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Reflecting a nationwide controversy over education of deaf children, parents of deaf students and members of the deaf community plan to protest at the Carlsbad Unified School District's board meeting tonight and to ask for dramatic changes in the district's program.
Members of the deaf community complain that their concerns have gone ignored by the administrators, and they want the district board listen to them with their "good ears."
Among their primary concerns is that the director of the program, which handles about 60 students from across North County, has virtually no background in deaf education. She cannot even hand-sign "hello," they say.
"She is in the seat of decision-making, and she has no idea about how deaf people live, what our values are, what our problems are and what our goals are," said Kevin McLellan, a professor and director of the American Sign Language-English interpreter training program at Palomar College, who himself is deaf.
"How can she provide leadership to a group of students that she really knows nothing about?" McLellan asked.
Some parents also are concerned that the teachers in the program may be inadequately schooled in sign language.
"My daughter knows sign better than her teacher," said Bill Campbell, whose 7-year-old Kelly just completed first grade at Magnolia School.
Carlsbad Unified...