Interesting Comments from Steve Noyce

A new article is out from The Salt Lake Tribune. It can be found here: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/51268716-76/deaf-language-noyce-parents.html.csp?page=1

It has some interesting comments from Steve Noyce in it. He says: “I don’t have any problem with people being an advocate for American Sign Language,” ... “I wish those who advocate for ASL wouldn’t have a problem with those who advocate for listening-and-spoken language. My role is to support very strongly both programs equally.” First of all, I think this statement clearly shows that he considers himself someone who is advocating for the LSL path. The last part is true, that his role is to support both equally, but clearly, since he wishes those who advocate for ASL did not have such a problem with those who advocate LSL (Steve Noyce), he does not strongly support both. This is all I have been asking for from the beginning, is someone who is more moderate as our superintendent. He or she should not have strong feelings one way or the other, but instead should truly support the choices for parents. Steve Noyce also says that he hopes that the two tracks will empower parents, but in reality they take that power away from parents. I can't speak for everyone, but I sure felt empowered as i was told by USDB after we chose ASL that we would no longer receive the auditory and speech therapy Eliza needed. I felt even more empowered as I heard from USDB employees that because we had chosen ASL for our daughter, she would not be considered a candidate for a cochlear implant. You're right, Noyce, this two track system is very empowering. What was the most empowering was how I sent emails to Noyce and Day Mullings, and got no responses. Made me feel like king of the world. Let's be honest, if you are choosing LSL, the new two track system is very empowering, but if you want a bilingual, bicultural approach, the new system is anything but empowering. I support any plan where all parents are truly empowered.

According to part C of IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), which governs early intervention, it discusses the Individualized Family Service Plan. This is where, at the beginning, the family meets with USDB, in this case, and sets up services based on what is available, based on the needs and concerns of the family. This means it should vary from individual to individual, and should not be a choice of two predetermined paths. That is not individualized at all. I felt like this was closer to what we had when Johnny and Eliza were first identified, but then last year I had to pick from two different paths for Eliza, neither of which I felt met her individual needs. We were assured by Day Mullings in a town hall meeting that it was the ASL/ENGLISH path. What we were not told was that if we picked it, the English part does not start at all until pre-school. So, after a year of listening and auditory therapy, our daughter had no services for listening or spoken English. She would end up having a break from this for almost 18 months, meaning she would probably regress in her oral skills, and she would have to make up even more ground when she started pre-school. Which brings up an interesting point. Steve Noyce mentioned that teachers in PIP are trained in oracy, just like in the pre-school and k-12 programs. I can tell you that our ASL specialist is very good about having an "ASL" day and a "talking" day, but this does not compare to the therapy that is available to Johnny at JMS. The same therapy that was available to Eliza, but is not now. The oracy available at JMS is amazing, but it is absolutely not available to children in PIP. In fact, like us, other parents we have talked to have informed us that they have been told they shouldn't pick the ASL path if they are considering cochlear implantation for their kids. Like us, they have been told that oral and auditory services are not available through JMS at all. So while Steve Noyce is saying in the newspaper that "oracy" is available in the infant program, as well as the k-12 program, his employees are telling parents the opposite. Our experience has shown that speech and listening services are in fact not available to ASL kids in PIP, and the oracy that is available at JMS has more to do with Jill Radford than Steve Noyce.

I am happy that there is a new orientation program for PIP. My wife sat on the committee which designed this orientation process. I was shocked, however, to read that this was established by Steve Noyce, and that he also was the one who made sure there were two representatives, one ASL and one LSL. I guess it was shocking to me because this was suggested in the committee meetings over and over to ensure the parents would receive unbiased information. However, Day Mullings made sure to mention that Superintendent Noyce would not allow there to be two, it would only be one, and all of her suggestions were LSL- either specialists or deaf adults who were LSL. I remember being frustrated along with my wife because after the committee meetings were over, this was how it was going to be: One orientation specialist, LSL. Then we met with Jennifer Howell, who was at the time the associate superintendent. She informed us that she had finally gotten it approved for two deaf adults, one ASL and one LSL. I fail to see how Steve Noyce set up that program the way it is now, when he wanted it to be one specialist who was LSL.

