A Response to a Comment and a Response to an Article

This will be a long post, so i apologize for that now. I wanted to write this in response to a comment posted on one of my recent blogposts concerning what is happening with deaf education here in Utah. This comment illustrates the views of some who support Steve Noyce. It at least represents the views of one person who supports Steve Noyce. I will not be so naive as to think it represents every parent who chooses LSL. I have more faith in people than that. The comment can be found on my post entitled "An Open Letter to Parents of USDB Kids". Here is the comment in its entirety:
"confused said...
To the deaf community, you all should be proud of yourselves. You and you alone have destroyed the future for all deaf and hard of hearing children in the state of Utah. You and you alone have pushed education of deaf and hard of hearing children in the state of Utah back 50 years. Research what deaf education was like 50 years ago, this is what will happen to our deaf and hard of hearing children if the Utah School for the Deaf and Blind is closed down. You have taken your petty argument with Steve Noyce and ruined what language/education options that are available in the state of Utah. What will happen to the babies who are born deaf or hard of hearing when the PIP (Parent Infant Program) is gone? These babies will get services from the Health Department. Do you think the Health Department will give families a language option? Do you think they will offer ASL as a language option to families? How many of the health department workers have degrees in Deaf Education? How many referrals will JMS get from the health department? How long will JMS survive without the referrals that came from USDB PIP?
What will happen to the preschoolers who are deaf or hard of hearing when the USDB preschools are shut down? Will your local school district offer ASL and provide interpreters for your children? Our deaf or hard of hearing children will be put into resource rooms and educated with all the other children who are on IEPs. If there are no interpreters to go with ASL children to mainstream classrooms they will sit in resources.
The very group that is supposed to be offering support for the next generation of ASL/Deaf and Hard of Hearing children is making that the language options will be gone in the state of Utah. Shame on the Deaf Community/ASL advocates. You should found other ways to make changes in the deaf language options. Making the Utah Office of Education tired of listening is not the way to make changes. It is the way to get all language options taken away from our children. I hope it goes down in history that the Deaf Community itself, ruined the future of deaf children in the state of Utah. You need to wake up and really look at what you are doing. I am sure that this letter will not be posted on your site, because I know of parents that have tried to post positive letter about their services from USDB and you have not posted them.
I guess it is okay if you don’t want to listen to the warning signs of doom. Where would you be without a school for the deaf? How will you community grow when deaf and hard of hearing children are educated in resource rooms because USDB is gone?

