Louisiana School for the Deaf

Happy Monday from the War Eagles! 🦅 💚

WOW! Check out more incredible updates at LSD!
🦅 On the left, we’re proud to unveil our brand-new “Home of the War Eagles” mural — a special shoutout to Lane Thompson for generously donating his time and talent to bring it to life!
🏛️ On the right, you’re seeing the beginnings of our new mini museum in the CTE hallway, where students can explore historic artifacts, photos, uniforms from past athletic seasons, and a photo/video slideshow. Displays will rotate based on our athletic calendar — so there’s always something new to see!
Big thanks to the Louisiana Association of the Deaf for their donation of items to get this started!

PUBLIC NOTICE:

Upcoming Meeting Announcement
The SSD Board of Directors will hold a meeting on Wednesday, August 20, 2025, at 9:00 a.m.

Location: 2888 Brightside Dr
Baton Rouge, LA 70820
Student Center Board Room

To see the Public Notice on our website as a PDF visit the following link:
https://core-docs.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/4654/LSS/5932944/Public_Notice_SSD_Board_Meetings.pdf

🛠✨ Behind the scenes this summer, something amazing has been happening at LSD — and it's all thanks to the incredible teamwork of our volunteers, I.T. crew, and operations team!

📚 Our volunteers have gone above and beyond organizing the elementary, middle, and high school book rooms, refreshing our libraries and clothes closet, prepping celebration materials, and even helping repaint areas across campus. (Big thanks to Coca-Cola for rolling up their sleeves and to SER for donating paint!)

💻 Our I.T. team just wrapped up installation of our new emergency alert system — fully accessible for Deaf students and audible for all other visitors in secondary. 👏👏

🧹 And our operations team? They’ve been deep-cleaning, waxing, painting, replacing floors and lights — doing everything it takes to make sure our campus is safe, shining, and ready for day one. 💪

🦅 We’re so proud of this work and the people behind it. Help us say THANK YOU by dropping a 💚 in the comments or sharing this post to spread the love.

A heartfelt thank you to Quota Baton Rouge for their generous donation of library organization materials and their partnership in helping us update the flooring in our elementary library! Your support plays a vital role in creating a welcoming and engaging space for our students as we kick off the new school year. We are so grateful for your continued commitment to our students! 💚🦅

📚 Please help us welcome Sydney Mallas to the War Eagle family! Sydney will be serving as our K–8 Interventionist, supporting students with small group instruction and targeted academic growth in the areas they need it most. We’re excited to have her on board for the new school year! 💚🤟

REMINDER: Board of Directors Special Meeting
Date: 07/23/2025
Time: 3:30 p.m.
Location:
2888 Brightside Dr.
Baton Rouge, LA 70820
SSD Board Room 196-Student Activity Center

If you are unable to attend in person, the meeting will be Livestreamed on YouTube: https://youtube.com/live/jTqYqcHIzug

You can find the agenda for the meeting at the following link:
https://core-docs.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/4654/LSS/5894473/SSD_Agenda.pdf

🎉 Meet another awesome addition to our growing team — Keri Berger!
📖 Keri is joining us as a high school English teacher and brings an infectious energy and love for language that we know our students will thrive on.

We’re so excited she’s here — welcome to the War Eagle family, Keri!

A huge thank you to the Louisiana School for the Deaf Alumni Association (LSDAA) for helping us bring our campus to life with over 20 beautiful canvas prints of our amazing students! 🖼️🎉 These photos now brighten hallways across our school, and we can't wait to keep adding more throughout the year. Thank you for helping us celebrate our students every day! 💚🦅

REMINDER: SSD Board of Directors Special Meeting
Date: 07/21/2025
Time: 9:00 a.m.