The stats in the article were also interesting. They mention that 74% of infants in PIP are in the LSL path and 15 % are in the ASL path, while 10% are undecided. I would love to talk to some of these parents that have chosen the oral path, just to find out what they would have chosen if there had been a true bilingual/bicultural path available. I am not questioning the validity of their choice, but I wonder how many of them chose oral because they were told if they chose ASL they would not receive any of the oral services. Like all parents of children who are deaf or hard of hearing, I yearn to communicate with my child, like any parent really. It would be hard if someone told me that if I chose the ASL path, I would not be able to communicate with my child, that they would never learn to speak or listen, I would be cut off from them. If I was told this, and was told that the only way they could get any of these services was to pick the LSL path, and I only had three months to choose, I would have picked the LSL path. We were lucky because we had more time, and we were able to get to know our kids first. We also knew that JMS was not "voice-off" all the time, so we felt like we would be ok choosing ASL for our daughter. I wonder if other parents would have chosen bilingual/bicultural if that option were there, if they had an option other than just ASL or just LSL.

My mother read the article. She called me right away, and being someone not as familiar with everything, she said she got the impression that the LSL path was just amazing, that these cochlear implants were amazing, and if she didn't know better, Steve Noyce was great for really pushing this LSL. In other words, she felt he was doing a really good job campaigning for LSL. Sure sounds like someone who strongly supports both sides equally.

Letter to Parents of USDB Kids

Dear Parents,

I am writing this letter and posting it on my blog to explain why it would be in the best interest of every parent and every student of USDB to have a new superintendent at the Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind. I hope, as you read this, you will do so objectively. I will try to keep my biases out of it, and will attempt to give objective reasons why I am concerned about the current superintendent.

Recently, the Utah State Board of Education voted on possibly cutting the USDB budget and closing down the schools, if $20 million dollars needed to be cut. This vote happened on February 4, 2011. On Monday, February 7, 2011, the Advisory Council for USDB held an emergency meeting to discuss the vote by USBE. At this meeting, it was reported by numerous sources that part of what caused the vote by USBE was all the infighting going on within USD. It appears this was only a small part of why the USBE voted the way they did.

According to other sources who are close to USBE, the main reason that the School Board voted the way they did was because they were trying to send a message to the state legislature and governor's office: there is nothing left to cut! Education is down to its bare bones already, and if you want more cuts, then fine, let's cut the one thing that will get the most attention: Schools for deaf and blind kids. Unfortunately, this backfired, and the USBE ended up looking like the bad guys.

There was another reason why USBE was willing to cut the funding to USDB. This reason was alluded to by the Superintendent himself. He mentioned in the meeting with the advisory council that in the few times he had appeared in front of the State Board of Education, he did a poor job educating them on what services USDB provides. This same issue became apparent in the PubEd Appropriations Sub-committee meeting that happened on February 8, 2011. In this meeting, Dr. Schumway, State Superintendent of Schools, deferred to a finance expert from USBE when asked about the possible cuts. This expert said that the reason why USBE saw this cut as a possibility was that most of the services provided by USDB were in fact provided by the school districts anyway, so there was no real need for a separate entity. Mr. Noyce informed the sub-committee that this was not true, that most of the services were provided by USDB through the school districts, but not by the school districts. Sources close to the USBE confirmed that what was shared by Steve Noyce in the sub-committee meeting was news to the Board of Education. They had no idea how USDB operated or what services they provided. By Steve Noyce's own admission, he has done a poor job informing them of this.

