TTMW Issue #65
Re: Beth Steenwyk, MSD Executive Director X Enough Talk For the last several months, readers had the experience of watching the heated discussions between Ryan Commerson and the administrators at Michigan School for the Deaf. Throughout those articles we can see that the finer games of finger pointing have begun to escalate. I have witnessed some of the claims that Ryan had made public. As for the rest of the claims, I agreed with him naturally because I am an alumnus of MSD. I attended from the fourth grade until graduation. I must include, also, that a total of thirteen members within my family graduated from MSD dating back as far as 1900. Adding to that fact, I am presently employed at MSD. As an adult, I remember my childhood frustrations with the staff and administrators. I listened to them preaching that they are committed to the children, committed to the school, committed to the program. Now, I have seen no improvements. The only difference I see now is the mere fact we have more number of Deaf staff compared to the past, but those Deaf staff are not educated, mature, responsible, and they do not possess qualities of a leader. Furthermore many of those Deaf staff are alumni of MSD. They are the classic examples of a trifle leadership at MSD. In TTMW #63 Beth Steenwyk, the deputy director of special education at MSD made exact same claims that our previous superintendents have in the past. "...a person committed to the continued existence of MSD as a viable option on the continuum of educational services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing students in the State of Michigan" If this claim is true, why does MSD still have administrators, faculties, and teachers with poor signing skills? How can one discard the philosophy of BiBi education without gathering data and still claim to want the best? Why are they unable to hire state employed teachers? Why does the State of Michigan choose to use contract teachers as long-term substitute teachers? I was told that it was difficult to find teachers within Michigan that has the desire to teach at MSD. My thoughts on this: "Why must it be within Michigan that they recruit employees?" Search broader across America. Another claim Ms. Steenwyk made that I'd like to respond to; "...a person concerned about and responsible to: kids and families, staff and teachers, administrators and support staff, school districts and policy makers." How can the administrators show concern and take responsibilities for a culture and language that they do not understand? Children are not being fully understood in their own primary language. I have not seen any administrators/faculties employed at MSD spend countless hours off the clock socializing with the children. Interaction with adults was something I lacked as a child. As for the school districts, why do the administrators sit back and allow the school districts to deny a child's enrollment to MSD? I have not yet experienced MSD administrators provide legal resources for the child's parents to use against the school districts as leverage, so that they are able to enroll their child at MSD. A final point I want to make is about the fact Beth claim that she cares about the staff and teachers at MSD. I have requested several times for a meeting discussing some of my concerns. I followed the appropriate protocol in making an official request of a meeting. She never responded. After briefly talking to her face to face through an interpreter in the hallway, again no action was taken. What do you think that action has led me to believe? Ms. Steenwyk, all of what you wrote down in last week's article are ideal goals that all administrators would write of. I challenge ALL OF US to rise to the occasion. Take actual action, be part of the signing community. A wise man once said, "Love thy enemy," and I continue to struggle to give you my love and respect. I do not want anyone to become enemies because then the children suffer. Finger pointing is not a sign of a positive leadership. I quote your words, "...we are all members of one human family." I concur that is a fair statement. If we all actually take action to come together and become a family, MSD will improve. Todd J. Morrison * Re: Beth Steenwyk, MSD Executive Director XI The way things Beth Steenwyk is saying reminds me of Jane Spillman back in the DPN days. In fact there is a website you can visit to learn more and make your own comparisons: http://pr.gallaudet.edu/dpn/issues/THEWEEK/sunmar6.html -Been Around Long Enough To Know * Re: Beth Steenwyk, MSD Executive Director XII I've been following the discussion about MSD, ignited by Ryan Commerson. I am Deaf, and my mother does a lot of advocacy for D/deaf children in the state of Michigan. I'll be perfectly blunt here: One problem the Deaf community has is that we are often politically naive. Michigan has a weak political grass roots Deaf community. There is barely any political activity here. One reason for that is the educational history of the Deaf here in Michigan is heavily rooted in Oralism. We're just finally starting to break free from that, but there is still incredible opposition to the Bi-Bi method here in Michigan. Often, people do not realize that special education parents have a lot of power over their children's education. For decades and decades, everyone has been told American Sign Language is inferior, or at least that Deaf who use it will not develop good English skills. The Deaf community here in Michigan is not influential enough to overcome that ideology in one sudden, overwhelming sweep. It is not like Indiana, where things were changed practically overnight. Indiana and other states have a solid, cohesive Deaf community, with an established political base, with key support in the hearing community. Michigan does not. Second, no one who has done some good investigating would take on the Civil Service system. You cannot just fire someone because you think they're incompetent, when they have a Civil Service job. Unions are also powerful -- perhaps too powerful. But that's the reality here in America. Personnel at MSD are not only members of a union, but their positions are also under Michigan Civil Service. So, the only things that can be done, are to wait for the deadwood at MSD to retire or quit; or slowly and methodically document inadequacies. It's a long process. So, we have a combination of three factors: A weak Deaf community, parents who are just finally beginning to accept that American Sign Language IS an effective way to teach their children, and the Civil Service-Union team, that makes it difficult to replace people who deserve to be. There is also another crucial factor that has not been mentioned, which is that most children who are placed at MSD are often in their pre-teen or teenage years. They were placed there only after years of education in the local school districts, who utterly failed them. Once the parents realize that their child is not being educated, they often have to spend years of legal maneuvering to get their child in MSD, because many local school districts and Intermediate School Districts do not want their students sent to MSD. There are local school districts and ISDs here in Michigan that are ferociously opposed to MSD for financial and philosophical reasons. So yes, there are many children who graduate from MSD with an inadequate education. I can hardly hold MSD accountable for that. For the most part, I hold the local school districts and ISDs, not MSD, accountable for failing our deaf children. Now, I'm not privy to what goes on with MSD. But I do know this: They are changing things for the better there. For the first time in twenty years, we have someone in charge who's actually supporting MSD instead of trying to shut it down. Does the educational label really matter when there is progress in the right direction? With the current political climate, MSD can never be officially Bi-Bi. If people want MSD to be officially Bi-Bi, then we need to make the Deaf community stronger, and more politically aware and active, and develop a political influence base. That means increasing awareness in a non-confrontational manner, taking on, one step at a time, the deep rooted Oralism here in Michigan, and being united. There are times to be confrontational, and times when NOT to be. Confrontation is a powerful thing, but it loses its effectiveness when its over used. A last note: one thing we all have to remember in this controversy is that none of us know the whole story about Ryan and MSD. A lot of things were taken out of context, the waters are muddy, and high tension and hurt feelings continue to build. So before we all get outraged, we should find out the whole story first, if possible. Jeannette Johnson
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