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Greetings!
As the year ends, I want to take a moment to reflect on the past year and express my appreciation to our Lexington family - students, clients, patients, families, alumni, faculty, staff, board members, and donors! Your support and love are what keeps Lexington strong and focused on its vision to provide outstanding educational, mental health, vocational, and audiology services to members of the Deaf and hard of hearing community.
Sincerely,
Russell O. West
CEO/Superintendent
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With wishes for a healthy and safe 2024!
We thank you for your support over the past year and look forward to the upcoming year with energy and excitement. Our ability to offer special opportunities to deaf students, such as attendance at national STEM competitions, depends on support from our donors.
Please remember Lexington in your end-of-year giving plans and make a gift today!
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New 5-YearStrategic Plan
2023 has been a year of transformation at Lexington! The school’s 18-month strategic planning process culminated in the Board of Trustees’ approval of a new five-year strategic plan and purpose and vision statements. The process included input from families, staff, and students and resulted in the identification of six strategic goals for Lexington School for the Deaf.
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Members of the Board of Trustees and the Executive Leadership Team held a retreat on June 3, 2023, to finalize the 5-Year Strategic Plan. Board President Dr. Russell Rosen (standing, far right) and CEO/Superintendent Russell O. West (standing, far left) led the initiative. | |
Purpose & Vision Statements
As you walk around the campus, you will see colorful banners and posters that reflect our new purpose and vision statements, as well as our core values – Safe, Open-minded, Accountable, and Respectful (SOAR). Thrive Collective, a NYC arts mentoring organization, teamed up with school students to create two murals that reflect the school’s culture. The colorful murals grace the first-floor hallway by the school library and were painted by high school and middle school students under the guidance of Thrive Collective artist Colleen Kong-Savage and art teacher Patricia Ordonez.
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Colorful banners greet students and visitors to the Lexington campus. The banners were designed by retired graphic arts teacher Bill Moran and incorporated the Thrive Collective's artwork. | |
Thrive Collective artist Colleen Kong-Savage (kneeling, left front row) designed the murals based on input from students. The mural on the left includes the ASL handshapes for S-O-A-R. | |
STEM Academy: NYC
Over the summer, Lexington introduced an exciting program, STEM Academy: NYC. The program was offered free of charge to high school students in collaboration with Rochester Institute of Technology’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf. STEM activities included 3-D printing and programming VEX robots, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), and drones. The program was enthusiastically received by students and plans are already in place to expand offerings for 2024. Click here for more information on STEM Academy!
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Building Upgrades
Summer 2023 brought a flurry of activity to the Lexington campus with three major construction projects. The school library received a complete facelift thanks to a NY State and Municipal Facilities (SAM) grant recommended by NYS Senator Jessica Ramos (13th Senate District). Eight ADA-accessible, single occupancy bathrooms, two per floor, were added to Wing 2. A temporary boiler was installed adjacent to the Wing 3 mechanical room due to the facility's aging 1968 boilers. The bathroom and boiler projects were funded by a 4201 Capital Grant from the New York State Education Department.
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Library under construction in August 2023. | |
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The completed library in
October 2023.
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Temporary boiler by Wing 3. | |
Joint Accreditation Survey
November saw accreditation teams from the Conference of Educational Administrators of Schools and Programs for the Deaf (CEASD) and the New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS) visiting Lexington for a joint accreditation survey. The visit was the culmination of a rigorous self-study process by staff, families, students, administration, and the Board of Trustees. We are pleased to report that both CEASD and NYSAIS survey teams recommended full accreditation. Their recommendations will be shared with the boards of their respective organizations, where the final accreditation decisions will be made.
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Drama Club Produces Musical
The year ended on a high note with the Drama Club's production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice and presented under arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of The Really Useful Group. Thirty student actors, supported by a six-student technical crew, created a magical theatrical experience with the support of artistic director Jared Lopatin. Technical Director Shira Harris enlisted 34 students to create the colorful set. Spectrum NY1 reporter Eric Feldman produced a video feature on the production, which can be seen at this link! The Drama Club would like to thank everyone who helped, with a special shoutout to Accessibility Consultant Maria Porto for providing captioning and audio descriptions. Click here to see the sponsor list!
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Lexington Board of Trustee member Sara Basson (far right) congratulated artistic director Jared Lopatin and cast member Osaffa Jordan (Benjamin) on an amazing opening night! | |
Board members Suzanne Chen, Patrice Creamer, and David Paley, with director Jared Lopatin, (back row, l-r) had a quick photo op with Artur Mukhailov (Joseph) and Kariana Delgado (Narrator, Potiphar's Wife) during Friday's intermission. | |
What's Ahead for 2024?
I encourage you to follow Lexington on social media (links below) or on our website www.lexnyc.org to learn more about these upcoming events!
- Middle School Vex IQ Robotics Team travels to Tennessee (January 11-14, 2024)
- ESDAA Boys Basketball & Cheerleading Tournament at Lexington (February 9-11, 2024)
- ESDAA Girls Basketball Tournament at Pennsylvania School for the Deaf (February 16-18, 2024)
- ROV & Aerial Drone Competition at Texas School for the Deaf (February 27-March 2, 2024)
- Multicultural Festival Week (March 6-12, 2024)
- Academic Bowl East Regionals at Ohio School for the Deaf (March 21-24, 2024)
- High School Science Fair (April 17, 2024)
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