Evangelical School for the Deaf

This article discusses the Evangelical School for the Deaf in Luquillo, Puerto Rico.

The Evangelical School for the Deaf (also known as ESD) is located in Luquillo, Puerto Rico.

History
The Evangelical School for the Deaf is a Christian school for deaf children founded by missionaries in 1959. The school was originally known as Evangelical Mission to the Deaf and for a time was under the mission board,United Mission Fellowship. In 1971, the ministry finally settled on the current title. ESD is currently under the administration of the World Mission to the Deaf, a Canadian organization which channels resources to the school and provides counsel.

ESD opened its doors to a class of 5 students (3 boys, 2 girls) in September of 1960.

School Directors
School directors at the Evangelical School for the Deaf have traditionally assumed a multi-faceted role. In addition to administrative and supervisory duties, directors have often taught academic and technical classes, ran ministries outside of the school, taught religious classes at local churches, and even served as pastors.

Gene Orcutt
Gene Orcutt served as the school director from 1959 until the 1970s.

Roger Rawlings
Roger Rawlings served as school director for several years. While serving at ESD, Roger and his wife Pam started a church for the deaf in San Juan. In the late 1990s, Roger and Pam resigned from ESD to devote their full-time focus to the growing ministry in San Juan. Roger and Pam retired in 2005 and currently live in Canada. Their son, David Rawlings, lives in Puerto Rico where he continues to serve in the church his parents started as well as run a sign language interpreting agency.

Pam Mobray
Pam Mobray is retired from over 30 years of service and lives in Luquillo with her husband Alan Mobray.

Elisabeth Hoke
Elisabeth Hoke is originally from Hanover, PA and began working at ESD in 1984 after graduating from Penn State University with a B.S. in deaf education. In 1989, Betsy (as she is known at the school) returned to college and graduated with a M.S. in deaf education from Western Maryland College in 1991. After Pam Mowbray resigned from her position as school administrator in 1998, Betsy took over the position and is now working as an administrator and as a teacher.

Educational Philosophy
The Evangelical School for the Deaf provides academic instruction in signed and spoken language. This method of education of the deaf is known as total communication. Under this philosophy of education, teachers use whatever means of communication is most readily understood by the student in order to provide him/her with an appropriate and stimulating level of academic instruction.

Sign Language at ESD
Sign language is a manual system of phonology, syntax and pragmatics with a complexity that rivals spoken language. The kind of sign language used at the school varies due to the diverse population of students and staff. The types of sign language used at the school includes the following: American Sign Language (ASL), Puerto Rican Sign Language (PRSL), signed English, and pidgen signed English (PSE) also known as contact signing. This is not to be taken as a difinitive list as research in the field of sign language linguistics is constantly making new discoveries and these categories of language frequently overlap.

Handbell Choir
Since 2002, the Evangelical School for the Deaf bell choir has been performing in various venues around Puerto Rico. Initially conceived and directed by Señora Marisol Matos, the bell choir has grown in popularity and skill. The students are directed using sign language, instead of audible cues, and rely on sheet music to know when to play their parts.

The handbell choir has performed at the Puerto Rican Senate and many other local churches and universities.

The school director, Elisabeth Hoke, currently directs the choir.