Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Lawsuit Against Deaf School Valid?
Does the lawsuit against the school for the deaf have merit? The lawsuit itself is quite perplexing for single key reason: IEP.
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Does the lawsuit against the school for the deaf have merit? The lawsuit itself is quite perplexing for single key reason: IEP.
By Matt Daigle
By Banjo
Elaine Ernst Schneider (lessontutor.com)
About Me
- Cy
- Educated by SimCom generation. Deaf parents. Deaf husband. Two hearing KODAs.
My Canine Children
Gay, 16, a Yorkshire Terrier. She is showing her age now. Slowing down, sleeping a lot.
Lexi, 5, a White Boxer. No, she is not albino. She has brown eyes. She is a distinct member of the Boxer family that has excessive white skin pigmentation.
My Human Children
Wes, 15. First time he ever dressed up!
Garth, 16. A rebel without a cause.
One more child...
My spouse of 17 years.
Deafread - Best of Deaf Blogs
Best Reading: My Literacy Circle
- The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time by Mark Haddon
- Snowflower and The Secret Fan by Lisa See
- Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
- The Darwin Awards Series by Wendy Northcutt
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26 comments:
I too had my own suspicions about the lawsuit... I had similar thoughts like you did... why didn't parents do something about it during the student's time at ASDB? Well, I think it is GOOD that Gallaudet U. started to improve its academic standards, tightening up the admission policies, etc., which in turn forces the deaf schools in general to focus more on improving the quality of education, thanks to last year's protest which caught the attention of MSCHE (spelling?).
Very interesting point of view! Thanks for bringing Gallaudet angle into discussion. I am glad the protests happened which caused Gallaudet to standardize their education and curriculum level. I knew this had a rippling, maybe bigger waves than ripples, effect across America's education for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. I hope this will improve the and bring the education or reading level of 3rd grade to high school level.
Now, you bring up the good point about Chad's IEP over the years.. Parents should already know, but then, they claimed ASDB omitted information at the IEP meetings? It's tough to decide the justice of this situation because there's two sides of the story.
Deaf258
Indeed it is suspicious that the parents claim the IEP team failed to inform them that their son's academic level is at 3rd/4th grade. IEP process is a federal law and parents are required to be informed. As a teacher, I am pretty sure they were informed. It is possible they failed to comprehend the signifiance of the standardized scores, what they mean, etc, like most parents, from my experience. It is also that they had seen ASDB graduates from past few years of whom they may have known, of whom Chad possibly had interacted with, had enrolled at Gallaudet and they expected Chad to follow suit.
My personal belief is they probably DID know perfectly well of Chad's academic level - they just need to blame somebody. They were told Chad was at top of his class - he probably was - and was valdedictorian in his graduating class. They thought he was above his classmates and had a bright future, and all that crashed down when he didnt get accepted at Gallaudet. They became angry and need to lash out at somebody - ASDB made a good victim.
Tsk, tsk, tsk.....
What a embarrassing thing to do at Gallaudet.
Well, Irving J. King and Janes Fernandes *MUST* be the failers to keep tracking on MSCHE.
Now, Dr. Davila came to take over the presidency duty to clean up the MSCHE......Go back to the "before" 1988's style....
However, the number of the students at Gallaudet *MIGHT* decline in the future.
Especially, there are growing in the mainstream schools. There are more deaf-residential schools that will be closed.
We shall see what happens several years from now on.....
White Ghost
White Ghost,
Yes, Gallaudet will lose students, or rather, enroll farther smaller number of students than they had the past 20 years which is good. It is better to provide quality education than admit just anybody just to generate and maintain the numbers they need to keep their federal funding flowing into the university. I rather that Gallaudet's degrees are actually worthy of its accrediation.
