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In Memoriam of
Jean Weingarten
Jean Weingarten, a supporter of the Jean Weingarten Peninsula Oral School for the Deaf, was born and raised in San Francisco, California. Married twice, Weingarten who is hearing and Jewish, has three sons and three grandchildren and one sister, Katherine. Says Janet Weil, an enthusiastic school member, the school is "a wonderful place where children are doing astounding things". For more information, you can check our website. Look under www.oraldeafed.org/schools/jwposd/
The Peninsula Oral School for the Deaf was founded in 1967 by the parents of eight young deaf children who wanted the children to learn to talk. They hired a teacher, Leahea Grammatico and committed themselves to covering a costs of the school by dividing equally among eight families.
Weil says that what set the school apart was that "the director/teacher Mrs Grammatico, who believed that profoundly deaf children could learn to listen, think and talk. She worked with Audiotone to help them develop a master hearing aid that would help the teachers and therapists identify the very best electroacoustic hearing aid settings for each individual child. Using those devices and specific strategies to develop listening skills, Mrs. Grammatico and the children proved that they could learn to listen and develop natural language through listening.
"Her cognitive curriculum in which children learned to think divergently provided a basis for language skills that grew out of the excitement of having something to talk about. Hers was not a rote learning system with chart stories and patterned language. It was experiential and challenging and always evolving.
Jean Weingarten heard Mrs. Grammatico speak about her school and was touched by the work she was doing. She visited the school and heard deaf children listening, singing, telling stories, having conversations and she was hooked. She volunteered her time, not only as a fundraiser, but she also spent time with the children. She endeared herself to so many people; staff, parents and children.
"Weingarten was not a 'white gloves clubwoman' though. She rolled up her sleeves and became a volunteer in the school as well as a benefactor. She believed that the key to these children's success lay in the dedication and hard work of the parents, so she listened to them, encouraged them and befriended them. She was in touch with many of them for years, and on her dying bed, one of the moms called excitedly to tell her that her son said the first word. She learned shortly before her death that the school would be renamed in her honor. It is a fitting legacy to a woman who saw the incredible possibilities for these children.
"Jean Weingarten once told her niece, 'It is so important to have something in your life that you believe in so passionately that you'll commit yourself to working for it."
The Jean Weingarten Peninsula Oral School for the Deaf in Red wood City, California has grown to include the Leahea Grammatico Family Center for infants, toddlers and their families. It has a strong preschool/primary program, a bilingual education program for Spanish speaking families, main stream support services, and on going workshops to teach teachers and parents on helping children develop listening, cognitive and speech skills.
"After her death in the mid 80's, some of her friends approached the Board of Directors at the school and requested that her name be a part of it. The Board agreed, and so today we joke that when the children can say the whole name of their school, "The Jean Weingarten Peninsula Oral School for the Deaf", they are ready to be mainstreamed."
On November 4, 2001, Weingarten was honored at their annual Fashion Show fundraising event. She would have been 80 years old and many of her friends came and was recognized.