Next Meeting
Rochester School for the Deaf
RSD Auditorium
1545 St. Paul Street
Rochester, NY 14621
MARCH 23 at 7 pm.
The Supt and Board will be there to present their replies
to the issues addressed at the meeting. Everyone is welcome to attend.
What's wrong with RSD?
Many of us have complained about Rochester School for the Deaf. We need a common place to vent our concerns with each other without revealing ourselves to RSD to protect our jobs and children.
33 Comments:
I just wanted to take a moment to congratulate the leaders of this push for changes at RSD. It is a very difficult and scary endeavor, one that creates a lot of tension. But tension is necessary for change to occur, and that is a good thing.
No matter how hard things become, hang in there. What you are doing is very important. You are making a huge difference for your children simply by fighting. I remember when I was in high school I would become so frustrated with some of the Deaf teachers because I felt they were not doing enough. Their frustration was clear, and at times we would notice them complaining. But they never stood up-- either for themselves or for us. Many of my peers took on the same passive, plantation mentality qualities of those teachers. I grew to resent the lack of support and decided a long time ago that I would never be like that.
Even if at times we make mistakes (because taking risks comes with both the successes and the failures) at least we're pushing for the betterment of something-- and in doing so, we teach our children how to assert their place in life. We teach them that they have rights, too.
Hang in there, all of you. Hope you are able to come to a place of common thinking and cohesiveness sooner than later. Please know that many of us are willing to help out in whatever way we can. Deaf Education is at a crisis point everywhere in our country. And injustice for our children in one school is injustice for our children everywhere (to vaguely quote MLK).
Many of us are willing to help out-- bounce ideas off us, ask for resources, etc. We learned a lot through trail and error in our fight at MSD.
-Alison
I checked the NYSED website to learn more about the laws or regulations. I don't think we have the enough to protect the deaf children. At least, I found something it might help us.
CDP
New York State Education of Department
Standard 1: American Sign Language
Key Idea: VISUAL-GESTURAL and INTERACTIVE
http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/ciai/lote/lotestands/lotelasl1.html
New York State Education of Department
Standard 2: American Sign Language
Key Idea: KEY CULTURAL TRAITS
http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/ciai/lote/lotestands/loteasl2.html
Both Standard 1 and Standard 2 are discussed in the document on the web. "Learning Standards for Languages Other Than English"
http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/ciai/lote/pub/lotelea.pdf
More searches for the word, “Deaf” in New York State Education of Department
http://search.nysed.gov/search?q=Deaf&site=main_nysed&client=main_nysed&proxystylesheet=http%3A%2F%2Fusny.nysed.gov%2Fgoogle%2Femsc_stylesheet.xsl&output=xml_no_dtd&restrict=EMSC
Tip for making web-surfing easier (... I hope I've got this right...)
To make an actual LINK in your comment post, instead of just the address, put < a> before the address (but without the space) and < /a> at the end of the address (again, without the space.
So typing
< a>http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/ciai/lote/lotestands/lotelasl1.html< /a>
without any spaces inside the brackets would create:
http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/ciai/lote/lotestands/lotelasl1.html
This way people can simply click on the link. Not a big deal, but saves a step or two for everyone.
Giving that a shot:
http://clerccenter.gallaudet.edu/KidsWorldDeafNet/e-docs/Keys/literacy.html
Will it work? Will it work??
Let's see! (-:
IT WORKED!!!!
CDP,
Those Standards about ASL, if I understand correctly, relate to what should be learned by students (hearing) who learn ASL in high school for their "Language Other Than English" requirement for graduation. Ironically, this is a requirement that is waived for every deaf student I know in their IEP.
A thought, though ... If the LOTE waiver wasn't in the IEP, wouldn't that be a way of "forcing" ASL instruction into the students' curriculum? (I mean an actual course studying ASL, not using ASL to instruct.)
Of course, I'm really not sure how this could be fit into students' schedules -- they seem awfully full as it is. But I'd have to sit down and really look at all the high school graduation requirements to get any ideas about it.
I'm noticing that the NYSED site is about as helpful as I'd expect a government site to be. Lots of information, but very difficult to find what you really want. If anyone has any luck finding information relevant to us, please post the link.
P.S. Good job, Chris! ;)
My bad... the instructions I gave only make it look like a link, apparently. I was trying to make it simpler, but life can't be simple, I guess.