Yes, unfortunately kids like Chad can't go following graduating high school. The same was true before Gallaudet acquired its university status. Not everyone from schools for the deaf AND programs for the deaf elsewhere were able to enroll at Gallaudet. Vocational training was the focus for most students back then. This curriculum needs to be brought back. It is more benefitical to offer job readiness program. My son's high school has this program and far more students are on the job readiness track than the college bound track, just like it is at the schools for the deaf and programs for the deaf. Only few hearing students at public high schools are college bound. My son's high school has 4 tiers: college/university curriculum/track, community college-college/university track, AA degree college track, and job readiness track. The last is for those who don't plan on going to college at all and has the most students. These students attend the high school in the morning to take the state-mandated courses and attend a vocational program off campus for hand-on job training in the afternoons. Where I teach offers similiar program for our high school students.
I think there should be lawsuits against Educational Departments in every State since it is the school districts that are keeping students away from Deaf Schools who should be there.
The only way we will change the Deaf schools is if we put are best Deaf teachers in the schools. Hearing teachers, while many of them are good, don't demand as much from the students as Deaf teachers do. I am thinking about getting a teaching sertificate for this very purpose. You don't know how proud I am when I hear a Deaf person graduates from garduate school or gets a great job or accomplishes something great because they work hard.
Dr Lee was an important role to minimize the Galludet standard tezt for the students to admit into the Gallaudet College and University. His goal was to recruit more students for expanding more courses and biggest profits. However, the business philosophy might be influential to Jordan and boards of trustees. Second protest was to awake the school and raise the academic standard for the students.
Deaftreasurehunter
I am not sure if it is accurate to say Dr lee was instrumental in the the business formula to lower academic standards to recruit more students for purpose of generating more funding. He retired before all that happened. He brought university status to Gallaudet in 1985. As a stipulation to keep the university status, Galluadet had to keep the enrollment above 2,000, so Dr Lee added more programs and Ph.D program to generate more students in attempt to bring the enrollment above 2,000. He managed to meet this goal during his 3 years between Gallaudet becoming a university and his retirement. Jordan, on the other hand, had a hand in lowering the academic standards to keep the enrollment high rather than keeping quality in the programs and/or expanding/adding programs. It is just easier and faster to lower standards. This is his legacy. not Dr Lee's.
Ethan McCarthy
Good luck with pursuing teaching career. I agree deaf teachers make better teachers.
ASDB has some deaf teachers. It is not as if it is devoid of any deaf teachers and its been said on Jamie Burke's comments that audism is strong there. Audism is a stronghold in all of the schools and programs for the deaf with exception of very few schools. ASDB is not any different from others schools therefore Chad's case is invalid. It had nothing to do with the school - Chad is a typical deaf graduate with 3rd/4th grade academic level - same as most of other kids. He is not any worse than most. His parents are hearing and probably are not well informed about that fact.
I looked up the internet and there are many cases of lawsuits against IEP
Read on.
http://www.wrightslaw.com/advoc/articles/iep_guidance.html
Hi and Merry Christmas to you!
I remember when I was a junior in high school, (we were in contained class for the deaf in a hearing school) I had a good friend who was graduating from high school. I remember him being so excited to receive a high school diploma. On that night, after graduation, he showed me his blank binder, he was very upset and confused as his diploma was not in there. The next day, he called his teacher for the deaf asking her what was going on. She replied back to him that he was not receiving a high school diploma but instead a high school certificate because he didnt pass all of the necessary credentials needed to get a diploma. He was crestfallen and very disappointed. I asked her why he wasn't informed, she said she already explained it to his parents and him about it but guessed that the information went over his head. In hindsight, perhaps the information should have been emphasized to him more directly and to prevent him from thinking that he would get a high school diploma.
Anyway, I read the parent's response, apparently they felt that ASDB did not have the right equipment and teacher to work with him as he was diagnosed as having a learning disability and they fought with ASBD but they kept denying everything and thought they were doing the right job.
Sometimes, schools can give out misleading information to parents, depending on who is talking, who is receiving the information and all that. Many times, the principal will trust the teacher to take care of everything at IEP meetings, if the teacher say wrong thing, will anyone step in and correct the teacher, I doubt it, and parents need to be sure they understand everything before signing anything. They also should bring an advocate to the meeting. Too many times, parents are usually nervous and think that the teachers/school know what they are doing and put faith in them. They don't want to challenge the system as if you challenge the system, teachers/school will get riled up and upset and it is a very stressful thing so if an advocate is with them, it takes off some of the load from the parent and the advocate can devise strategies to make sure the IEP procedures are in the right place.
