On Wednesday, March 4, the READS Collaborative celebrated a ribbon-cutting to commemorate the recent opening of its new READS Collaborative Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) School in Norton.
Established in the early 1970s, READS Collaborative has been providing special education services for students throughout southeastern Massachusetts in grades preschool through grade 12 with low incidence, high needs disabilities. One of the collaborative’s well-established programs is the Deaf and/or Hard of Hearing Program.
For more than a half-century, the READS Collaborative has specialized in providing educational services to students in grades preschool through 12+ who are Deaf and/or hard of hearing. Additional services are also provided to support early intervention needs for those children birth to age 3 who are Deaf and/or hard of hearing.
The New Digs
The READS DHH School, located at 399 Old Colony Road, was previously occupied by a local community day program. The building was purchased by READS Collaborative in June 2025.
Renovations on the newly purchased building began immediately in preparation for the school to house the READS DHH administrative offices, five classrooms, and additional spaces for related services.
Three classrooms will be utilized by preschool through third-grade students; one classroom will serve students 18-22 years old requiring transition services; and the remaining classroom will provide occupational and physical therapy services.
The building also provides dedicated spaces for a nurse’s office, speech and language, and counseling services, and contains a working kitchen and eating area where students can gather for lunch as well as a separate teacher’s lounge and workspace.
“With doors opening and barriers coming down, the launch of this new location for the READS Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program marks a pivotal moment for Southeastern Massachusetts — one that promises greater access, stronger connections, and a more inclusive future for students who are Deaf and hard of hearing in this region and across the state,” said Joanne Haley Sullivan, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Organization of Educational Collaboratives (MOEC).
Valuable Partnerships
For more than 50 years, the READS DHH program has been embedded within various local public schools. READS Collaborative leases classroom and office spaces needed to educate its students. This arrangement allows students access to inclusive opportunities with typical peers in a public-school setting.
For over the past decade, the READS DHH Program has partnered with Norton Public Schools to provide students with a full array of services. Students receive educational support ranging from completely sub-separate small group instruction to full inclusion within the general education setting given ASL interpreter support and depending on the student’s educational profile and needs.
“READS provides students with access to any related service they may need such as counseling, speech and language, occupational therapy, and physical therapy, just to name a few,” said READS Collaborative Executive Director Dina Medeiros. “The purpose for purchasing and renovating this new building was to provide needed classroom spaces for our youngest students, as well as provide a transition program for our oldest students, ages 18-22, who may need additional support beyond the high school experience as they prepare for adult living.”
In recent years, Norton Public School’s classroom spaces have become limited due to Norton’s own growing needs to support their students. READS Collaborative needed alternate classroom spaces to house students from their DHH Program in grades preschool to third grade. That’s a consistent concern for all collaboratives across the state — finding space to house and educate their students.
“Our goal is to provide the most opportunities for our students who are Deaf and/or hard of hearing,” said Executive Director Medeiros. “We feel strongly that opportunities for inclusion with typical peers provides an enriching experience and also fulfills our obligation as educators to provide students with the least restrictive environment. READS Collaborative has enjoyed a very positive relationship with Norton Public Schools and our students have greatly benefited from this.”
READS DHH students participate in many of the extracurriculars that Norton Public Schools offers with support as needed from READS DHH staff, and the continuity of inclusive opportunities from grades K-12 provides for increased opportunities to develop social connections and build confidence.
“We wanted to maintain our relationship with Norton Public Schools so our students could continue to have access to inclusive opportunities from K-12,” said Executive Director Medeiros. “This is when the idea of potentially purchasing a building of our own that could be in close proximity to Norton Public Schools was presented by our DHH Program Director Rebekah Marchilena.”
READS Business Manager Lindsey Albernaz started looking for potential properties and discovered the Old Colony Road building in Norton.
“It is only 0.4 miles from the J.C. Solmonese Elementary School (JCS),” Medeiros said. “This enables us to provide an easy commute for our students in K-3 to access inclusive services through JCS. A plan to purchase and renovate the new building was developed and the doors to the new school opened on Jan. 5. It has been a smooth transition into the new building. READS Collaborative is very fortunate to have been able to secure and create this new learning space for our students and staff.”
Sign of the Times
READS Collaborative Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) Program Director Rebekah Marchilena and student Deborah Nascimento held their hands high to show off the new word sign students and staff will now use to reference the READS DHH program.
For many years, the ASL (American Sign Language) word sign for the program was the same as the sign for the word “radio,” a medium that didn’t quite accurately or sensitively describe the program. So to celebrate the opening of a new READS DHH School on Old County Road in Norton, READS launched a contest.
Nascimento, a grade 12 student who attends the Bristol-Plymouth (BP) Regional Technical School in Taunton through the READS DHH Program, won the contest to create a new ASL word sign for the “READS DHH Program.”
The new word sign consists of the symbol for the letter “R” (for READS) along with a full hand showing five fingers, to symbolize the five READS Collaborative school buildings housing their students (the new DHH School, the Henri A. Yelle Elementary School, Norton Middle School, Norton High School and BP).
About READS Collaborative
Middleboro-based READS Collaborative serves over 30 school districts that include 20 member public school districts — Abington, Acushnet, Berkley, Bridgewater-Raynham Regional, Bristol-Plymouth Regional Technical, Brockton, Carver, Dighton-Rehoboth Regional, East Bridgewater, Freetown-Lakeville Regional, Marion, Mattapoisett, Middleboro, Norton, Rochester, Somerset, Somerset-Berkley, Taunton, West Bridgewater and Whitman-Hanson — to address the intensive and diverse needs of students PreK to grade 12+.