In 1989, Dr Kenneth Randall took over as CSDR’s third leader and oversaw the entire school for nine years. Having a deaf brother, Marvin, carved a niche in Randall’s career as an educator of the deaf for 34 years. He decided on his career when he was in 7th grade.
Randall graduated from Douglass High School in Kansas in 1965 and enrolled at Ottawa University, where he studied until his graduation in 1969. For his graduate studies in Deaf Education, he chose to study at the University of Kansas, which is close to his home.
Superintendent Dr Roth from the Kansas School for the Deaf recommended that Randall apply at only three schools if he wanted to move out of the state for a teaching career: Berkeley (now Fremont), Riverside and St Augustine. All of these schools enjoyed international fame for their delivery of education and related services. Randall knew his parents would not like him moving to California because of the hippie movement at the time. Consequently, Randall started teaching social science in 1970 at the Florida School for the Deaf.
In 1973, Randall took a leave of absence for seven months to pursue a master’s in administration under the Leadership Training Program funded by the federal Department of Education at CSU Northridge. At the LTP, Randall met Dr Brill, the internationally renowned Superintendent of CSDR. Dr Brill was one of the professors in the LTP and had written the textbook for graduate studies. As a part of the class, one week was spent on the CSDR campus, an experience that profoundly influenced Randall because of the program's quality and the personnel involved in the school's operation.
After the LTP, Randall returned to FSDB and became a principal for the Deaf program in 1978, separate from the Blind program on campus. Eager to grow professionally in the field, he used vacation time to take classes part-time at the University of Florida until graduating in 1985 with a doctorate in educational administration and leadership.
With Dr Lennan stepping out in February 1989, CSDR started a long process to select the next leader. In the end, Dr Randall was chosen to take the helm.
One of the first problems Randall saw was the low enrollment of 208 students for all grades at CSDR, about one-third of the school record of 615 in 1969. What happened? He cited a combination of the effects of Public Law 94-142 passed by Congress in 1975 and CSDR’s isolation in town with different schools and educational agencies. It became apparent to him that there was a need for CSDR to establish a positive connection with personnel in both the Riverside Unified School District and the Riverside County Office of Education downtown.
Randall began that endeavor by going to each organization to meet with the Superintendent and with the Director of Special Education. He also met with the principals of Victoria Elementary School, one block away, Gage Middle School in the back of the campus and Poly High School on Victoria Ave. The conversations with personnel from those schools confirmed that CSDR had become isolated from the rest of the educational community in the area.
With the strengthened rapport with those nearby schools, the school's enrollment grew from 208 to over 300 in the first year in 1991—a vast improvement in a short time. The enrollment continued to ramp up until we hit 548 in 1992.
Determined not to sit on an olive branch with the larger student body, Randall believed that there was an immediate need to establish positive relations with the Deaf community in Riverside, provide direction to the instructional program by filling the Assistant Superintendent position and establish a partnership with the parents of students enrolled in the school.
Randall hired his former colleague by the name of Deborah Boles from FSDB to supervise all academic and vocational departments. For her role, she became the fourth person since 1953 to assume the title as Assistant Superintendent for Instruction.
More details needed here for Deborah’s contributions ….
With the increasing acceptance of ASL in teaching practices for improved English literacy in the early 1990s at Fremont and other certain schools, Randall initiated the bilingual approach in baby steps at CSDR. My inquiry with the retired administrators in recent years confirmed that Randall's leadership broke away slowly from the Total Communication philosophy and moved toward the new bilingual movement in hopes of better academic yields and being in sync with the minority language community.
In my first year of teaching on campus in 1994, I saw essentially two camps of teachers and dorm counselors based on their communication styles. One group was composed of hearing older staffers hired in the 1970s who used simultaneous communication with the SEE influences. The other group included deaf and younger hearing staffers hired recently who turned off their voices and signed in ASL at all times with deaf students and their colleagues.
The Deaf Education programs at Northridge, Fresno, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco and some other states have implemented their ASL proficiency evaluations as part of their teacher training. I saw a movie-sized poster in many parts of the campus reminding the hearing staffers to sign at all times in front of students and deaf staffers for common courtesy and incidental learning. The deaf individuals didn't want to go back to the old days when they had to put up with the bad habit of hearing individuals talking with other hearing persons without signing. This communication convenience made deaf persons feel marginalized, even at a school for the deaf. Fast forward to the 2020s, I am pleased to see much less division among the deaf and hearing working together. We owe the success in part to the Randall leadership for addressing the long-simmering issue.
