Miss-Delectable
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http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/regional/s_432145.html
A 22-year-old Butler County woman filed a federal lawsuit Friday against Slippery Rock University and West Middlesex Area School District, claiming she was denied an opportunity to become an elementary school teacher because of a hearing defect.
Stephanie A. Burns, of Boyers, is partially deaf from a genetic hearing problem. After entering Slippery Rock as a freshman in 2001, Burns enrolled in the elementary education certification program and was successful in all of her courses, according to the lawsuit.
She completed all of her classwork, with only a three-week field assignment and student teaching internship needed to graduate.
She was given a field assignment in a fourth-grade class at West Middlesex Elementary School in April 2005. After two days of orientation meetings, Burns claims she was told the supervising teacher at West Middlesex did not want her in the classroom because of her disability, and that she was not welcome at the school.
Burns asked for a subsequent field assignment and was refused by Robert Snyder, an elementary education professor and Slippery Rock's field experience coordinator, the suit states.
Snyder ordered Burns to enroll in a speech therapy course, and then present a lesson plan by August 2005 to a council of education professors who would decide if she "was able to enunciate well enough to be a teacher," the suit states. If she failed the presentation test, she would be switched to a noncertified degree track.
In July, Burns was terminated from the elementary education certification program and assigned to a noncertification track. She graduated in December without a teaching certification and cannot teach in Pennsylvania.
"She wants to be a certified teacher, and that's what she attended school for," said her attorney, Samuel Cordes.
Burns' hearing affliction is covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act, Cordes said.
"Neither of these institutions provided her accommodations as they are required to do by law," he said.
Representatives at Slippery Rock and the school district could not be reached for comment.
Burns' suit seeks payment for lost wages and benefits, lost tuition and emotional distress, humiliation and inconvenience.
A 22-year-old Butler County woman filed a federal lawsuit Friday against Slippery Rock University and West Middlesex Area School District, claiming she was denied an opportunity to become an elementary school teacher because of a hearing defect.
Stephanie A. Burns, of Boyers, is partially deaf from a genetic hearing problem. After entering Slippery Rock as a freshman in 2001, Burns enrolled in the elementary education certification program and was successful in all of her courses, according to the lawsuit.
She completed all of her classwork, with only a three-week field assignment and student teaching internship needed to graduate.
She was given a field assignment in a fourth-grade class at West Middlesex Elementary School in April 2005. After two days of orientation meetings, Burns claims she was told the supervising teacher at West Middlesex did not want her in the classroom because of her disability, and that she was not welcome at the school.
Burns asked for a subsequent field assignment and was refused by Robert Snyder, an elementary education professor and Slippery Rock's field experience coordinator, the suit states.
Snyder ordered Burns to enroll in a speech therapy course, and then present a lesson plan by August 2005 to a council of education professors who would decide if she "was able to enunciate well enough to be a teacher," the suit states. If she failed the presentation test, she would be switched to a noncertified degree track.
In July, Burns was terminated from the elementary education certification program and assigned to a noncertification track. She graduated in December without a teaching certification and cannot teach in Pennsylvania.
"She wants to be a certified teacher, and that's what she attended school for," said her attorney, Samuel Cordes.
Burns' hearing affliction is covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act, Cordes said.
"Neither of these institutions provided her accommodations as they are required to do by law," he said.
Representatives at Slippery Rock and the school district could not be reached for comment.
Burns' suit seeks payment for lost wages and benefits, lost tuition and emotional distress, humiliation and inconvenience.