Here's what actually works:
< a href=http://www.rsdeaf.blogspot.com>This is the text that will link to the blog< /a>
Type that without the spaces after the <, and you get:
This is the text that will link to the blog
And here is Chris's link.
Okay, RSD Teacher, wait... I want to learn how to do this. (To everyone who might think this dialogue about links is once again a distraction from RSD issues, I ask you to please be patient... this will eventually make it much easier to show you some very important things...)
Okay, RSD Teacher you lost me there. Using the link I gave you before, WHAT do I have to type again to make it link up? In order (step #1, #2, #3...)?
It'd be good for everyone to know this so that they can just post links right in that lead directly to the pages they want people to read.
Thanks for your help on this. I'm asking because I want to see if my colleagues can load their dvd into a website and then I'll link you all up if I can, so you can see the Bi-Bi materials I'm talking about. But it's their DVD and not mine so they might say no, or that it's not ready. Just preparing you all.
Thanks for the instructions...
Ok, Chris, I just glanced at your link. (Didn't read all the way through yet.) RSD is actually using Fairview! I'm not super-familiar with it myself, but a lot of us teachers have expressed an interest in learning more. It seems like a good start for really bridging between ASL and English.
Chris and all others who want to post nifty links:
#1 The general form for the code is:
< a href=_____>______< /a>
except there should never be a space right after the <'s. (I have to put the space there so the code shows up and it doesn't get translated to a link.) There IS a space between a and href.
#2 The first _____ (blank) is where you put the URL, i.e. http://clerccenter.gallaudet.edu/KidsWorldDeafNet/e-docs/Keys/literacy.html
#3 The second _____ is where you put the text that'll actually show up as the blue underlined words people click on, i.e. Gallaudet Literacy Info
If I use the examples above, I get:
Gallaudet Literacy Info
I hope that's clear. It's a lot easier to explain face-to-face than it is to type an explanation for this sort of thing.
Incidentally, something I saw on Chris's link above reminded me of a question I have, but it's off-topic, so I don't want to distract things here. I've posted it at the message board. It's in the English Literacy Forum under "Cued Speech Question".
I'd really appreciate any thoughts or opinions anyone has to share. I really don't have a lot of experience with or knowledge of Cued Speech.
Okay, Chris and RSD teacher, can you guys just keep the website making discussion out of this posting? People and I have been saying that both of you have been monopolizing the conversation all the way and makes us less interested in reading and posting on What's Wrong with RSD? website. Just thought to let you know. You could continue discussing through emails and videophoning and instant messaging...:-) .
mwkk said...
Will childcare be provided?
Moderator, would you please find out whether or not the childcare will be provided on March 27, so more parents could attend the meeting? Thanks. Perhaps a few RSD high school students would be willing to care for them while the parents are in the meeting?
Or perhaps more people can just jump on and contribute? We all have a place on this blog. It's up to us to send something in or not. Chris and RSD teacher are discussing things that I feel benefit me to read. The dialogue is informational and introspective. I would love to read from others as well.
And there's always the option of "scrolling past" comments that you don't want to read.
-alison
Anonymous,
Look ahead a little bit.
On March 23 you're going to have your meeting, right? And thanks to this blog, more people are going to probably go to that thing than ever before. Then the RSD Board or whoever is going to respond to the concerns that have already been listed. Bi-Bi is among them. Do we disagree on any of that so far?
Now I don't rightfully KNOW anything about any of your other concerns. I don't even know who Dr. Mowl IS except through reputation. People here have listed many SIMILAR problems that other parents/teachers in other locations have talked about, so I'll probably have some (though limited) input on those issues, or at the very least can provide encouragement, but the fact remains... once you all get into your specific and local issues, I'm not going to have a lot to say. How can I?
But Bi-Bi is an area I can help you with. It's part of my field. And I'm telling you (why lie to you? I WANT Bi-Bi to succeed all over the U.S.!) that as you add more links to this blog and start discussing more and more topics, it's going to start becoming very confusing to follow things. Here's why:
Suppose I solve our domination/distraction problem by asking the moderator: "Would you mind posting one more thread entitled 'Bi-Bi Website'?" And then all of the oppressive technical stuff gets moved to that thread. You would then in essence be doing exactly what a message board would do. Only here people are going to start having five different conversations within a single thread, which will eventually become very confusing, which is exactly what RSD Teacher was trying to tell you before he/she got accused of trying to take over the whole thing like some kind of Evil Hearing Person.