Above was the football homecoming event where all the former HC queens since 1967 were invited to attend. At left is Nancy Moore, ‘83.
One significant change in the school's aesthetics during the Randall era was carpet installation throughout the buildings, including the classrooms. The old timers remember the hard floor tiles in green or black from the 1950s everywhere. Randall argued that it was hard enough for deaf individuals wearing hearing aids to understand speech with the hard floor stepping sounds.
The friendly and outgoing demeanor characterized Randall, unlike his two predecessors. Old timers remember finding it hard to approach the school chiefs to strike up a conversation. One long-time staffer told me that if he saw Dr Brill’s door left open in the hall, he would drop his plan to go to the accounting office past his office and go there at another time. I saw a significant change in the interaction between Randall and those under his supervision. Gratefully, he left a lasting change to staff and student interaction through all other future school leaders to this day.
On the left is the CSDR campus and on the right is JK Market. Randall shared a story with me that he had a perfect attendance at the traffic flow meetings at the City Hall. The Planning Department agreed to conduct a hearing to determine a need for traffic signals at the intersection of Arlington Avenue and Maude Street. The city planners strive for as few traffic lights as possible on Arlington Ave to ensure near constant moving flow for 15 minutes from one end to the other. Further, each traffic signal installment cost $100,000 at the 1990s cost. It is understandable for the city to make a wise economic decision.
From Randall’s perspective, he saw a clear need for traffic control at the intersection for the benefit of the drivers who drive on Maude Street near the JK Market (former Circke K store). I remember from my student days in the 1970s that my parents had an easy time to get on Arlington Ave from Maude St.
Eighteen years after my graduation, I returned to CSDR in 1994 as a new teacher, I saw much more difficulty in doing the same at the intersection due to the population growth, thereby contributing to the increased traffic volume on Arlington Ave. Randall became a hero to the neighbors and school employees at CSDR, Gage Middle School and Educational Options Center. He was a powerful orator like Dr Brill. At the conclusion of the hearing, the City Hall approved the traffic signals. Every time you drive on Maude Street, please show your gratitude to Randall for his successful fight.
Randall’s family was the last to reside in the Superintendent’s House, informally known as the White House, on the corner of the campus on Horace Street and Arlington Ave. Randall revealed to me that the free residence on campus allowance for superintendents started in 1953 and ended in 1998. The Brills and Lennans lived there at no charge.
Randall had to start paying $250 a month for the campus housing. In response to my inquiry, Randall added that the State Special Schools Director got tired of hearing the constant complaints from Fremont that Riverside provided free housing while Fremont had none.
Randall resisted Sacramento's periodic request to install an iron-wrought fence on Horace Street. Since the 1990s, we have heard the national news about school shootings. The department officials started talking about the increased security with the additional fencing on Horace Street. Randall, however, wanted the school to feel open with the good neighborhood. Soon after his departure from Riverside, the fencing was finally installed.
Ken and Diane donated a California black oak tree to CSDR in 1998 as a token of appreciation for the wonderful experience for nine years at CSDR. While the Randalls lived in Florida and I lived in San Diego, the $400 tree was uprooted during the massive construction period in the 2010s. Unfortunately, nobody kept an eye on the Randall gift during that time.
At the end of the 1997-1998 school year, Randall accepted the job offer as Superintendent to oversee the education programs for the deaf, blind and deaf-blind throughout Arizona and the Arizona State School for the Deaf and the Blind in Tucson. Randall was popular and respected by all during his time at CSDR. Hence, I asked Randall if he could stay in Riverside and continue supervising the school for some more years. He replied that he was at a point where he could not stay at CSDR any longer. He loved the school, but it was best that he leave town. Oh no, our loss at CSDR and their gain in Arizona.
Six years later in 2004, Randall and his wife, Diane, moved to Panama City, Florida for retirement.
In February 2018, I shipped a book copy of The CSDR Story 1945-2003 I wrote for 13 years to Randall as a gift at his St Augustine, Florida address. I was hoping to hear back from Randall, but I soon found out that he had passed away in the same month. He died of Parkinson’s disease on February 18, 2018. He was 70.
Kevin Struxness, ‘76, MA
Editor, CSDR Old Times
5 November 2024
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