Nebraska deaf education study starts with one parent's fight for his son's schooling

The parent behind the study

A parent's concerns about accessing the education his child needed prompted the interim study. ^[1]

Wiblishouser's family lives in the Elkhorn school district. ^[1] His son first attended kindergarten in Ralston because Elkhorn chose to send him there. ^[1]

Wiblishouser later considered enrolling his son at the Iowa school and received pushback from Elkhorn. ^[1] The district would have to pay for some of the costs. ^[1]

Gaps in school interpreting

Eynon-Kokrda said schools compete for a small pool of interpreters and offer low compensation that does little to attract people to the field. ^[1]

Interpreters employed by schools are not subject to the same licensing requirements as independent interpreters. ^[1] Eynon-Kokrda said this leads schools to say they cannot find anyone, when independent interpreters may be available at a higher price. ^[1]

In one case Eynon-Kokrda knows of, a school said it could not find an ASL interpreter. ^[1] The family found five independent interpreters willing to contract with that district. ^[1]

Pfaff said many school interpreters are not qualified and that a single interpreter may be assigned for the whole day. ^[1]

Regional programs and who pays

Linsay Darnall Jr. said the state replaced the closed school with regional programs, but those services are not enough. ^[1] He said the state does not pay for dorms or transportation for those students, and the school district must pay for them. ^[1]

A deaf family looks ahead

Daniel Pfaff and his wife are both deaf and are wondering where their eight-week-old deaf baby will go to school. ^[1] Pfaff attended a school for the deaf in Indiana and his wife attended one in Iowa. ^[1]

Pfaff said his child will not have the rich language environment he had in school in Nebraska's schools. ^[1]

What lawmakers and families can expect

Conrad said the hearings highlighted a gap between state policy and how those policies work in practice. ^[2] Conrad plans to introduce legislation addressing the issue when lawmakers return in January. ^[2]

Eynon-Kokrda wants a statewide roster for interpreter availability, recognition of educational interpreters as professional technical staff, compensation improvements, and a requirement for schools to document efforts to hire qualified interpreters. ^[1]

If your child is deaf or hard of hearing, the costs of dorms and transportation fall to the school district, according to Darnall. ^[1] Wiblishouser's experience shows that a district may push back when an out-of-state placement would cost it money. ^[1]