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Legislators look to change education laws - NewsTimes
Danbury High School teacher Mary M. Silvestri has been promoting sign language and teaching it for years. It's her mode of communication.
She's supporting proposed legislation in Hartford that would allow sign language to be considered a world language, so students who take the class could use it for their world language requirement.
The proposal is among a dozen changes the Legislature's education committee has presented in the bill called "An act concerning minor revisions to the education statutes."
The General Education Committee will hold a public hearing on the proposed bill Monday in Hartford, along with hearings on nine other bills the committee proposed.
"Changing the wording of the statute reflects current research and acknowledgement that ASL (American Sign Language) is a language in its own right and not a form of English," Silvestri wrote in an e-mail Thursday. "The current statute considers ASL as part of Language Arts. This is outdated and needs to be revised."
Silvestri, a member of the statewide committee trying to revise the statute, has been a special education teacher for deaf and hard of hearing students at Danbury High for 34 years. She started teaching one class of American Sign Language at the high school 15 years ago.
Danbury High lists ASLs as a world language class, but schools can make their own decision about that. State statute says it is part of Language Arts.
"She's been pushing this right along, and I'm glad they're talking about." state Sen. Michael McLachlan, R-Danbury, said Thursday. McLachlan and state Rep. Joe Taborsak, D-Danbury proposed the bill.
While the current economy would prohibit the state requiring schools to add sign language to their curriculum, the law could allow students enrolled in ASL classes to have them count as their world language requirement, McLachlan said.
Danbury superintendent Sal Pascarella supports the bill.
"Sign language is a language,'' Pascarella said. But since one aspect of world language is cultural education, he wants students to learn about other cultures outside world language classes.
Danbury High School teacher Mary M. Silvestri has been promoting sign language and teaching it for years. It's her mode of communication.
She's supporting proposed legislation in Hartford that would allow sign language to be considered a world language, so students who take the class could use it for their world language requirement.
The proposal is among a dozen changes the Legislature's education committee has presented in the bill called "An act concerning minor revisions to the education statutes."
The General Education Committee will hold a public hearing on the proposed bill Monday in Hartford, along with hearings on nine other bills the committee proposed.
"Changing the wording of the statute reflects current research and acknowledgement that ASL (American Sign Language) is a language in its own right and not a form of English," Silvestri wrote in an e-mail Thursday. "The current statute considers ASL as part of Language Arts. This is outdated and needs to be revised."
Silvestri, a member of the statewide committee trying to revise the statute, has been a special education teacher for deaf and hard of hearing students at Danbury High for 34 years. She started teaching one class of American Sign Language at the high school 15 years ago.
Danbury High lists ASLs as a world language class, but schools can make their own decision about that. State statute says it is part of Language Arts.
"She's been pushing this right along, and I'm glad they're talking about." state Sen. Michael McLachlan, R-Danbury, said Thursday. McLachlan and state Rep. Joe Taborsak, D-Danbury proposed the bill.
While the current economy would prohibit the state requiring schools to add sign language to their curriculum, the law could allow students enrolled in ASL classes to have them count as their world language requirement, McLachlan said.
Danbury superintendent Sal Pascarella supports the bill.
"Sign language is a language,'' Pascarella said. But since one aspect of world language is cultural education, he wants students to learn about other cultures outside world language classes.
