How should Milwaukee Public Schools go about teaching deaf and hard of hearing students?
That is the question a task force is exploring after complaints from the Deaf community and parents of deaf children, which were aired at an April school board meeting.
Advocates for deaf students have been critical of MPS’s separate oral language and sign language programs, and have said MPS doesn’t put enough priority on teaching deaf students to sign.
There are about 120 deaf or hard of hearing students in MPS. Up until recently, Felix was one of them. He’s a 9-year-old Milwaukee boy who lost his hearing when he had meningitis as a baby.
His adoptive mom, Laurie Goll, says when she met Felix at age 3, he didn’t know any language. He couldn’t speak or sign.
"I mean, he would just give you the middle finger, ‘cause he was so mad all the time," Goll says. "It was really heartbreaking to see a child at that age when they should have so much language available to them — he had none."
When Goll became Felix’s foster mom, he was going to Milwaukee Sign Language School on the northwest side. MSLS is one a four MPS schools that have special programs for deaf students.
Felix’s time there went well for a couple years, but when he got to first grade, Goll noticed more and more problems.
"He would show up to class and they would say, 'Oh we don’t have interpreter today, can he come back later?'" Goll says. "This was a kid who had so many disadvantages and roadblocks in his life, and I thought, 'We have him at a sign language school, and he’s being asked to leave a classroom because nobody thought to ask the interpreter to come?'"
Most of the students who go to Milwaukee Sign Language School are hearing, and most of the teachers don’t sign. That means the 20 or so deaf and hard and hearing students there use interpreters to learn.
Lindalu Fox-Wheeler is the only Deaf teacher at Milwaukee Sign Language School, where she’s taught for 27 years.
Fox-Wheeler says there used to be a stronger commitment to sign language at MSLS. For example, she says all MSLS teachers used to be required to learn at least basic sign language, so they could say "good morning" and "how are you" to their deaf students.
"Often when people look at that name — Milwaukee Sign Language School — there’s a lot of assumptions behind that," Fox-Wheeler told WUWM through a sign language interpreter. "There’s an assumption that all the staff sign, and that’s simply not the case."
It’s also important to note that many deaf and hard of hearing students in MPS don’t learn any sign language. MPS has a separate oral language program at Neeskara Elementary, in Washington Heights, with 36 students enrolled. Those children use hearing aids and cochlear implants to communicate in spoken language.
MPS's other schools with programs for deaf and hard of hearing students are Golda Meir and Rufus King. Golda Meir serves oral language students who graduate from Neeskara. King serves both Neeskara and MSLS students once they get to high school.
The recently-formed MPS deaf and hard of hearing task force, which was created in response to an MPS Board resolution, will explore whether to combine the Neeskara and MSLS programs into one location, where all students are exposed to sign language.
Fox-Wheeler, who is co-chairing the committee, is in favor of that change.
"My hope is that instead of having the two separate programs of Neeskara and MSLS, we merge together," Fox-Wheeler says. "It’s time for us to come together. I want to see an increased use of American Sign Language at the youngest ages possible."
Elaine Smolen, an assistant professor of special education at Columbia University's Teachers College, says whether to prioritize sign or spoken language is an emotionally-charged topic in deaf education.
Since about 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents, using technology like cochlear implants to teach the child spoken language has become more common.
MPS Director of Specialized Services Travis Pinter, who is overseeing the task force, says it's a complex issue.
"The role of the committee right now ... is hearing from all sides of the issue and collecting information," Pinter says. "I don't think anything's off the table at this point."
The task force will update the MPS Board on its progress next week, on Tuesday. But it will be at least several months before it makes recommendations.
Laurie Goll ended up pulling her son Felix out of MPS and transferring him to Wisconsin School for the Deaf in Delavan, which is an hour drive from their home in Milwaukee. At that school, instruction happens entirely in sign and Felix is surrounded by other Deaf kids and adults.
"This is the only place he gets to go where he has direct access to everything," Goll says. "He can learn in his own native language, he can talk to other kids. Nobody has to stop and explain what’s going on. It’s an oasis for him."
Goll hopes the work of the MPS deaf and hard of hearing task force will lead to improvements for students like Felix. But she doesn’t plan on sending her son back to the district.
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