Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Parents, teachers and advocates call on Polk County School Board to overhaul services for deaf and hard-of-hearing students
Summary
Dozens of parents, teachers and advocates told the Polk County School Board on Oct. 28 that the district is not providing consistent, research-based services to deaf and hard-of-hearing students and asked the board to open a formal investigation and implement programmatic reforms.
Dozens of parents, teachers and advocacy-group members told the Polk County School Board on Oct. 28 that Polk County Public Schools is "failing" deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students and asked the board to open a formal investigation of district practices.
Advocates described repeated examples of children placed in classrooms without reliable ASL access, a shrinking DHH program staffing pool and what several speakers called an outdated instructional framework. "The current framework being applied to the education of deaf children in this district is disproportionately flawed," said Kathleen Sturworth Jackson, identifying herself as a deaf-education expert, and called for an investigation into IEP compliance, communication plans and progress-monitoring tools used for DHH students.
Speakers delivered a series of concrete requests the board could consider, including audits of curriculum and CBM (curriculum-based measurement) data, enforcement of Individualized Education Program (IEP) requirements tailored to…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
