Episode Details

The Louisiana School for the Deaf is not up to standards. Not only is enrollment declining, but over the summer, the superintendent of Louisiana’s schools for the deaf and visually impaired, Ernest Garrett III, was dismissed. And more recently, the director and principal of LSD, Heather Laine, was dismissed as well. Both for unclear reasons.

To learn more about this turmoil and turnover, we speak to Jay Isch, Executive Director of Deaf Focus for the Louisiana Association of the Deaf. He was joined by American Sign Language interpreter Sylvie Sullivan.

This Wednesday, November 16 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of two Southern University students at the hands of police, Leonard Brown and Denver Smith. The college students were killed during protests at Southern’s campus, which implored then-Governor Edwin Edwards to send in the national guard. But despite the murders, no officer was ever charged with a crime.  

Drew Hawkins, a graduate student at LSU and Brittany Dunn, a Southern University Law Student, have been investigating this case with the LSU Cold Case Project as part of a four-part narrative series. They join us for more on what they’ve uncovered in their reporting. 

Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Alana Schreiber. Our digital editor is Katelyn Umholtz and our engineers are Garrett Pittman, Aubry Procell, and Thomas Walsh. 

You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at 12:00 and 7:30 pm. It’s available on Spotify, Google Play, and wherever you get your podcasts. 

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