By Jake Russell, published on June 20, 2012
After more than three decades working with deaf and visually impaired students in Jacksonville, Marybeth Lauderdale is leaving.
Lauderdale, superintendent of both the Illinois School for the Deaf and the Illinois School for the Visually Impaired, will move to Pittsburgh as the director of the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf.
Her last day here will be July 31.
Hands down, it’s the students that she will miss the most, she said.
As a MacMurray College worker 35 years ago, Lauderdale lived in a dorm at the Illinois School for the Deaf and worked on campus her junior and senior years.
When she became superintendent of both schools two years ago, she wasn’t sure if she could do it. But the stories of students at the Illinois School for the Visually Impaired — stories about how they felt like they didn’t fit in or weren’t getting the services they needed in their school district — were the same as those at Illinois School for the Deaf and she became inspired, she said.
She had a plan for the schools that included a director of instruction at each school, but that plan never came to fruition.
“I could have done this job so well the way it’s designed if I’d had a director of instruction at each school,” Lauderdale said, “but it didn’t happen.”
When she inquired about someone she thought she knew who was retiring from Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, the search agency asked if she wanted the position. She said no a couple times, but finally sent her resume and everything “just kind of happened,” she said. “It fell into place.”
“It feels sad,” she said. “It’s not what I expected to do, but it just seems like the timing is right, like it’s something I should do. I think that things will change now for the better.”
Interim administrators will be named for each school, said Annie Thompson, press secretary for the Office of the Governor. Following that, Gov. Pat Quinn will consider ideas and conduct a formal search for superintendents.
Lauderdale is familiar with Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf; Illinois School for the Deaf students have competed against them the last several years and she attended a conference there a few years ago. It’s a familial environment that is significantly smaller than Illinois School for the Deaf, she said.
“It’s kind of odd to be this old and starting over,” she said, “but I’m not done with deaf education. Thirty-five years has gone by really fast. It’s been a good ride — a little bumpy — but I’ve had all kinds of opportunities that I wouldn’t give [up] for anything.”
Source: myjournalcourier.com