Evangelical School for the Deaf

Girls 1977

Although the school had closed in 1969, there was still a deaf ministry for the adult deaf in San Juan.  The missionaries had the idea of  holding two summer camps on the school grounds, the first for deaf children 6-15 from June 30 to July 9 and the second from July 21 to July 30 for the deaf 16 and up.

The name of the school was changed from the Evangelical Deaf Mission to The Evangelical School for the Deaf, Inc. on March 25, 1971, under the direction of Gene Orcutt and in April of that year the school was opened again for twelve students, seven between the ages of six and eleven, taught by Pam Eadie, and five between twelve and sixteen taught by Roger Rawlings.   A local woman, Mrs. Ruiz was hired as the school cook.

U.M.F. was worried over the fact that Mr. Z. would not sell the property nor help with upkeep and repairs. He would only lease it for five year periods. The main building was in poor shape. U.M.F. would not furnish any money because they thought the main building wouldn’t be in use for long. Since no other property had surfaced for the school to buy, they thought $100,000 to replace the building was futile and expensive.

At the December staff meeting in 1977, Roger asked what the staff felt about Mr. Jeffcott’s suggestion to close the school after Christmas. The staff did not concur. They felt the school could continue until Easter and maybe longer. Plans could be reviewed during the second semester, and a decision made at that time.

The school closed in May 1978, but opened again in September. The minutes for June and July are lost.

U.M.F. determined the school should close. There had always been friction between the school and U.M.F. As far back as 1973 there was a rift developing between the school and U.M.F. when a letter had been received from Mr. Jeffcott. The ESD secretary stated, "We also received a letter from U.M.F. and discussion was held concerning this!" That exclamation point says volumes.

At a special meeting in March 1979, Dan Corey, the  U.M.F. contractor, said he had been given the authority by Mr. Jeffcott to do whatever he thought would be best. If he thought closing the school would be the best idea, he had the authority to do that. The principal, Mr. Rawlings, under the Managing Director would be in charge of the every day running of the school: discipline, teachers, and school related business. 

When school began in September 1979, no one had come to serve as dorm counselors so the school felt that for this one year it would be best not to have a residential program. Since many of their pupils came from too far away to commute, they enlisted the services of Carlos Motta who, through his church, found Christian families who would board those students. By October 1979, 17 students had returned. Every day, Carlos would drive his van to pick up the children, and every afternoon he would take them back to their foster homes. Three older boys were permitted to live in the school dorm buying their own groceries, cooking their own meals and cleaning their own quarters.  The situation was not ideal, but it kept the children in school, and they were learning.

For some time Kirk Dupre, Ross Ward and others from Canada had been involved with the school. Kirk taught crafts to the children. The money from crafts that were sold went into the general fund. Ross Ward had come down to put up electric poles on  a new property the school had contracted for. The ESD staff now approached Kirk and Ross with the idea that they might start a mission board for the ministry. The staff realized that becoming an independent group would not be feasible. They knew that a parent organization to whom they could look for guidance was a necessity, but a mission board that had total control was unacceptable.

Thus it was that the World Mission for the Deaf was formed in Canada in 1979. This mission board would give autonomy to the school. It would help by locating new missionary staff, and taking on administrative problems like forwarding money from supporters without taking a cut from the money as other mission boards do.

In the With These Hands September, 1980, there was this announcement:

"Effective Sept. 2, 1980, the missionaries at E.S.D. are no longer associated with the United Missionary Fellowship of Sacramento, CA. American donors may send their gifts for E.S.D. directly to the field address while Canadians may direct theirs c/o 39 Meadow Cr., Whitby, Ontario L1N 3J2. All donors will receive official receipts for Income Tax."

E.S.D. sent U.F.M.$3000 and ended their connection with that mission board.