This is my first reason for having little to no confidence in Steve Noyce's ability to do the job. He does not know how to work with the State Board of Education. In the 18 months or so that he has been in his position, the communication between the State Board of Education and The Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind has broken down so much, that the State Board has no idea what is happening at USDB. This concerns me as a parent. How can our school get the funding and support they need, if the State Board does not know what they need it for? Steve Noyce should be our voice with the State Board, and he has obviously failed us there. Our superintendent should be there at every meeting making sure he is fighting for us all the time. Instead, Mr. Noyce was not at the USBE meeting because USDB was not on the agenda. As a result, a vote was taken where the door was opened for the end of USDB.

The second reason I have no confidence in Mr. Noyce has been his inconsistency. He has said from the beginning that he absolutely supports parent choice. I agree 100 % with this idea. I positively believe that the people best able to choose the communication path for their child are the parents. No one knows their child better than they do. Mr. Noyce would say publicly that he agrees with that. He has told me that privately. Normally, I would take him at his word. However, his actions speak louder. He believes in parent choice, as long as they choose one of two paths he has set up. He believes in a "one size fits all" kind of philosophy. Every deaf or hard of hearing child fits completely in one of two categories: LSL (Listening/ Spoken Language) or ASL. That's it. There is no in between. Despite what has been said concerning it being the "ASL/English" path, there is no true bilingual option within USDB right now. This is an option that many parents want, but cannot have. My wife spoke with a mother who was frustrated because she chose the ASL path for her child, which has caused problems because she also wants a cochlear implant for her child. She was wanting him to learn both ASL and spoken English. This is not an option within USDB. In fact, Steve Noyce has worked very hard to ensure that the LSL kids are completely separate from the ASL kids. If Mr. Noyce truly believed in Parent Choice, there would be a bilingual option. To make this clear, bilingual is different from TC or SimComm. Bilingual would mean the child would become fluent in two different languages, in this case ASl and spoken English. We need a superintendent who truly believes that each child is different and the services each child receives from USDB should be catered to that individual child's needs, instead of forcing each child down one of two paths. Mr. Noyce does not believe in parent choice, but he says he does. What else has he said, that is not true?

One of the comments made in the advisory council concerning the ASL/Deaf Community was that they needed to know the proper channels to file complaints. They needed to know that a complaint should be filed with the teacher, then the principal, then the superintendent, then the advisory council, before anything should be sent to the school board. This is my third issue with Mr. Noyce. I have voiced my concerns to him in emails. I never received a response. I asked him about an email I sent to him one time, and his response made me believe that he rarely checks his emails. In any case, I never received a response. It was at that point that I sent an email to a member of the schools board. People know the proper channels to go through, but Mr. Noyce chooses to ignore that part of the population which does not 100% agree with him. Then when they complain higher, he gets upset and defensive. He calls them nasty, mean emails, and he calls the people who wrote them fanatics. He is not looking to work with people he disagrees with, instead he goes to work slandering them and tries to drag their names through the mud. In my opinion, we need a superintendent who is willing to work with every part of the diverse population USDB serves. We need someone who is willing to see both sides of an issue instead of blindly calling the other side bad and nasty. We need someone who is more moderate. Steve Noyce has never made an effort to reach out to the Deaf community. He has ignored them from the beginning, and as they voice their concerns, he ignores them.

These are my main concerns with Steve Noyce. These are the reasons I would like to see a change at USDB. He does not represent our kids well at the State level, according to his own admission. He says one thing, but then does another, eliminating my right as a parent to choose what is best for my kids. He makes no effort to reach out and work with the Deaf community, the adults who have been through the education system and only want to make it better for every deaf or hard of hearing child. These three things are unbecoming of any person who would hold the title Superintendent, and we as parents should not stand for it. Whether your child is LSL or ASL, he does not have the children's interests at heart, but rather, as it seems, his own agenda.

