(Above: Wisconsin protesters crowd the Wisconsin State Capitol in response to Governor Walker’s recent union/budget-related legislation.)
For those of us who have put this issue on the back burner lately and wanted an update, the Wisconsin budget bill has passed, the budget repair bill has passed, and people are still trying to make sense of the implications it will have on their jobs. Here is how it hit home for us in the Deaf community in Wisconsin.
Our school districts that strongly depend on federal funding (and on programs that are state funded) have had to create a new FY-12 (Fiscal Year 2012) budget based on these bills being passed. The new budgets required cuts at the school level. The most devastating of these cuts include programs that provide outlets for students, and support for at-risk students. They come in the form of teacher layoffs, and in the reassignment of some of our best teachers. Our superintendent wrote a short note regarding that, which I copied at the bottom of this article. Anyway, on with the story!
Iriving is a public elementary school that provides a frameworks class with about 20-25 Deaf/hard of hearing and hearing students mixed in one classroom. The frameworks setting integrates Deaf students into the mainstream classroom and provides access to a challenging state-approved and state-regulated curriculum, while fostering equality of access with their hearing peers. One of the program tenets is the teaching of ASL daily to the hearing students (many of whom are either CODA’s or have deaf family members) by a Deaf staff member. The Deaf/hard of hearing students in these classes receive extra support services that includes (depending on need) an interpreter in the mainstream class, a teacher of the deaf, itinerant support staff, speech and audiology services, and psych and social worker support for the family. What’s unique about this program is that they are given an opportunity for total immersion (social, emotional, and academic). How awesome would it be for hearing students to sign, and for our deaf students to have their language and culture valued and to be able to network while receiving an education they don’t need to leave their home district for? At its prime, the lunchroom at Irving was completely silent – you would have 150 hearing, deaf, and hard of hearing students shuffling in and out of the lunchroom daily while they silently chatted across the aisles with their cultural partners.
As of last week, the school budget was meted out and layoffs were announced. Among the cuts? The arts program (including the arts teacher), the gym program (including the gym teacher), and 7 highly qualified mainstreamed staff – some of whom I know on a personal level have a strong commitment and understanding of our deaf students’ needs. They will not be replaced. Class sizes that used to be 20-25 and provided a level of interaction will now increase to 35-40 (projected) at each grade level with staff unable to foster that same level of communication equity. Outlets for visual learning and social interaction will be cut. The mission of the frameworks program will be compromised and the ability to sustain the frameworks program will be difficult. The school will stay open, but it will not be what it was.
Washington is another school that provides at programs for at-risk youth between the ages of 16-21. As a result of the budget bill, this school is being completely phased out and replaced with a different school program. New students will no longer be admitted, and current freshman and sophomores will lose their seats and need to be reassigned. This is a small school. It’s staff have forged relationships with students that have been removed from other schools, who have dropped out, or who are transitioning out of difficult family lives. One student, Robert, is mine. Robert is Deaf. His mother is dying of cancer, and he has been removed from three schools as of this time. Robert has never had an advocate or someone that he could rely on. As a result of working with his IEP teacher, and working with support staff, Robert has job opportunities opening up for him this summer at the Brewer Stadium (baseball), as well as a few other possibilities. Robert’s attitude has changed. He has increased his attendance by over 80% this year. He likes school and he knows that he is valued. Robert’s seat is safe because he is considered a junior based on credits – barely. He should still be able to graduate and transition to a job and a home when he loses his mother. But there will not be any more Roberts after 2011 at Washington. The budget made sure of that.
The point of this article is that the effects of our Federal and State (not just Wisconsin, New York and others making the news) budgets will be impacting OUR students. It will impact them in subtle ways we don’t see immediately, and in overt ways that we will see immediately. We are on the precipice of having the impact we make as Educators be lessened, and the resources we have are being taken away from us. Considering how limited those resources are for our deaf students, and how few language models and role models they have access to, shouldn’t we still be making noise?
To conclude this article, I have included the concerns that the district Superintendent shared with our district prior to these cuts being announced, and prior to Washington and Irving being forced to make the decisions that they did.
“The potential impacts on our children have our staff, city leaders and community members worried. More than 82% of our students live in poverty; almost 20% require special education, and 9.8% are English Language Learners. The district serves more African American and Hispanic children than any other district in the state. Many students struggle daily with hunger and have no access to health care,” explained the Superintendent, who recently told the Board of School Directors and an audience of families, “The governor’s plan causes a disproportionate amount of hurt to our young people”
100% of Deaf students fit into at least 1 of those categories that the government listed. You think this doesn’t apply to us? Think again!