There should be workshops for parents who have a child that receive IEP and to learn how to advocate for their child if they feel that IEP is not serving their child properly.
Anonymous,
The sad trhing is not much we teachers can do about students with LD. Even if a student is diagnosed with LD and amended to an IEP, all we teachers can do is give the student more time to complete a test, give more time to finish homework or offer more assistance, give incentive points to help pull up grades, put students in a preferred seating where they could be less distracted and be better able to focus on the teacher, teacher sign aloud to students, offering contextual clues for them to try and figure the answers. There is no specific method to teach kids with LD.
Public schools offer the same services for hearing students with LD and ADHD - what we are doing in schools for the deaf. My son has ADHD - all they could do is put him in the front where the noise is less, and he might be less inclined to get hyper, give him more time to finish tests, extend his homework due date, and offer make-up tests. That is all they could offer him. Outside of that, it is parents' responsiblity to find additional help for their children with ADHD and LD...tutorial program, Boys and Girls club, YMCA, Syvalan School, etc. It is not teacher's responsiblity to focus on one student with LD in exclusion to other students. All they can do is offer more time, offer more assistance of which I am certain ASDB's teachers did.
I think Chad'ds parents are upset and need to blame the school.
It is true - oftentimes what we say in the IEP meetings go over their heads. I've seen that happen.
Chad managed to achieve 3rd/4th grade level despite his LD? It is a success in itself! Most kids I know with LD are at much lower level, actually.
Yes, with mandatory exit exam for seniors, now deaf students are not excluded from the exam so when they fail the exit exam, they don't get the diploma. They get certificates that show they completed requirements to graduate from high school. With this certificate, they are still eligible to attend community college and transfer from there to college or university. A certificate is not the end of the road. A diploma is just the direct path to college.
Anonymous
Yes. I know there have been lawsuits against IDEA. It is not new. It is curious just how many of those cases lost. Amy Rowley case from the 1980s is a well known case. Amy's parents requested IEP team at her public school to provide interpreter but the school refused. That case went all way to U.S. Supreme Court and lost. But at a Salpointe High School in Tucson, the same town where Chad's parents live and where ASDB is, parents sued to get their son an interpreter at that private catholic school and won. So, cases vary on an individual basis.
I think it's the fault of both ASBD and Chad's parents.
In my mind, NO student should graduate with low reading and writing levels. I'm sorry to say this, but nowadays, most schools (Deaf and hearing) are acting like student factories, graduating as many as they are enrolled.
Why did ASBD simply let Chad pass every grade with poor standing in reading and writing levels? It is really no longer about Chad anymore. Equally important is his parents should have immediately recognized his weaknesses in those areas and do something about it.
Sure, college is not for everybody, I agree with you on that point. But it bothers me greatly that America is fast becoming a nation of uneducated people. Not everybody can have the same reading and writing levels, but come on, is 3th to 6th grade level acceptable? I'm willing to settle for 9th or 10th grade level.
But in any case, I feel I'm the luckiest person in the world, because I graduated from a Deaf school with 11th to 12th grade in reading and writing levels. I sinerely hope Chad can improve his educational levels and accomplish what he set out to do.
Picard90
Agreed. Deaf school and public school, alike, have low educational standards for an industrialized country such as America. We can do better. It seems we don't value education as much as we should. First, the poor quality of education and curriculum/benchmarks, and second, low teacher salary. Perhaps they should begin with the teachers. Pay them well, and they will have the incentive to teach with quality and higher expectations. With higher salary, the school will be incentived to hire quality teachers to make their salaries' worth. Domino effect. Better teachers make better schools and better students. Begin with the pay.