Yes, that was sarcasm. Welcome to the 21st Century. Alexander Graham Bell is dead and the Milan Conference is over and the idea that this is the Deaf (capital D) vs. the Hearing is a stupid and destructive way to think, especially as you head into a meeting as important and significant as this one. I don't mean to insult you. I DO mean to communicate directly and firmly to you, however, that if in your meeting--ANY future meeting--you decide you'd like to move towards Bi-Bi approaches, you're going to find yourselves in the midst of the biggest MESS you have ever seen. People are going to have questions, especially the parents, and you're going to have to hunt around all over to find the answers. Teachers are going to want resources and materials, or at least directions for finding them, and you're going to have to hunt around all over for those things, too.
And human nature being what it is, if you can't find them relatively quickly, interest will fade and the whole thing will die out, just as it has died out countless times in the past, which is why Bi-Bi has remained little more than a theory for the last twenty years.
So discussions about links and websites aren't a bunch of weird, distracting tech questions... because they are going to eventually help you do what many of YOU have said you wanted to do. Remember that I didn't go to your first meeting. I didn't bring the subject up. People from Rochester did.
So can have a truce, please? Moderator, if you wouldn't mind posting a "Bi-Bi Website" thread, that might solve some of the problems. And Anonymous, if you're the same "Anonymous" who has been using words like distracting, dominate, oppression... start looking at how you consistently react to new ideas. How is that going to get you anywhere? Does it really make a lot of sense that people would come in here and take all of this time and trouble to post their thoughts and questions and ideas because they WANT to screw up your progress towards resolving issues at RSD?
That doesn't make any sense. And the more distrustful and critical anyone in here becomes, the more other people get turned off. And that will make the whole thing die out too, just as it has died out countless times in the past.
Let's make it different this time.
I found the good source for the special education for the disability in New York on the web.
Vocational and Educational Services for Individuals with Disabilities: New York State Education Department
I'm going to check out that site too. I'm glad people are posting these links.
In the interests of showing that I'm not trying to distract you all from local issues... the childcare thing. When we ran the ASL classes where I used to work, we had rotating volunteers from the people who were taking the class. The volunteers (usually three) would watch all the kids so everyone else could go to the class (they just took the kids to another room or a different part of the room--it was a big room). Maybe any one of you could just call up a couple of your friends and volunteer to do watch the kids this one time in exchange for highly detailed notes on the meeting? And then when the next meeting rolls around it's somebody else's turn. That way more people can go, money for hiring people to watch your kids isn''t an issue, etc. Later on as you get more organized you'll find other people to do it.
Just an idea....
This report covers year 3 of a 5-year longitudinal study that is applying a bilingual language approach to development of Amercian Sign Language (ASL) and English language and literacy skills in deaf learners. (109 pages report)
Teachers’ Reflections on creating a Bilingual Classroom for Deaf Learners by Stephen M. Nover, Ph.D. New Mexico School for the Deaf
Memorandum
To: RSD Community (Parents, Faculty, and Staff)
From: Harold Mowl, Jr. (Signed)
Re: Second Town Meeting
Date: March 13, 2006
This is to let you know that there will be a second town meeting to be held in the RSD Auditorium from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 23, 2006. This meeting is being set up to allow RSD to respond to the concerns expressed in the first town meeting held last week.
I am enclosing a copy of the memorandum that summarizes the issues brought up at the town meeting last week. Branton Stewart, who was the meeting facilitator, prepared it for our review. I thought the meeting was well represented by RSD students, parents, faculty, administration, and Board members. Some interested deaf community members and leaders attended the meeting too.
The Board of Directors and I encourage as many members of the RSD community as possible to attend the second town meeting on March 23. A light snack will be provided after the meeting.
As always, please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you very much.
Enclosure
CC: RSD Board of Directors
I understand. My apologies if I seemed defensive. I've done what you suggested and contacted RSD Teacher through the web board. Prior to that I didn't know who this person was nor how to contact him/her. So there wasn't much of a choice except to discuss things in this blog. From now on, then, I can email RSD Teacher with tech questions directly. I'll only be posting links and ideas and encouragement on this blog.
I do want you to notice something, though. Go back to the blog when you finish reading this comment and scroll down to Risky Discussion. Another Anoymous posted posted a comment about a local issue on 3/15/06 at 11:04:41. As of now it's 3/17/06 at 12:38:32. So that's a good 48 hours with no response, but in that time the site counter jumped by more than a hundred hits.
