A Brief History of DSD
Education for deaf students in Delaware began in 1929 when Margaret S. Sterck became the State’s first teacher of deaf children. Using money from private sources, Margaret Sterck established the school in her house on Van Buren Street in Wilmington. The school, which became known as Delaware School for Deaf Children, held classes at that site until 1945 when the State mandated funding for education of deaf students. Between 1945 and 1968, identified deaf students were educated either as day students in special classes in Wilmington Public Schools or as residential students At the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf (PSD) in Philadelphia. In the mid 1960’s, however, PSD no longer had room to accommodate Delaware students, while concomitantly, parents of deaf children in Delaware had been seeking an educational program which would enable their children to remain in the State of Delaware.
The majority of deaf students served were from the northern part of the state, so the State Board of Education decided to locate the school for the deaf in the northern part of Delaware. In December of 1968, the main building of the school was completed and dedicated in honor of Ms. Margaret S. Sterck (1968-69 school year). This building furnished classrooms, offices, a multi-purpose room for assemblies and gym classes, and a connecting corridor to the adjacent schools of Ogletown Junior High School (presently Kirk Middle School) and Jennie Smith Elementary to help facilitate integration of Sterck students. Students living in the southern part of Delaware spent four evenings a week in foster homes throughout the northern part of Delaware (New Castle County). A second building was completed in 1971 which gave Sterck School its own cafeteria and residence hall facilities.
In 1973, Roy Holcomb, a deaf educator, was hired to expand the program. He serve three and one-half years. Holcomb advocated the Total Communication philosophy and the use of sign language rather than oralism. The staff was trained in sign language and the school made its transition to a Total Communication program.
The school continued to expand and improve its program with the addition of various support staff such as interpreter-tutors and psychologists as well as the addition of a parent-infant program. In 1985, a vocational wing and new gymnasium were added to the school facilities.
The Margaret S. Sterck School, Delaware School for the Deaf continues to look to current research in the education of deaf children to provide the best possible education for all students. DSD believes that all students are entitled to an educational program that allows them full access to knowledge, information and ideas as well as opportunities to grow and develop to their maximum potential as a person. To this end, the mission of the school is to educate students, develop their competency in both American Sign Language and English.