As for Chad's parents...the point I was making was they KNEW Chad was at 3rd/4th grade level because this information was presented to them during IEP meetings. What they didn't know was Gallaudet raised their standards which meant Chad may not be able to meet their standards to enroll. I believe that is what triggered the lawsuit.
We really do not know the full story until we read the court depositions to find out what really going on with the ASDB and Chad's parents. Let's hold our pants and wait/see.
From my own personal experience, my own altma mater, WV School for the Deaf (WVSD) really did the good job of hoodwinking and manipulating my parents and other parents of deaf students during the IEP teacher-parent interview and document signings. The hearing teachers at WVSD usually spoke with my hearing stepdad, instead of my deaf mother. Other deaf teachers would strike conversations and backslappings with my deaf mother during the IEP time.
The WVSD cleverly do not send any copies of IEP plan for me to my parents until the opening day of school which teachers do not work on Sundays. The parents often were pushed into signing the IEP documents without fully explaining the goals and expectations to parents.
I had a high scores in SAT and other standardized testings which teachers were supposed to accompany my own academic needs beyond other students' academic levels. They didn't!
I found out that many teachers usually xerocopied the same IEP papers, then signed with different student names to save their own time and energy than preparing the IEP papers for each students based on their academic needs and levels.
Teachers at the WVSD were very good at sweeting up my parents how much I grew my muscles and impressive physique without talking about my academic needs.
My parents were not the college-educated ones. They would take any teachers' word or gesture, etc. I was the one, who urged my parents not to sign the IEP papers. Teachers at the WVSD would look at me as a problematic student without the IEP plan in effect.
Teachers would make body gestures like scoffing and attempted to speak to my hearing stepdad without the use of ASL for my deaf mother and me.
Other students would look at me and my deaf mother like something wrong with me and my deaf mother.
FYI, the IEP preparations and agreements are real joke in many ways!
My deaf mother often passed all school documents and guideline for school policies to me to read. I was the one, who made many adult decisions all my life.
My deaf mother don't feel accustomed or accompanied by my school, especially hearing staffers and teachers. They usually distracted her with sweet-talks or ended up having conversations with deaf houseparents and teachers (purposely assigned my deaf mother to deaf staffers and teachers).
I was the one, who seen and knew the hidden agendas and motives of the WVSD teachers and adminstration.
Of course, I was often told by the WVSD people why I can't be like other students to be submissive and doesn't question any authority figures.
Yes, I felt cheated by my WVSD educational system in many ways like not assigning me to college-level courses. I aced the Gallaudet exam when I was in the sixth grade along with other seniors. The school fought my deaf mother and me from going to Gallaudet at age of 12 in 1978. They repeatedly said that I was too young to be admitted to any college. My deaf mother took their word and ddin.
WVSD successfully demoted me from going to the secondary school two times which they had pathetic excuses like my poor handwriting and too hyperactive.
When I was in the K-class. I often wandered into third or fourth or fifth grade classes which I found the K-classes to be very, very and very boring and non-stimulating. My K teacher had to look for me and pulled me from those classes. In the end, she decided to leave me all alone and remained in the 3-5 grade classes.
WVSD really don't know what to do with me since the K-class to my senior year. I ended up developing my own K-12 education all by myself. I really learned nothing at the WVSD. I often got punishment like spending almost everyday in the hallways without being in the elementary/junior high school classes.
Yes, I never was very good at being a dutiful student and obey teachers. I often was singled out and given different assignments from other students.
WVSD convinced my parents about the worthiness of Accelerated Class. In reality, the ninth-12 graders with exceptional academic abilities were dumped into very one same class. Teachers had to resort to lower instructional grade level for ninth graders, not juniors or seniors in same accelerated classes.
Parents were usually convinced by the school system without really know what was going on. I don't feel like whining to my parents every time I went home. I kinda accepted what life was all about.
I am kinda glad to see some parents file the legal lawsuit against the educational system of the deaf to do something about lower academic expectations and standards, etc.
