Losing My Position

I won't go into all the details - I've run this decision through my own head so many times that it just exhausts me. I got official notice this year that they will be reducing my hours to part time. How 28 students spread out over 7 schools counts as part time is beyond me. At the end of it all, I am just so pissed off that nobody understands how hearing loss can affect students in the classroom. Of the 28 I work with, only 10 are direct intervention students. Other students are ones I make sure accommodations are in place for (whether through consult minutes or 504 plans). According to the district higher-ups, those other 18 students just don't matter. If they're not getting direct services, then they shouldn't need any additional support. They will go through the RtI process and be "fixed" that way - they don't need closed captioning, CART services, interpreters, FM systems, etc. They can go through RtI until they reach 5th grade and everybody is scratching their heads about why it's not working. Argh. It frustrates me the ignorance that abounds, and then they want to get rid of the one person on staff who is an expert in all this.

~Anonymous

Creepy, Inappropriate Relationship Between Interpreter and Student

I don't think it is cute or funny when a deaf student calls his interpreter "mommy". I wish the interpreter would listen to me and stop allowing this to continue. The interpreter often acts like a mother to the child with the hugging, caressing, and calling her student "my baby".  I find it disturbing and creepy, but the interpreter thinks it is harmless. Never mind that the child is in 2nd grade.

Let's see what the student's real mother has to say about this.

~Mr. P