek, (named for Jacobs) would grow up in a house on the grounds of the School.
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Principal of the Kentucky Institution of the Deaf & Dumb for 44 years. (This school is now known as Kentucky Deaf School)
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