Robert L. Mason (RLM)
RLM
That is interesting. That is not my experience as a teacher, and I am a DOD myself, too, and that was not what I experienced either. My parents were well informed. ASDB is my own alma mater, the same school Chad's parents are suing. My parents both worked there and both graduated there, and so did I. I didn't see any hoodwinking, hidden agendas, etc. My parents were not stupid - they'd know if they were steamrolled.
The only thing I remember as an issue brought up in IEP meeting was my hearing aid usage. The team wanted me to continue to use it. My father asked the audiologist if I ever spoke any word or capable of speech or hearing. He said no but continued to recommend continuing wearing hearing aids nonetheless. My father asked me, aged 13, I said no. My father said they got their answer so audiological and speech services were deleted from my IEP.
I think you and I were in the same boat. I grew up 2 to 3 grades ahead of my classmates but I was the only one in the whole grade class. There was just nowhere else to put me. Because I had language access at home, I learned on my own and graduated with 13th grade level on my SAT. I still see kids like myself in schools today. They do ok. They learn independently and progress normally due to having language access at home. Children get 80% of their education outside the classroom, do you realize that, RLM? We teachers only can faciliate their learning and the parents pick up the larger portion of their children's education. We can only nuture their learning and measure their progress.
As for the Amy Rowley's case, there were rehab section #502/503/504 that appeared in 1972. However, it applied to the Federal Government, not the State. I recalled that the Supreme Court rejected that case because the ADA did not appear until 1989. That was where the ADA applied the State Government to remedy and rectify into the Federal Government.
That was the reason why the Supreme Court reject Amy Rowley's case.
So, it may be relevant that the Supreme Court realized that Amy Rowley's case might be blunder, whereas, the ADA did not appear back then.
White Ghost
White Ghost
Indeed, the Rowley case took place before ADA era. The case helped bring attention to the intepreting issues for deaf children placed in mainstreamed settings. The Salpointe High was also pre-ADA but the case ruled in favor of the parents nonetheless. I believe the close vicinity of ASDB and large deaf population in Tucson lent the awareness of intepreting issues in educational setting in the Salpointe High case. Salpointe High plays ASDB in sports as both schools are in Divison 1.
Washington school for the deaf is in Vancouver and I believe the Rowley case was in another part of the state. The Rowley case failed to meet the burden of proof that intepreter was essential to educational process for Amy at local level and failed to prove that Amy had constitutional right to special services at federal level so the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the school. The ligitation process of the Salpointe High were presented differently.
If I remember correctly, Amy had never gone to school for the deaf. She apparently had moved up grades successfully without benefits of interpreters until she was in upper grade school when she begun to struggle. The Salpointe High school student was a transfer from ASDB. He came from another school out of state and was at ASDB briefly before transferring to Salpointe, so his educational prcoess was ASL-based. I believe this made an easier case for the parents to get a favorable ruling.
First of all, please allow me to say Happy Holidays to you and your
family, Cy.
Yes, the case needs more investigation for validity.
Please keep us posted.
Bonne Année,
Interesting...
Washington State School for the Deaf in Vancouver failed me. I received a diploma with my 4th grade reading level. Teachers were not honest with my parents during the parents & teachers conferences.
Anonymous,
WSD failed you how? You write well! Beyond 4th grade. Graduating with 4th grade is in fact average for a deaf student as I said in my vlog. The exit exams in most states are designed for the average 5th/6th grade hearing students and most states don't waive deaf students from taking the exit exams. Even many hearing students get certificates, not diplomas. Here in AZ, last May, only 43% got diplomas. This is a nationwide problem brought forth by Bush Adminsitration and his NCLB. This is not just a deaf education problem - it is a systemwide problem infilerating all kinds of educational instutitions. America is ailing from low quality education and low expectation/standards and undervalue their teachers.