Location:
2888 Brightside Dr.
Baton Rouge, LA 70820
SSD Board Room - Student Center

If you are unable to attend in person, the meeting will be Livestreamed on YouTube:
https://youtube.com/live/oyRSiLzSHIk?feature=share

You can find the agenda for the meeting at the following link:
https://core-docs.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/4654/LSS/5884387/SSD_Agenda_7.21.25_KS_7.3.25_7.16.25_7.17325.pdf

👋 Say hello to another amazing addition to our team — Melissa Dilmore!
📚 Melissa will be teaching high school social studies and brings with her not only a love for education, but also personal experience as a proud parent of three deaf children.

We’re thrilled to welcome her to the War Eagle family and can’t wait to see the impact she’ll make!

It's time to start introducing more new faces joining our team — help us give a big War Eagle welcome to Sahej Walia!
💻 Sahej is joining us as our new Computer Science teacher and will be supporting our students as they explore our technology, coding, and STEM coursework.

We’re excited to have him on board as we continue growing our programs!

📣 LSD Is SOARING — And the Results Speak for Themselves 🦅

Something incredible is happening at the Louisiana School for the Deaf—and we couldn’t be more proud to share the news.

Last year, we broke a 20+ year record and were named the second most improved school in the state. This year, we’ve continued that momentum with growth in every single subject area category on the state’s LEAP assessments! 📈

This isn’t just about test scores—it’s about our Deaf and hard-of-hearing students gaining confidence, mastering new skills, and reaching new heights in a school built just for them.

At LSD, we’ve created a learning environment where:
✨ Language is fully accessible in both ASL and English
✨ Teachers meet students where they are and help them soar
✨ Every child is seen, supported, and challenged

To our current families: thank you for being part of this journey—we’re growing stronger together.
To prospective families: if you’re looking for a school where your child will be celebrated and supported every step of the way, this is the place!

🦅 We are SOARING, and we can’t wait to show you what’s next here at the nest - we're just getting started!

Is your child Deaf or hard of hearing? Discover a school that truly celebrates their uniqueness! 🎉 At the Louisiana School for the Deaf, we provide: 🤟 Certified Deaf educators 💻 Visual learning tools 👂 Audiology & Speech-Language Pathology services 📚 A supplemental Deaf-specific curriculum to support our top-tier primary curriculum 💬 English & ASL support! And MORE! Join our community where support is built just right! Interested? Email us at cmills@lsdvi.org for more info today!

Notice of Cancellation - Board of Directors Meeting 07/15/2025 The Board of Directors of the Louisiana Special School District meeting scheduled for July 15, 2025, at 9:00 a.m. has been cancelled. The next Special meeting for the Board of Directors of the Louisiana Special School District will take place on July 21, 2025 at 9:00am. Please contact Kattie Sheppard at Kattie.Sheppard@swe.la.gov if you have any questions. You can read the full announcement on our website at the following link: https://core-docs.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/4654/LSS/5802857/7.15.25_Cancellation_Notice_KS_6.23.25.pdf

Exciting news for Louisiana School for the Deaf students! 🎓 We're expanding our Dual Credit program with new courses this year: Critical Reading & Writing and Personal Finance. Now, students can earn even MORE college credits while still in high school — for FREE! 100% of our students in our dual credit pilot program last year got FREE college credit and can now add this opportunity to their college applications and resumes. Have questions? Reach out to our school counselor, Vicky Vail, at VVail@lsdvi.org.

What if your child can’t sign yet? 🤟 No worries! We welcome all families! 💚 Whether you’re learning spoken language, sign language, or both, we're here to support you. Our ASL immersion program is ready to help your child learn to sign, and we offer free ASL classes for you! Interested? 📧 Email us today at CMills@lsdvi.org!

👋 It's that time of the year, where we start showing off our new staff members and changes on our team - help us welcome two incredible team members in their new roles! 🌱 Rachel Smart is joining us as our new CTE Agriscience teacher — and she’ll eventually help expanding our offerings in electrical, carpentry, and welding! 📚 Kristy Guidry, who has been teaching at LSD for the past two years, is stepping into a new position as our instructional coach for math, science, and CTE. We’re excited for what’s ahead with these two on board!