carebear_ch's Blog

I would like to introduce myself, I am Cara Herr and I'm in a group formed by the parents to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing children in GBCHI ( Galveston - Brazoria Coop for the Hearing Impaired). Our group is called PASS( Parent Advocacy for Successful Students with Hearing Impairments) I would like for everyone to know what is going on with our children. I am a mother to a 13 year old deaf child. there is approx 100 deaf children in GBCHI.We are spread out over 10 school districts. They are Alvin, Clear Creek, Dickinson, Friendswood, LaMargue, Pearland, and Texas City.

These children start school in Sante Fe at R.J. Wollom then go to Hall Elem in League City. From there they go to Creekside Intermediate , which is the feeder school for Hall Elem., but for high school they go to Alvin High School. Most children dont move that much and are able to make long lasting friendships and to be able to be invloved in extracurricular programs. We are concerned about the school calender conflicts between the 3 different districts they attend along with the cost of all the eductaional needs.The costs for a special education for a student is high but districts are given federal/state funding to assist with the added costs to provide these additional services needed. Over 30 years ago GBCHI was developed due to the voices of the parents of children with hearing impairments however very little has changed in those years. The technology, philosophy, and resources in deaf education have drastically changed in those same years. Our Coop is long over due for this change to meet our needs of today. There was

Any educator would report that a student that is frequently moved to different schoool districts will create gaps in their education.This is for any student; regular,gifted and talented or special education. Our kids don't have a choice in any of their education as of right now. These kids really do struggle through school everytime there is a transition like that. Some parents are having to hire tutores to help our kids out in the teaching and handwriting differences between districts. With our kids in different districts that also means that the Interpreters, Audiologists, Speech Theropists, and couslors are also in three different distircts. With gas prices these days( at $3 + a gallon) that makes for a lot of funds going to gas for them to drive all over and the buses to run all over like that. These are people that have to deal with our kids on a regular basis from school to school and district to district. If they were all in one area it would be easily accessable to all schools everyday and cut down on travel time. It would also be easier for any staff that has to cover for someone due to illness or vacation time.

We have approached the 10 district superintendants about this issue but they say they dont think it needs to be changed even though they agree it would be a better way of doing things. Every meeting we have had with the districts has ended in no change. Having GBCHI students attending 3 different school districts is a form of discrimination for the students with hearing impairments. Isn't this their way of saying they only pick certain kids to attend their schools? How does that make them public schools? We only want the best for our children like any other parent out there. We want our high scoolers to attend Clear Springs HIgh School but they aren't allowed. After further investigating I found out that kids from Heritage Park in Harris County attend Clear Springs High School so i guess thats why they dont have room for our kids. Even though we only are needing 2 classrooms and the other children from Heritage Park have a school closer to them they could attend. Clear Springs High School is right next to Creekside Intermediate that they currently attend. It is the feeder school for them but they cant go there with their friends they have made the last 7 years (since 2nd grade). These are very important years in a childs life. We need the publics help in this matter. Please email me at herrc1975@hotmail.com for more details and information on how to help us out. We have a website you can look at also. It is www.passhi.org. We also have a petition if anyone is interested in signing it... just let me know.