Citing her deaf daughter’s bravery, a mother spoke out Tuesday against the Killeen Independent School District’s decision to terminate more than a dozen sign language interpreters just before Thanksgiving.
During Tuesday’s school board meeting, Chelsea Sirokman, of Copperas Cove, told the board she learned of her daughter’s terminated one-on-one interpreter from her 8-year-old, who attends the district’s regional day school for the deaf, rather than from Killeen ISD professionals.
“I can assure you, you are not collaborating with parents, nor was I able to provide input for my daughter’s needs,” Sirokman said.
The mother shared that her daughter’s IEP, Individualized Education Plan, lists she is entitled, by federal law, to at least 114 minutes of one-on-one interpreter services. Without these services, she said, her daughter has begun to show signs of academic regression in school.
“It’s only been a week and she’s already reported to me she’s having trouble in class; she can’t keep up with the teacher,” she said. “She can no longer comprehend what’s going on — she needed that interpreter, and she no longer has it.”
Sirokman cited her daughter’s idea to organize friends to stay home from school in protest until all interpreters are returned to their rightful students.
“If my 8-year-old is brave enough to speak out, then adults need to be brave enough to speak out,” she said. “She (her daughter) knew this was wrong; why didn’t any of the adults know this was wrong?”
As the Herald reported Sunday, on Nov. 18, the last school day before Thanksgiving break for district employees and students, more than a dozen sign language interpreters received notice from their contract agencies that they were terminated from the district. Parents did not learn officially of the change from the district until Nov. 30, after their children had attended school for three days without their interpreters.
KISD’s public explanation was that the interpreters were uncertified and thus had to be certified to continue working for the district; however, state and national experts told the Herald federal and state law only require interpreters be qualified, which may include certification, but it is not a requirement by law.
The district’s regional day school program for the deaf has 74 students, 26 of whom currently receive one-on-one interpreter services, but, as of Friday, the district reported only five interpreters remained on staff.
That number increased Tuesday, when the district announced it hired back some of its uncertified sign language interpreters under different job titles. Following backlash over the district’s decision, on Tuesday, KISD sent communication to parents explaining four of the former sign language interpreters have been rehired, but more remain without a job, and children without their form of communication, such as Sirokman’s daughter, just before the Christmas holiday.
The 8-year-old’s mother said she didn’…….