MAY 10, 2011 5:56 PM"
I just wanted to take an opportunity to address a few things in response to this comment.
First of all, I wanted to clear something up. I am not the Deaf Education Core Group. I am not a member of the Core Group. Neither officially, nor unofficially, am I affiliated with the Core Group. They have, with my permission posted entries from my blog, as well as a link to my blog, but I am not the the Core Group, so I am afraid that the intended audience for this comment will not be reached. I do agree with the Core Group on some of their agenda, but I am not apart of it. I respect many of the members of the Core Group, but again, I am just a parent of two deaf children keeping a blog. That's it.
Secondly, I wanted to say that no one, that I know of, whether within the Core Group or out, is trying to bring down USDB. If anything, we are trying to work to make USDB better, for all of its students. No one is wanting to eliminate any choices for parents, but many are seeking unbiased support for their choice. Currently, some of us feel that while our choices are tolerated, out of legal obligations, they are not supported. Steve Noyce is a well educated, well experienced oral educator of deaf individuals. Like most administrators, any good administrator, he has an agenda, or plan for USDB. Unfortunately, I do not believe his agenda is in the best interest of all of the students at USDB. This does not mean that I feel that USDB should be dismantled or closed down. I think you will find that those who are part of the Deaf Community would fight to keep the school open.
Next, you bring up deaf education from 50 years ago. I can tell you that those for whom you intended your post will know much better than you what deaf education was like 50 years ago, 40 years, 30, 20, 10, etc. Unlike us, they lived it. They understand much better than we will the oppression they felt in the oral programs of old. Let us all work together to ensure that none of our children, ASL/English, or LSL, must go through that.
I would like to now address your point that the Deaf community should have found another way to address their concerns, than to write to the School Board. I just want to say that these continued accusations by some LSL supporters, that the Deaf community's letters to the School Board was the sole reason why they voted to possibly close the school, are beyond ridiculous. This was nothing more than political posturing by the School Board to let the legislature know there was nothing else to cut but programs to help the blind and deaf kids. I do not believe there was ever any real intent to close USDB. However, if there were reasons to close the schools, perhaps it would have more to do with the lack of representation by Steve Noyce (he was not even at the meeting where they took the vote), and the fact that there was $600 thousand shortfall in the budget last year, due in some part to poor planning by Steve Noyce. The thought was, perhaps the the school districts could provide the needed services for cheaper. We all know this is false, but the fact they believed this shows how little Steve Noyce has communicated what USDB does.
More importantly, when you mention that they should have found another way to address their concerns, what way were you thinking? They wrote to the officials that have been elected or appointed to make decisions regarding their concerns, which had to do with what is happening at USDB. They wrote letters to these officials. This is similar to writing to a member of congress when one is displeased with a law. They were following proper procedure when they did it, and beyond that, in this country, it is their right to do so. If they are concerned with an issue, then they should contact that governing body. That is what they did. I think it would be very un-American to think that they should not have done this. It was their right to do it, and I applaud anyone who would have the guts to write their leaders and let them know what they think.
As far as publishing your comment, I elected to publish it, not once, but now twice, on my blog. I have no control over what is published on the Core Group's website. I published your comment in the hopes that history will record the intolerance of the few LSL supporters who have made comments not just here, but also on any article published on the internet concerning Steve Noyce and USDB. I have been very disappointed to say the least. I have not agreed with Steve Noyce on many professional levels. I have never made any of my posts personal against him, because that is not the proper thing to do. However, it is disgusting to read some of the comments left by a few supporters of the LSL program. The unfortunate thing is that these comments drown out the more moderate, civil voices on either side.
Because this comment was directed mostly at the Utah Deaf Education Core Group, I wanted to post here a recent response written by the Core Group in response to the comments on the recent SL Trib article. This letter describes what they believe and what their issues are with Steve Noyce. This is what their stand, not necessarily mine. I will point out that they do mention a family who was excluded from an LSL play group. my understanding is that this incident was really a misunderstanding, and the ASL Families were not excluded from the play group, yet. Other than that, the information seems accurate with what I have encountered, and it also points out, again, that the Core Group absolutely supports parent choice:
In response to some of the comments that have been posted
in the responses to the article published in the Salt Lake
Tribune on Thursday, May 5, 2011
(http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=5nlyw&m=JXKteP5tu8njdw&b=YV5cnmW60lR0yANbo6jJ1g
parents-program-deaf.html.csp), we wish to let our readers
know the following:

We are NOT fighting to get LSL removed
from the Deaf division of USDB. We respect parents' right
to choose LSL if they feel that it would work for their
children. This is NOT an ASL versus LSL battle. We have
never said that our goal was to have USD be an ASL-only
school. We only ask for fair, unbiased options for all
families and students, and for families to be able to
choose both options if they so desire.

Let it be known that in 2007, elementary teachers in the
Central Deaf Division of USDB who taught in the Total
Communication program* asked to be merged with JMS. Later,
in 2009, when Steven W. Noyce revamped Parent Infant
Program, he removed what was called the Total Communication
option (which included both sign and speech) and
restructured the program so that it offers either LSL or
ASL, which upset many parents who wanted both options. Mr.
Noyce also announced the phasing out of the USDB Total
Communication program at Churchill. The Deaf community had
no part of this change.

*The Total Communication program utilized signing and
speaking simultaneously and was ineffective for a number
of reasons, one of which is that ASL and English are two
distinct languages. Advocates of ASL/English bilingualism
support the utilization of both ASL and written/spoken
English in the instruction of deaf and hard of hearing
children, with the understanding that one or the other
language is used as appropriate and not simultaneously.
A thorough explanation of this, however, is beyond the
scope of this report.

