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Teacher urges board to list American Sign Language as high‑school world language
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Summary
Teacher Carrie Sluga told the board that adding ASL to the high-school world language list opens cultural and career pathways for students; district leaders told the board the addition was approved through curriculum council and personnel action.
At the public‑comment portion of the April 20 meeting, teacher Carrie Sluga (S7) identified herself as a teacher of the deaf and hard of hearing and asked the board to note roll-call action 12.1, section e, line 23, which she said approves American Sign Language as part of the district’s world-language offerings for high school students.
Sluga credited teachers Heather Gibson, Carol Galusha and Rachel Cowhealy, district curriculum leaders and administrators for advancing the change and said ASL offers cultural learning, inclusive communication with deaf and hard-of-hearing community members, and career pathways such as ASL interpreting and special-education roles. Superintendent (S2) thanked the teachers for the research and curriculum work that made the addition possible.
Why it matters: Adding ASL as a recognized world-language course expands course options and may improve access and inclusion for deaf and hard-of-hearing students and their peers, while creating pathways to interpreter and special-education careers.
The board heard supportive comments from other staff and announced the change will be part of approved personnel/minutes items; staff said the curriculum council vetted and approved the course prior to board action.
Ending: The board received the comment without debate and staff thanked teachers for their work; the underlying personnel/consent action including the ASL reference was approved as part of roll-call items.
