Deaf education professionals fighting for equity at LAUSD
A collective group of deaf education professionals at the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) have been fighting to have LAUSD administrators provide equity in the education of Deaf children by offering as much support and resources for students in what the district calls the “signing” programs compared to what the oral / “Listening and Spoken Language” education programs receive.
The LAUSD is the second-largest school district in the U.S. and has over 2,100 Deaf, Hard of Hearing, DeafBlind, DeafDisabled, and Late-Deafened students spread out among its programs.
The LAUSD Board of Education will meet on Tuesday, May 10 on a resolution that calls for a restructure of the Deaf Education system within LAUSD.
I’ve conducted interviews with four people who work within the LAUSD and are members of the California Educators of the Deaf (CAL-ED): Lauren Maucere, an assistant principal and the only Deaf administrator in LAUSD, Amy Bogartz, a deaf itinerant teacher, Bianca Gerald, an elementary teacher of Deaf students, and Janette Duran-Aguirre, the only deaf school counselor with an administrative credential in LAUSD and CAL-ED president.
They are a part of a larger group who have worked to ask for change within the deaf education system along with a number of local, state and national organizations who have written letters asking the school board to support the resolution.
The CAL-ED group I interviewed said they’ve been experiencing bias from the system they work in because there is significantly more personnel and resources for auditory and spoken language focused programs for Deaf children compared to what is offered for the “signing” otherwise known as ASL / English Bilingual (AEB) programs, despite the fact that there there are double the amount of students in AEB programs. Although the latter group has more students, the former group gets more support. The group feels that there is a lower level of respect afforded towards Deaf professionals because they are often excluded from decision-making processes that affect Deaf students.
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CAL-ED said two LAUSD board members, Jackie Goldberg and Scott Schmerelson, have proposed a resolution to begin restructuring the system in LAUSD. The resolution is #029-21/22, “Restructure Deaf and Hard of Hearing Education: Elevate Language Equity, Eliminate Bias in Deaf Education, and Improve Educational Outcomes.” The group said they need four board members to vote in favor of the resolution for a majority.
To drum up support, CAL-ED along with CSUN’s Deaf Education Family Project, and Deaf Latinos y Familias hosted a town hall and started a petition that has collected over 6,500 signatures and will host a rally in front of the LAUSD Headquarters (Beaudry Building) on Tuesday, May 10.
CAL-ED said the board has been receiving letters from supporters of “LSL” that express fear that their programs will be minimized or face cuts, but this group said this isn’t what they want to happen. They are asking for LAUSD to provide Deaf children and their families with the full spectrum of opportunities they should have.
The group I interviewed said this general problem of bias towards Deaf educators and ASL in public school settings is not just present in LAUSD, but it occurs all over the country. The group said they’ve received messages from others who say they hope for a positive outcome in LAUSD so it can create a ripple effect in their local school districts.
For more information, you can follow @EquityinDeafEdLAUSD, watch a YouTube video, and read or sign the petition.