U.S. News and World Report said in May 2005 as follows:
(HEARING) HIGHEST LITERACY:
1. France
2. Germany
3. Japan
4. Tawain
15. Great Britain
16. United States
Last: Somolia
TIME Magazine (1963):
Cover Story:
"Why Johnny Can't Read"
(in reference to the majority of hearing American students)
30 years later:
TIME Magazine (1993):
Cover Story:
"Why Johnny Can't Write"
(in reference to the majority of hearing American students)
To comply with Congress, Elstad had to expand from 500 to 1,000 students in the late 1960s. Again, to comply with Congress, Merrill expanded from 1,000 to 2,000 students in 1983 (remember the Rubella Epidemic 1960s).
Furthermore, it has been known for a long time that hearing teachers in the USA have lower expectations for deaf students.
I know of one professor who has been vigorously in denial about the lowest literacy at Gallaudet as well as in schools for the deaf. His denial is suspicious.
Time for parents to make more noise as well as to file a lawsuit against schools for the deaf about educators' low morale. Parents, who are full-time citizens and faithful taxpayers can flood President George W. Bush with a flood of letters, criticising him for shelling out $1.5 trillion for Iraq by January 2009. He has been cutting different budgets, including education.
A newly-selected young mayor of Washington, D.C. fired the superintendent of all schools in D.C. and appointed an Asian educator. Much to our shock, Dr. Rhee found thousands of new textbooks UNTOUCHED on shelves in a warehouse for over 20 years. Why? Because low-quality teachers did not know how to use them to educate students! Both Mayor Fenty and Dr. Rhee want to fire over 1,000 low-quality teachers in D.C.
Now about Gallaudet, I am grateful that the UFG protest took place; thereby, forcing the MSCHE to investigate. I am confident that Davila will uphold from low standards to high standards by 2008-2009.
We, deaf people, must keep speaking out.
Jean
Thanks for the detailed info. I'm surprised Japan is not #1!
#16 is a joke for an industrialized country like the U.S.
Indeed, we need to put more quality teachers into the classroom, deaf and hearing, both. Teachers with high expectations, high standards, with expertise and skilled.
Seems these days everything comes down to money - hiring cheaper teachers to keep to budget at expense of students' education. Domino effect - we are producing low literacy American citizens thanks to captialism. Always looking for profits over everything else. Education should not be run like a business!
Thank you. How? As a avid reader I spend time reading, reading, reading after graduating from high school. I love writing.
I am taking some developmental courses at the college. I flunked the final math/algebra exam recently and will repeat the same course in next semester. Math is not my bag.
Anonymous,
Keep on reading! Reading is key to mastering English. Don't worry. I flunked in math, too. I graduated from Gallaudet with D-... I actually had an F and had a good talk with my professor who asked me what I planned to do after college. I told him teach Reading or Social Studies. He said, "Ok. Since you will not work in a field requiring college level math skills, I will give you D- just so you can advance and graduate. Deal?" Bless him. Some people just can't "get" the concept of math, especially Geometry which was what the D- was for. That was the lowest grad he could give me that was a passing grade. Reading and Writing are useful skills you need for daily living but Algebra? Geometry? Trigometry? Not everyone needs those skills unless they have jobs that require those skills. Frankly, I've never understood why they require students to take these 3 as college requirements...oh well. But know what? I got B in Algebra. Know why? That teacher I had was very patient and took time to explain to me how formulas worked and said to me, "Do the exact same steps and you will get right answer. People like you (strong in reading and writing) like to analyze and question why the formula works that way - don't! Just follow it and you will be fine." I always asked why that number appear and where that came from, etc...that was why she said said not to analyze and question..just follow formula and it worked. I got B. A good teacher made all the difference for a math illiterate like me!
Anyway, keep up with reading and good luck with your English courses.
And I started taking courses late in life because my ex-husband refused to let me take courses after we were married and he even didn't like the idea of me spending money on books even I earned my own money but I snucked out to buy them.
My new husband encouraged me to take them because I didn't throw my dream away.
Yes, you are right that colleges required us take 3 math courses. My husband a retired teacher for the Deaf and I still don't understand why, either. My degree requires some Algebra and Statistics. My teacher who knew my plan after graduating said that I MUST know all the math problems. I know he was right. I'm approaching to 50 and its an old timer's disease.(chuckle) But I'm keeping trying.
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