Sign Language Ban on Bus?

madurobob said:
Well, the article is short on details and we have to talk about *something*!
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:D

Well, yeah... it's five months until roundball starts!


I just keep thinking that all we need is Little Miss Little Miss Can't Be Wrong to drop in and we'll be off on another twenty pages with no one having any more facts than the few we could all find in the available articles.
 
Foolmewunz said:
Woo-ie!

We're off on the last train to Speculationville, aren't we?

(Inspired by several - not any single - posts. Wouldn't have mentioned it otherwise.)
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Yes. Both chillzero and myself made it clear we were speculating, did we not? I'm interested in updates as well, but I'm not just assuming any of it is correct. I do want other possibilities presented (hypothesizing) to get other views on the subject.

Although maybe the lack of follow ups could be because the situation was resolved to the satisfaction of all parties. That's more speculation by the way. :p
 
Foolmewunz said:
Sorry guys... I'm suffering from Fired School Teacher Thread Withdrawal Syndrome. I kind of over-reacted.
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It's cool. It's actually a useful reminder to not get too wrapped up in speculation when what actually happened isn't known. Keeps us honest. Er...kind of honest. Well more honest than we would be otherwise.
 
Belz... said:
As long as it's a fantasy, I don't see a problem.
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Surely there are more suitable forums for that sort of thing. I don't come here for torture porn especially not when someone's fantasising about what they'd like to do to children.
 
Something tells me we're not getting the whole story.

The school's behavior, as described, seems self-evidently silly, and therefore implausible. Better to reserve judgment, unless the goal is to entertain ourselves by critiquing hypothetical silly scenarios derived from implausible media narratives.
 
On a bit of a tangent, do school buses use internal cameras these days? I mean for the safety of both students and drivers it would seem best to be able to film what is going on and not have the drive have to turn around to check who has been acting up. It would also provide protection to the students from any infractions by an enraged driver.

Just a thought. I know people are really tight about privacy and all that but after the Boston bombing incident I've started to realize just how useful cameras everywhere can be.
 
Danica Lesko and her parents say sign language is the only way to for the 12-year-old to communicate, especially while riding to school on a noisy bus.
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Noisy bus. The other kids are talking.
The March 30 letter from her principal that said Danica was "doing sign language after being told it wasn't allowed on the bus."
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The school did in fact tell her not sign on the bus, which flies in the face of the quote saying that the district's policy is not ban sign language on the bus. Apparently only THIS kid is being singled out as not being permitting to sign.
Danica's parents told the paper that other students who rode to school with their daughter made fun of her, and refused to stay in their seats as they teased other girls who were using sign language. They said school officials are singling out Danica and not addressing those who should really be reprimanded.
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How about the bus driver not moving until everyone sits down. This is probably common practice, anyway. Also, if the other kids have been told not to talk, and the deaf girl is signing, the other kids could use written communication, so the idea that the deaf girl and her friends have an unfair advantage is false.
Danica's parents say she began losing her hearing last November, when a classmate allegedly shot a bottle rocket near her ear. They have already sued the Branchburg School District over that incident.
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A-HA! There it is. The school already has a reason to be pissed at this girl and her family. When kids are constantly subjected to the asinine behavior of so-called adults, it's no wonder some of them grow up to turn around and perpetuate the same kind of stupidity.
 
chillzero said:
If all children have been told not to chat on the bus -
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. . .then the bus driver should be fired. To expect a busload of children to remain silent is beyond unreasonable.


Weak Kitten said:
On a bit of a tangent, do school buses use internal cameras these days? I mean for the safety of both students and drivers it would seem best to be able to film what is going on and not have the drive have to turn around to check who has been acting up. It would also provide protection to the students from any infractions by an enraged driver.

Just a thought. I know people are really tight about privacy and all that but after the Boston bombing incident I've started to realize just how useful cameras everywhere can be.
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Back in my day the driver had a big ol' mirror that they could use to see what was going on without turning around.
 
Foolmewunz said:
I just keep thinking that all we need is Little Miss Little Miss Can't Be Wrong to drop in and we'll be off on another twenty pages with no one having any more facts than the few we could all find in the available articles.
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This, in a thread about a victim of bullying being blamed for the bullying? Seriously?
 
Psi Baba said:
How about the bus driver not moving until everyone sits down. This is probably common practice, anyway.
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Once upon a time, maybe.

In my experience of fractious kids this challenge would be taken up with great relish by some and used as an excuse either not to go to school at all or to get the driver to give in. Huge battle ensues between kids who actually want to behave and get to school and those who don't? Is that a good plan?

"Difficult" kids win either way. Nah, issuing challenges is not the way to go.
 
Man school buses sure have changed. When I rode them it was just kids talking about what they are going to do that day or listening to their walkmen. Calling them noisy would be a stretch.
 
Danica Lesko and her parents say sign language is the only way to for the 12-year-old to communicate, especially while riding to school on a noisy bus.
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Really? Sign language is the only way for this deaf child to communicate? ESPECIALLY on a noisy bus? [airplane]At this time of night?[/airplane]
 
Well, as long as we've arrived at Speculationville Station.....

How about a little Connect The Dots Paranoid Conspiracy Mystery Theater 2000?

We have two conflicting "formal" statements, apparently. If the statement about the letter from the school is correct then we have:

1. A letter saying that she was signing after being told not to.
2. A statement that the school and district do not forbid signing.

If both are true, then she's being singled out. Is it discrimination? Or is it a counter-ploy to their lawsuit. Would it be possible that the school lawyers think they have an ambulance-chasing scam on their hands and believe (probably because people at the school said so) that the girl can use vocal communications but is using signing to further the disability claim. We've all heard of the cases of people with disability being caught lifting heavy weights and doing physical activities that should be possible. Private investigators make half their income on these types of cases.

Or.... again assuming the veracity of both "statements", would it be equally possible that the school nurse or a doctor advised the school that if she doesn't exercise her vocal chords and work at "listening better" she will continue to worsen and this is just "tough love" because they want her to fully recover, being the care-giving wonderful people that they are?

All sorts of possibilities.
 
chillzero said:
I wonder if the health and safety issue actually relates to distractions to the driver, not anything to do with the other students.

If all children have been told not to chat on the bus - to waylay noisy carrying on, I can see that kids using sign language could be perceived as a way to dodge this by others, and that could potentially result in non-sign-language users complaining that the rest are getting special treatment - perhaps reacting to those kids (kind of like when siblings do the 'but I'm not touching you' dance in front of a sibling's face).
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Seems to me this might be a good opportunity for a bunch of kids to learn sign language. Imagine how peaceful the bus would be then!
 
Primus said:
Surely there are more suitable forums for that sort of thing. I don't come here for torture porn especially not when someone's fantasising about what they'd like to do to children.
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Just a friendly - That really is directly from the Bros. Grimm in pretty much every detail -I say pretty much because I read it sometime in the latish 50's and I am pretty sure I had checked it out of my school Library (Stanford Elementary School - still in operation as far as I know (i.e. two years ago)). W.C Butts (not a good name for a principal, of course) was the principle and I got my polio sugarcubes there) - oh, my point: at the time it was considered perfectly instructive and moral - good guys win, bad guys are punished - otherwise it would NOT have been in a school library in Tennesse (not elementary or high school anyway). Of course, times change. But it is still normally pretty easy to tell the good guys from the bad. And there are still a lot of people who try not to for any of a large number of reasons. I've just somehow managed not to be one of them.

Oh, and the children point is why I did it with a lighter touch. Hopefully you did notice that distinction.:)
 
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