Our first concern is for parents who WANT to learn ASL in
addition to obtaining the intensive speech therapy that's
provided to LSL parents and their children. We understand
that parents who choose the ASL/English bilingual approach
do receive oracy training, but that for some parents, oracy
is not enough. Parents who want LSL training should be
allowed to learn ASL as well if they want it.

Along these lines, let it be understood that we support
the concept of ASL/English AND LSL, rather than ASL/English
OR LSL (AND, not OR). As discussed above, PIP has been
restructured so that parents can only choose one option
or the other. We feel there should be a way parents can
choose both.

Our second concern is the apparent favoritism of one
program over the other, particularly in the Deaf division.
In one example, speech therapists have been TAKEN AWAY from
parents who had already had speech therapists from USDB
working with their children, but who then chose the
ASL/English path. Another example is the lack of a
playgroup for ASL/English children. In fact, ASL/English
parents who were attending the LSL playgroup were asked to
stop attending. A final example is the allocation of
$440,000 to the Sound Beginnings, an oral program in Logan,
without an equivalent allocation to an ASL/English program.

It has been said that the ASL/English bilingual program in
SLC is receiving funds that other programs aren't and the
playground has been listed as an example. The fact is that
funds for the playground have come from the PTA and, to
many people's surprise, the legislature - brought up by
an interested senator. USDB has NOT allocated ANY funds
towards the playground. Furthermore, the playground has
been designed to accommodate ALL disabilities, including
those with visual impairments. It has ALSO been designed
to be safe for children with cochlear implants. All
deaf/hard-of-hearing, blind, and deaf-blind children are
welcome to play on this playground once it is set up.

Likewise, the building that's occupied by students in the
ASL/English bilingual program in SLC was obtained after
years of struggle. There are 100 students in this program,
and rooms/teachers are needed for these 100 students.
Parents and teachers of LSL students tend to want their
children to be housed in local public schools so that the
kids are exposed to other hearing children, which is their
right. Parents of ASL/English students want them to be
educated together. Can we have the building for that?

As a side note, while it is true that the ASL/English
bilingual program was expanded with high school classes, a
predicted enrollment of 30 additional students to the
elementary and middle school classes for Fall 2010
mysteriously ended up being zero. It was eventually
discovered that negative information was circulating around
USDB regarding the ASL/English bilingual programs available
at USD and about sign language in general, causing parents
to NOT want to enroll their children at JMS.

Furthermore, there is actually a policy that there would
never be any separate "hard money" funding for special
education charter schools in Utah. Mr. Noyce and a few
others lobbied for this policy and it made the future
possibility of JMS to be a charter school again impossible.
This legislation made permanent, the placement of JMS under
the direction of USDB.

Our final concern is the termination of the two-year
contract for Steven W. Noyce, USDB Superintendent, due to
his 1. Favoring one program over the other programs,
2. Unwillingness to offer parents the option of choosing
BOTH LSL and ASL/English bilingualism, 3. Unbalanced
funding of USD programs, and 4. Bungling of the school's
fiscal-management.

Parents who want the ASL option aren't getting much support
here in Utah, particularly not from Mr. Noyce. We need a
superintendent who provides fair, unbiased options to all
families and students.

Finally and importantly, we, ASL parents and community have
the constitutional right to voice our concerns to the Utah
State Board of Education and it is their job to listen to
us. We feel that it is important for them to hear our
concerns in order to make effective decisions for USDB.

In addition, all of the information included in our website
can be verified by minutes from various meetings held by
the Advisory Council and other organizations. All of the
letters from parents were written by real parents who
actually went through the experiences that are recorded
in the letters. The information is real, not lies like
one of the comments to the article states.

FYI, we as a group have declined to meet with Mr. Noyce
face to face regarding these issues as we feel that such a
meeting would probably not be productive because of a long
history of his trivializing ASL/English bilingual issues.

Utah Deaf Education Core Group

Please forward this to as many people as possible. Thanks
Utah Deaf Education Core Group
Utah Deaf Education Core Group, 12268 Laurel Chase Dr, Riverton, 84065