So I could be wrong but what I think is going on is that it's not just that people are bored with tech questions (though that may very well be true too) but also that they simply don't scroll down that far anymore, because THIS thread, the "Next Meeting" thread, is on the top and is the most active.
So I'd like to respectfully reccommend to all of you to keep that in mind and check all of the threads (if you aren't doing that already). That's what we had to do in the Michigan blog.
Have a great weekend!
Uh... the message above was intended for Anonymous, by the way. I'm not sure what happened. I was responding to a message from that person that ended with "Good Night.." and then... the message disappeared.
Ah well. The important thing: all is cool now. (-:
Announment: A new website
ASL Community Journal (ASLCJ)
http://www.aslcommunityjournal.com
Hoping you enjoy surfing at the ASLCJ and submit an article there.
Thanks,
PR
Yeah, looks like the blog had some technical difficulties this afternoon ...
One thing I want people to be aware of so they know what the number means: The hit counter at the bottom of the right side? It counts every time someone (like me) hits "Reload" to see if any of the posts have new comments.
So we can't completely gauge the activity level of the blog by looking at the hit counter.
(If you're sick of message board talk, stop reading NOW!) ;)
The message board shows how many visitors there have been in the last 15 minutes. It's a different way of showing how active a site is.
(Okay, I'll shut up now.)
Oh my gosh...there were some truly qualified deaf teachers who did meet the state requirements and did their job well. But they were either talked down as if they were stupid. They were lied to...also they were not members of those "Geneseo-Brockport" network. Even Dr. Mowl lied...
There are still some "truly qualified deaf teachers" who meet state requirements and do their job well. Is anyone under the impression that there are only hearing teachers at RSD?
I'm curious ... what were those teachers lied to about?
(I'm also confused about the 'Geneseo-Brockport network' ... color me clueless ...)
These vague innuendos do nothing to inform and enlighten us.
We need to come up with a specific plan of action if we find Dr. Mowl's response at the meeting on 3/23 to be UNACCEPTABLE. There are conversations going around in the deaf community that we were too nice about our concerns at the first town hall meeting. I agree with this observation.
What do you think what we should do? Walk out out of the auditorium? We would need to do this collectively in order to send Dr. Mowl our CLEAR message about his leadership. Let's seriously consider the possibility of protesting to honor those who have struggled for the rights of Deaf students since the birth of Deaf Education in this land of the FREE and the home of the BRAVE. Now is the TIME for us to DEFEND Deaf students' BIRTHGIVEN RIGHT to COMMUNICATE/LEARN IN ASL to gain English proficiency and to be able to learn in a school for the deaf without feeling threatened or unsafe or oppressed.
BiBi Advocate,
But who decides if his response is unacceptable? How is this decided? What criteria determine 'unacceptable'?
This needs to be clear in advance if you want a unified, immediate response, rather than a formal response after reflection and collaboration post-meeting.
>From: Harold Mowl [mailto:hmowl@rsdeaf.org]
>Sent: Monday, March 20, 2006 11:52 AM
>To: David Johnston
>Cc: Steven Morse; Barbara DiGiovanni; Patti Wink
>Subject: Re:
>
>"David Johnston" March 16, 2006 at 3:05
>PM -0500 wrote:
>>Dear Dr. Mowl,
>>
>>On behalf of PSA, several parents have approached me and asking some
>>following questions that I can't answer. I hope you will be able to
>>answer them.
>>
>>Who will speak at the meeting?
> RSD Board of Directors President Steven Morse and me
>>
>>
>>What are the ground rules?
> The meeting will provide Steve Morse and me with the opportunity to
>respond to the concerns that were shared at the first town meeting.
>There will be time for questions and answers at the end of the meeting.
>>
>>
>>Are students, RSD alumini, and the general public allowed to attend?
> Yes
>>
>>
>>Are people allowed to speak up at the meeting?
> There will be some time for questions and answers.
>>
>>
>>I will be looking forward to receiving your reply ASAP as I would like
>>to send an e mail to parents with the answers to the above questions.
>>
>>David Johnston
>>PSA Acting President
>>
>>
>>
David Johnston,
Will childcare be provided? Let us know...
Thanks.
mwkk,
Yes, I sure will do that. I will probably post the notes on the message board, simply because it is easier to format things there, but I will definitely post a link here once the notes are up.
I was told that it has to do with time restraint in such short notice. The students and an adult supervisor are difficulty to find
and it is the issue considering that they will participate the meeting. I again was told that it will be considered for the next time much in advance.
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