Although he ended up working with deaf students for more than 40 years, Steve Gettel fell into his passion for the tight-knit field of education a bit haphazardly.
Coming from a rural high school in Montana, neither architecture nor the fine arts stuck when he gave them a try in college. Then he heard about a class in American Sign Language and, eventually, an opportunity to work with deaf children at a summer camp.
“It was not too far out of town, and I said, ‘Well, I’ve got some time. I can help out.’ And it was just one of those things where you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into,” he said.
Despite having just a basic knowledge of ASL, Gettel ended up as a counselor working with middle school-age boys.
“It was one of the greatest experiences of my life; these kids were so fun. And I thought, what would it be like to work with kids?” he said.
Gettel was hired in 2014 as superintendent of the Iowa School for the Deaf and Iowa Education Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired, or the public “special schools” overseen by the state Board of Regents. At the time, he had already worked for 33 years as a teacher and administrator in Idaho and Montana.
Now 66, Gettel will retire Friday. John Cool, a longtime administrator at the special schools, will come out of retirement to work as interim superintendent before a new one is named.
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Iowa’s state-operated services for deaf and blind students have undergone significant transformation since they were first offered in the mid-1800s.
Gettel came to Iowa not long after the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School in Vinton shut its residential program in 2011. Its closure led to the consolidation of blind and deaf education services, now co-run under the direction of one superintendent.
While the Iowa School for the Deaf still has dormitories where most students live — the superintendent also lives at the school — the IESBVI coordinates with schools and education agencies across Iowa to support the blind students.
Susan Brennan, a regional director with the IESBVI, said it was clear after the residential school’s closure that students were graduating in need of additional skills.
“It’s very difficult to get all of those in, and get all of the core curriculum in, all within those four years of high school,” she said.
The residential transition program for high school graduates, called “4PLUS,” was created in response to that need under Gettel’s watch.
“With his background, we’re very fortunate that we were able to get a superintendent that has the longevity that he’s had with special schools,” Brennan said.
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Gettel aimed to increase awareness about education for deaf, blind students
Cynthia Angeroth, the Iowa School for the Deaf communications director, remembers when final candidates for the superintendent’s job came to the Council Bluffs campus in 2014. She was among the people tasked with keeping them separate while they waited for news of who got the job.
“The six or eight of us are trying to clear away plates from the lunch meeting, 100 or so plates, and (Gettel) just comes in and says, ‘OK, what do we need help with?’ He wasn’t even announced yet; he was just waiting. But he was just always able to roll up his sleeves and get in there with us,” she said.
In a similar vein, she remembers when a bat got loose in the administration building — most people “hunkered down” in their offices, but Gettel and a colleague took a broom, a box and chased it outside.
She said, literally and figuratively, his office doors have always been open. But he still always came to colleagues’ offices to talk — not the other way around, expecting them to come to him.
“He just makes it really easy to interact with him; he really does seem to believe we are all in this work together. He is not in the least bit arrogant,” she said.
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Angeroth has worked at the school for 22 years. She said Gettel stands out from other superintendents because of his push to make sure decision-makers, especially lawmakers, “knew who these kids were and what the needs were.” His “big push” every year was advocating for funding at least equal to what public schools would get.
“I do think, from now on, legislators will be expecting to hear from the special schools — the next person’s going to have to rise to that level,” she said.
Gettel said he and his peers spend a lot of time teaching others about the basics of educating deaf and blind students.
In going to school, a deaf student might not know sign language; they may or may not have a competent interpreter. Assistive technology is often expensive. A paraprofessional for a blind student might read everything to them, preventing them from learning how to be more independent.
It’s addressing those types of hurdles that more generalized special education and disability rights laws have not addressed, Gettel said. What advocates have ended up doing in response is getting behind legislation aimed at the specific needs of deaf and blind students.
“It’s expensive. It’s complicated. There’s not many resources out there to do it. So nobody gets blamed for this; it’s just a matter of fact that it’s really difficult,” Gettel said.
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He referenced ongoing advocacy since 2013 to pass the Alice Cogswell and Anne Sullivan Macy Act, legislation that would expand services for deaf and blind students at the federal level.
The Iowa School for the Deaf and state Board of Regents were among the groups pushing for a state law that would better establish ways to track language development and learning milestones for deaf kids. In May, Iowa became the 19th state to formalize its version of the “LEAD K” — Language Equality and Acquisition for Deaf kids — legislation with the passage of House File 604.
“If they still don’t have much of an expressive vocabulary, and they’re 3 years old, you’re in trouble. And time goes by so fast. So I think the emphasis of that bill is to see that, at the state level, there are some guidelines for assessing those kids,” Gettel said.
‘Slow and deliberate approach’: What’s next for the special schools?
Cool won’t be considered for the permanent special schools superintendent job, Board of Regents President Michael Richards said in early June. However, he said Cool’s many years of experience with the special schools — he was first hired in 1990 — will give the regents time to decide what’s next.
“Because of the unique requirements of our students at our special schools, ensuring their needs and service provided is paramount. To that end, we are taking a slow and deliberate approach to our next steps with a focus on the students, and we must make a comprehensive review of the entire landscape,” Richards said.
The future of the special schools has gathered statewide attention in the past. When the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School closed in 2011, merging with the ISD, the decision received some criticism because of the difference in educational needs between deaf and blind students.
The residential program for blind students had been seeing low enrollment, failing to just six on-campus students in 2010. In 2021, the IESBVI statewide services reached 723 students.
Enrollment at the ISD was 86 students last year, the majority who lived on campus. The number has been falling sine 2015, when there were 109 students.
Richards said the board has already heard from many people who have “deep roots within our special schools” about their future. “Stakeholder engagement matters” in the process of deciding what comes after Gettel’s retirement, he said, and the regents will “very much appreciate the input.”
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As for Gettel, he and his wife, Mary, will retire to Montana. He plans to drive his grandkids to school, go fly fishing, and spend time helping out on his family farm. He hasn’t driven a combine since he was 18, but that very well might be part of his retirement plan.
“I think about the kids; what could I do productively in the future? I think to continue to advocate, where I can, for kids. And education, in general,” he said.
Cleo Krejci covers education for the Iowa City Press-Citizen. You can reach her at ckrejci@press-citizen.com.
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