Amy Signs: A Mother, Her Daughter, and their Stories

30. Caution, Speed Bumps Ahead

202 30 Caution,SpeedBumpsAhead Rebecca Amy considers herself a big girl now, since she’s in the fourth grade, her last year in the primary dorm. All the children who had therapy with her at Connell are now at NSD. Teena’s in third grade, Linsay’s in fourth grade with Amy, Jeannie’s in second, and Daniel is in first. Amy flew home for Christmas vacation. On December 23, 1978, our white Christmas arrived early, all twenty-four inches of it. John, Amy, and I take turns shoveling the driveway and a path to the mailbox.The postman won’t deliver mail to curbside mailboxes if he can’t access the box from the street. After three hours of backbreaking work, we finished, and the snow plow passed, pushing a four-foot wall of snow over our mailbox. Now all the neighbors are busy digging out their mailboxes, again. My back is aching when the postman extends his arm from the mail truck and hands me my mail. In it are the gas bill, which will be high since we’ve had below freezing weather for several weeks, and a letter from the Grand Island School Board. What are they sending me now? Since Amy can’t attend school in our district, the school board reimburses me for the miles I drive to and from Omaha, but that check does not arrive until February. I’ve already paid for the gas by the time I’m reimbursed, so I sock that money into our vacation fund. Amy Signs Main Pgs 1-320.indd 202 6/27/2012 10:37:46 AM Caution, Speed Bumps Ahead 203 I rip open the envelope, pull out a sheet of paper, and read unfamiliar terms and phrases. PL 94-142. Section 504. Compliance required . Least restrictive environment. Mainstreaming. Regulations. Mandated. I read the last paragraph aloud. “To comply with this legislation, Amy Willman will be enrolled in special education classes in Grand Island in the fall of 1979.” What! There’s no deaf education here. The letter ends with the sentence,“Concerns and questions will be addressed March 12 at the Grand Island School Board meeting.” What is this? Why can’t Amy continue attending school in Omaha ? She’s happy there and receiving a good education. The schools here wouldn’t even consider enrolling Amy six years ago, and now they do? What’s going on? After supper, I telephone Vodis Dahlke.“Did you get a letter from the Grand Island school board today?” “No, we’re not in that school district,” Vodis replies. “I wondered when you would call. “I’ve already heard from several other parents from the hearing support group. I think you all received the same letter. Something about mainstreaming, right?” “Yeah. But how did you luck out?” “We didn’t. Our letter came from the Hall County Superintendent of Schools. It’s similar to yours. Julie only has two more years at NSD; I see no sense in disrupting her education now.” “What are you going to do?” “I don’t know.” “Neither do I.” ) Within days I discover that parents whose children attend the Nebraska School for the Blind have received similar letters. They’re as upset as I am. I contact Jack. He rarely sees the children, but I keep him informed of what they are doing. He surprises me by suggesting we hire an attorney and fight this. Several weeks later, Jack and I, along with a dozen other confused and angry parents meet with an attorney, Howard Allen. We file into his conference room. After introductions, Mr. Allen clears his Amy Signs Main Pgs 1-320.indd 203 6/27/2012 10:37:46 AM 204 Amy Signs throat. “Let me give you a little history first. Public Law 94-142 was passed by Congress in 1975. Regulations implementing the law were published in 1977.The law states that an appropriate free public education will be available for all handicapped children between the ages of three and twenty-one no later than September 1, 1980.” “So why did we all get these letters?” I drum my fingers on the table, smudging the polished surface. “The schools for the deaf and the blind are state-operated public schools. We don’t pay to send our children there. That should fulfill the law’s requirements.” “There’s more.” Mr. Allen continues. “The law...