Previous Story
Special Ed teacher clarifies Pellegrino’s assertion
|
Posted on Mar 03 1999
This letter is in response to Mr. Pellegrino’s two part article “The miracle of the Special Education Program in PSS.” (Feb. 2, 1999).
As a teacher working in special education here on Saipan, I am afraid I must disagree with some of Mr. Pellegrino’s enthusiastic statements. While he is absolutely correct in citing the laws and regulations which require public schools to provide appropriate services to special needs students, I am afraid that his assessment of how we are doing is inaccurate.
To quote from part 2: “For instance, each student who is deaf requires an educational interpreter to be with him/her in all classes to interpret spoken English into sign language.” I work at Marianas High School, where we have two deaf students attending regular education classes four periods daily. Neither one of these profoundly deaf students has a sign language interpreter attending classes with them. For students who communicate exclusively through American Sign Language, this lack of interpreters means they have absolutely no access to information presented in the classroom. In other words, to again quote from Mr. Pellegrino’s article, we have relegated these students to “misery and loneliness beyond belief.”
It is misleading to inform the public that PSS is providing services which they are not, in fact, providing. I invite Mr. Pellegrino to visit MHS md see firsthand what is like to be a Deaf student in the Public School System here in Saipan.
Respectfully,
Joe W. Loga, MA
Teacher for Deaf and Hearing Impaired Students
