November 6, 2012
To Whom it May Concern,
My name is Jennifer McKittrick and I am writing in concerns to the idea of closing ISD, (Iowa
School for the Deaf). I have listened to what you want to do and thought about the situation on a
personal note and on a professional note. The professional side of me is that I use to be an Educational
Interpreter in the public schools, I am still a licensed Interpreter in Iowa and I have done research on top
of my own experiences. The personal side is a mother of a Deaf child who has attended both public
school and is now in ISD. I ask that you please hear me out and understand why I am so against the idea
of closing ISD.
To begin with, I did work in the public schools for 2 years and what I saw and experienced
completely devastated me. I watched the children struggle to fit in with peers and even with teachers.
They missed 90% of what was going on because very few, if any, of the staff knew how to work with
Deaf children and more then that, few wanted to take the time to work around the Deaf students needs.
Peers were unwilling to get to know the students due to the fact in their eyes the Deaf students were
different and they didn’t want to take the time to get to know them. They were told that they couldn’t
take classes that they wished to take because they were Deaf. They were made to feel handicapped
instead of regular students who deserved the education every child should be entitled to. When they
tried to join sports it was hard for them because either the coach was not interested in taking the time
to work with the deaf student and they were never taught the sport or the coach pitied them and let
them do what they wanted instead of teaching them the right way, so when meets or games happened
the student was unable to participate because they didn’t know how. Also with sport, Interpreters did
not want to Interpret for them so the students were denied the chance to participate because they
didn’t have the communication there to learn. I had one student that graduated and I still don’t know
how that was possible. He tried many times to drop out of school because school was just too much of a
toll on him and he emotionally couldn’t handle the experience. He is now in college and isn’t really
making it as a college student because he isn’t receiving what he needs as a Deaf student and didn’t
receive the knowledge he needs in High School to know how to advocate for himself. I have since
stepped down from Interpreting for the schools because emotionally it was more then I could handle.
From the research that I have done, it shows that mainstream Deaf students have a less of a
chance to succeed then if they were in a Residential school. The research showed that mainstream
students are isolated from their peers and members of the school community. Opportunity for direct
instruction is very limited. Opportunities for direct and independent communication with peers and staff
is limited if at all. Availability and quality staff support may not be adequate. All the teachers have
certification in General Education, maybe one or two with certification in Deaf Education. They will not
be surrounded by peers like themselves, especially peers of similar ages. Even with an Interpreter,
often the student misses out on what is being said because they are provided with the Interpreters
interpretation and not what is actually being said. There are no Deaf or Hard of Hearing adults to serve
as role models or mentors. They do not learn about the Deaf community, their culture or their history.
The Deaf native language, ASL, is not taught or used in public schools. They have little to no opportunity
to join after school activities such as sports, dances and such. Once they graduate they are set out into
the world to basically sink or swim. Many of the Deaf graduates from mainstream do not know how to
function in society.
The positive is that they are mixed in with children unlike them; they have more exposure to a
large diverse group of students and have an exposure to general population. There are more
opportunities to advocate for themselves, but the argument there is how are they to advocate for
themselves if they are never taught to do so and public schools do not teach that.
The positive to a Deaf residential school is there are more resources and information about
hearing loss and educating Deaf and Hard of Hearing students. There are several Role Models for the
Deaf community in the school. Deaf History and Culture are taught to the children. The students are
taught in English, but they also have constant exposure to their native language ASL. All the teachers
have degrees and certification in both general education as well as Deaf Education. Class sizes are small
enough for one on one interaction. The children have full access without much effort to all the
information taught. The children are surrounded by others just like them, this helps with social skills, self
esteem and it develops healthier senses of self worth. The students won’t be pulled from class for
special services as often as they would be in general education settings, there is every opportunity to
join after school activities such as sports, dances and drama. . Finally is the 4 plus program that ISD
offers which helps the children get into college, find places to live, teaches them how to manage their
money and how to be beneficial additions to society.
The disadvantage of residential schools is lack of exposure to larger diverse groups of students
and lack of exposure to general population, (which I do not agree with because the residential school
constantly take the children out into the community and they have the exposure when with their
families), and last but not least is not as many opportunities to advocate for themselves in a school
setting because there is no need for it.
From what I have been able to find there are many more positives to going to a residential
school and less negative, but in mainstream there are many more negative than positive. Our goals
should be to make sure that these children have a fighting chance and know how to be outstanding
additions to society. They need a positive education experience in order for them to be successful in
their futures. How do you expect them to do this if you take away the one place able to do this for
them? Instead of closing ISD door to open regional schools or to combine the Deaf and the Blind school,
maybe you should be focusing on getting more of our children to ISD. Maybe you should use the open
enrolment plan and have home schools help with some of the expenses. If you figure what you have to
pay for qualified staff for home schools and what you pay for Interpreters for each of the students, you
may find the expense to be the same or less to send them to residential, where they want to go and
where they flourish, then it is to force them in to a schooling situation where many of the children will
fail.
As for the personal note, my son is one of the students in ISD and before he went there he spent
12 years in mainstream schooling, preschool through freshman year. I saw him be one of the students
that struggled in every area of mainstream schooling. I watched him suffer in his academics, social skills,
and I watched him question his self worth. He had many behavioral problems and was in and out of
trouble. Daily I had calls from the school, they sent him to doctors diagnosing him with ADHD and he
had detentions, in school and out of school suspensions. He hurt himself physically and struggled with
who he was. When he started at ISD I noticed a very large difference in him. I no longer receive negative
reports on him, he has no behavioral problems, he is willing to learn and his social skills have improved
10 folds. I see a confident young man who has much potential and ISD has given him that in just 3
months. Of course I worry like any parent, but its normal worries now and not the worries of wondering
if my son will make it or what will happen to him. The change in my son has been so significant that I
can’t even begin to explain to you what it is. Taking ISD from him will devastate him and I am afraid
maybe push him back into what he use to be and where he use to be. My son will be one of them that
you will hold in your hands when you make your final decision. His future depends on you and to me
that is unfair that you get to decide what happens to my son and you are talking about taking away the
one place that was able to help me put my son on the right track. You chose a superintendent that has
absolutely no knowledge of Deaf Education or Deaf needs to come into that school and close it down. I
feel that the reason you chose that person is because you knew he had no knowledge in that area and is
ignorant on the needs of these children because you knew if you assigned someone with Deaf
knowledge they would have told you that this was not the right move and you would hurt the students.
You didn’t want to hear that because if it’s not said then the guilt of doing something so horrendous
wouldn’t be as strong. You needed someone who would agree with you and your decision.
As a parent I ask you to stop and really think about what you will be doing to these kids and if
you’re not a parent of Deaf child, think about what if you were, would you still make the decision of
closing the one place in the state that really cares about the education of these kids? Would you so
easily disregard the Deaf community and Deaf culture, would you willingly look the other way while your
child’s life is turned upside down? Please Keep ISD open for all Deaf children, for my son.
Sincerely,
Jennifer McKittrick