I am not a "fanatic". I am a hearing individual. My first contact with the Deaf Community happened about two years ago after we found out our son is deaf. My wife is also hearing. We are hearing parents of two deaf children. We only want the best for them. We feel that anyone who steps in as superintendent and goes to work eliminating options and choices for any parents is in the wrong. Our son, Johnny, uses ASL as his primary form of communication. He also has a cochlear implant. Fortunately for us, he has access to both ASL and spoken English at JMS, but the access to spoken English for him at this point is limited. He is luckier than our daughter. She wears hearing aids and has shown great interest in both signing and vocalizing. She was excelling at both through USDB services until last summer when we were forced to choose one or the other. We chose ASL. Immediately, any oral or auditory services we were receiving ceased. We fought this, all the way up to Martell Menlove, but nothing changed. We were fortunate to find some form speech therapy outside of USDB through DDI Advantage. However, her speech therapist does not specialize in working with kids who have hearing loss, like a USDB therapist would be. She will have access to these therapists at JMS, when she turns three. That would have meant a year without any kind of therapy for her. These are the "choices" Steve Noyce believes in. That is why I do not believe in him.

Sincerely,

Jake Dietz

USDB: In Memoriam?

The Utah State Board of Education voted on a measure this last Friday that could possibly put USDB out of business, meaning closing the place down. Of course this is all based on a required base budget going into the legislative session, and chances are there will be enough funding to keep USDB going. For now, however, USDB is on the chopping block. I have spent a lot of time this last weekend and the last couple of days reading about what happened and writing to my local legislators to make sure this does not go any further. I have also attended an emergency meeting of the Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind Advisory Council, as well as this morning I attended a meeting of the PubEd Appropriations SubCommitte, where USDB funding was on the agenda. The good news is that it sounds like very few of the legislators want to cut any funding to USDB. The bad news is that I am hearing a lot of reports about why this happened. One keeps being brought to the front of the conversation. It has to do with all the infighting. This comes up again and again. The story says that Utah State Board of Education recently received numerous emails concerning the current Superintendent at USDB. According to sources who have neither seen nor read said emails, these were very nasty emails, and very rude. According to sources who have spoken to a majority of the School Board members, the School Board is fed up with USDB, and doesn't want to deal with them. All of that may be true. These same sources are now using every opportunity to point out that this whole situation is the ASL community's fault, because they sent the letters, and according to this source, all they do is complain. This is all done under the flag of unity. It's disappointing. Now is not the time for us to let extremists from either side have the floor. The state is threatening to take away our school completely. Now is the time for us to truly stand united, find a moderate voice, and use it. Let the state legislators know about all of the good things that have come from your experiences with USDB, whether your child is blind or deaf, whether the speak or sign, it does not matter. The bickering and fighting must end now! I understand that later there might be battles, but right now we must come together and stand for the School, not against each other. No school program is perfect, and parents and other concerned individuals should always have the right to make recommendations for how to make it better. Sometimes, though, we need to put that on pause, stop pointing fingers and be one school, one community, or we may lose it all.
I am so thankful for USDB. The programs we have been a part of have made our lives so much better. My son Johnny would not be where he is today without USDB. He has found a piece of his identity there. He has found friends there. He loves it. Likewise, Eliza has grown so much through her experiences at USDB. She is so smart for her age. Most importantly, through USDB we discovered a new way to connect with our kids. These are the positive affects USDB has had on my life. They have done it through programs like the Parent Infant program, where we have had a USDB employee in our home every week since it was discovered our children were deaf. Our PIP advisor, Mindi Allen has been an anchor for us through a lot of stormy weather. She has helped us through a lot. Our kids have also received speech therapy through USDB, from Carrie and Paige, both have been awesome. It is these kind of services that the school districts will be unprepared, and possibly unable to provide. I hope we will take this opportunity to write to the school board here in Utah, to write to the legislature here in Utah and let them know how much good comes from USDB. I hope we will spend our time doing that, instead of going on the internet and writing about how bad the other side is.