A meeting today is expected to seal the fate of a school's deaf unit.

But on the eve of the decision, parents said they remained in the dark over what would replace it.

Middlesbrough Borough Council first announced plans to close the deaf wing of Beverley School in July.

It proposed moving children to special units at Sunnyside Primary and Coulby Newham Secondary schools, with their places being taken by an expanded autistic unit.

While many parents of autistic children wrote letters of support for the proposal, including extra facilities for Beverley School, it provoked anger among many parents of deaf children.

They claimed integrating them into mainstream schools would destroy their sense of community, and that the plan was ill-thought out.

Last November, a parents' group appealed to the Education Secretary, David Blunkett, to block it.

Now the independent School Organisation Committee, which has the final say, is expected to endorse the plan.

Lesley Turner, secretary of the Parental Rights in Deaf Education (Pride) group, said: "They want to send my daughter to Sunnyside, but no one knows what the funding will be spent on, where the kids are going to be, or what they will be doing.

"Our kids were taught by a teacher of the deaf at Beverley, but we don't even know if that will still be the case."

Middlesbrough council suggested the move in response to an oversupply of deaf places at Beverley School.

It claims the children's education will be enhanced by integration and better facilities.

Mrs Turner, of Easterside Road, Middlesbrough, said: "When this was first thrown at us, we were devastated.

"They have gone ahead and made decisions even though they are ignorant of the facts. Now we are fighting to get the council to pay for a placement elsewhere."

A council spokesman said: "The case that we are putting to the School Organisation Committee is that our proposals are in line with local need and national guidance, and will best secure continued good quality education for the children concerned."