Hear this: Teacher won't let impairment affect his class

GOOSE CREEK -- Lance Suter gave one final instruction to his fifth-grade students before they started a hands-on math activity.

"If I can hear your conversation, you are being too loud," the Westview Elementary teacher told his class. "I don't mind you whispering to your neighbor. I can't hear that."

Teachers in many classrooms plead for quiet voices, but the request takes on extra poignancy in Suter's room.

Suter was diagnosed with bilateral progressive hearing loss when he was 4 years old. He uses a microphone in his classroom to amplify sounds directly into his hearing aid. He's being honest when he tells students that he won't be able to hear their whispers as they separate colored candy while learning percentages and fractions.

It's rare for teachers with profound hearing loss to lead a traditional classroom, but Suter has taught mainstream students for 14 years. He's developed an easy system to communicate with his class: The students know not to ask questions unless Suter is facing them. He converses with students individually, rather than deciphering sounds when everyone speaks at the same time.

The strategy has worked so far, and Suter has gained a reputation as one of Westview's most popular teachers. But his hearing problems are getting worse, he said, and the sound device he uses is no longer powerful enough.

The microphone amplifies all classroom sounds, not just children's voices. As a child responds to a math problem out loud, Suter has to block out shuffling papers, sliding desks, the buzz of a pencil sharpener and hallway noise to hear the answer.

"The time has come to either improve my working conditions or leave the profession," he said.

Berkeley district officials and Westview school administrators are committed to keeping Suter in the classroom, but they know it won't come cheap.

Heidi Clower, the district's only audiologist, who usually works with hearing-impaired students, estimates that it will cost $12,000 to $13,000 to buy and install the equipment Suter needs.

The Americans with Disabilities Act requires "employers make reasonable accommodation to the known physical or mental limitations of otherwise qualified individuals with disabilities, unless it results in undue hardship." But it doesn't require the school to keep him in his current job if it can offer him an alternative one.

The money needed to improve Suter's classroom is not available in the district's annual budget, officials said, and they are hoping that community members will make donations to cover some of the price tag.

Clower said she wants to purchase equipment that will improve the acoustical environment in Suter's classroom. She envisions foam panels on the walls that absorb sound, floor mats to soften the screeching sound of desks dragging along the tile and a high-tech sound-mixing system with microphones on the ceiling.

Administrators said that Suter's perseverance inspires hearing-impaired children, many of whom become embarrassed to wear hearing aids as they enter into adolescence. Clower said the Westview campus, which includes a primary, elementary and middle school, is home to roughly 30 hearing-impaired students. Two of those students already have requested Suter as their teacher next year.

"He's a fantastic role model for those kids to see it is possible to be hearing-impaired and be successful," Clower said. "I feel like it would be a tremendous shame for our district to lose him."

Westview officials also are on board with the district's plan. Principal Jacki Atkinson said she told Suter that the school will "find the money to get you whatever you need to remain effective," even it means spending school allocations previously designated for other areas.

Kathy Killough is Westview's guidance counselor and the mother of one of Suter's students. She said her daughter appreciates Suter's classroom humor and never focuses on his hearing problems. Westview staff members don't notice the hearing loss either, Killough said.

Fifth-grader Jordan Lord said he wasn't nervous on the first day of school when he saw his teacher wore a hearing aid, and the situation hasn't affected his classmates.

"Everyone is used to it by now," Jordan said. "All you need to know is that he needs to look at you and call on you before you talk to him."

Instead of focusing on Suter's hearing, Jordan said he's busy paying attention to fractions, decimals and percentages. "He teaches us easy ways to do math problems," Jordan said. "He's really funny and helps us learn stuff. He's a very good teacher."

Suter, who is married and the father of two young children, said he's grateful for the support and sincerely hopes he can remain in a profession he loves. This isn't the first time he's faced and overcome obstacles.

When he was younger, Suter said a doctor told his parents that he would never graduate from high school. But he did so, then graduated from West Virginia's West Liberty State College and received his master's degree from the University of South Carolina.

The doctor's prediction taught him to never give up, Suter said. It's a lesson he tries to instill in his students, and one that he hopes is evident as he attempts to beat the odds again.

"That conversation is always in the back of my mind when I face another challenge."

Reach Mindy B. Hagen at mhagen@postandcourier.com or 937-5433.