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Driver's ed for blind kids?
Students wonder why city schools make them take course
By Tracy Dell'Angela
Tribune staff reporter
March 10, 2006
Mayra Ramirez scored an A in driver's education this year, but sitting through the 10-week class felt like a bad joke to the Curie Metropolitan High School sophomore.
Ramirez is blind. She knows she's never going to drive. She can think of a lot of things she'd rather be studying than rules of the road, but she didn't have a choice.
Chicago Public Schools requires all sophomores to take the class and pass a written road-rules exam--a graduation requirement that affects about 30 blind and visually impaired students in specialized programs at Curie and Payton College Preparatory High.
"In other classes, you don't really feel different because you can do the work other people do," said Ramirez, 16. "But in driver's ed, it does give us the feeling we're different. In a way, it brought me down, because it reminds me of something I can't do."
State law requires that all districts offer driver's education, but does not mandate it as a graduation requirement. For the hundreds of high schools that do, there should be some exemption option for disabled students who cannot drive, a state education official said.
"It defies logic to require blind students to take this course ... and waste their academic time," said Meta Minton, spokeswoman for the Illinois State Board of Education.
Chicago's public schools have no such exemption. That is something the Curie and Payton students are pushing to change, through an advocacy program at the Blind Service Association.
District officials said Thursday that they would be willing to consider a change in the policy and give students the opportunity to earn credits in another course.
By law, any parent can ask for a change in a disabled student's individualized education plan, or IEP, which could exempt a student from driver's education as a graduation requirement. But this option is rarely, if ever, outlined to blind students in Chicago, who are told that they have to take the class if they want to graduate, students and teachers said.
"I can't explain why up to this point no one has raised the issue and suggested a better way for visually impaired students to opt out of driver's ed," said school system spokesman Michael Vaughn. "They have to make a really strong case for modifying their IEP because we want the students to take a full course load. But [blindness] ... is a compelling reason."
The advocacy project surfaced last month, when mentor Mazen Istanbouli asked the students if there was any cause they would like to champion in their community or school. Nearly every teen mentioned something about the driver's ed class--a requirement that floored the adults who work routinely with blind teens. Although some suspected money might be a motivation in the policy, that doesn't look likely; school districts only get about $30 from the state for each student who completes the classroom portion of driver's education. Chicago doesn't offer behind-the-wheel driver training or simulators.
Istanbouli, a DePaul University professor who is blind, met Thursday with about 25 students from the two schools to outline the issue and discuss what they can do to change it, including writing letters to school and political leaders.
"I hear all of you are going to be our future drivers," said Istanbouli, a greeting that sparked laughter around the room.
Not every student thought the class was a waste, but all agreed that it should be an option for students with disabilities that make it impossible for them to drive. The students also questioned why the district can't modify the class to make it more meaningful for those interested in the subject. Study guides are not routinely printed in Braille or large type, and many key lessons are presented on video.
For Teniya Booker, 17, who lost her sight after she was shot at age 3, the class proved to be one more struggle in an already challenging class load. The Curie junior said she went to school feeling ill because she was worried about flunking the class if she missed more than three days. And she only passed because one of her special education teachers translated some material into Braille.
"Why should we have to memorize how a street sign looks when we are never going to see them while driving?" Booker wrote in a letter to Ald. Howard Brookins Jr. (21st).
Payton teacher Douglas Anzlovar told the students that this issue isn't new or confined to Chicago. As the only visually impaired student at tiny Putnam County High in Downstate Illinois in the mid-1990s, Anzlovar never thought to enroll in driver's ed. Nine weeks before graduation, however, school officials noticed the omission and questioned whether Anzlovar should be allowed to graduate. But in the end, reason prevailed and the district waived the requirement.
One teacher argued that the lessons aren't a waste of time.
"I don't think you can ever get enough traffic safety ... and we do a lot on how to make good decisions," said Brent Johnston, a Hinsdale South High School teacher and a chairman of the Illinois High School/College Driver's Education Association. "Still, this shouldn't be the school's decision; it should be mom and dad's decision. A little common sense would go a long way."
Kathianne said:No, this is not a joke. Only in Chicago:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0603100180mar10,1,20630.story
It's a very interersting state to live in,MissileMan said:Just when I thought I'd heard it all...
:5th member of bias panel resigns
By Courtney Flynn, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune staff reporter Johnathon E. Briggs contributed to this report
March 9, 2006
A Cook County prosecutor became the fifth member to resign from a state anti-discrimination panel enmeshed in controversy over a member who is an aide to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
In a letter sent to Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Wednesday, Alan Spellberg said he could not remain on the commission when Claudette Marie Muhammad, chief of protocol to Farrakhan, "refuses to even acknowledge the offensive nature" of comments made by Farrakhan in a recent speech.
Muhammad's membership on the Governor's Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes only recently gained attention after she invited other members of the panel to attend a speech given by Farrakhan late last month. In it, Farrakhan said "the Hollywood Jews" are responsible for promoting homosexuality and other "filth of Hollywood."
Blagojevich refused to answer questions about the controversy Wednesday at a Peoria news conference promoting his college tuition tax credit plan. "Look, I'd love to make more news for you," Blagojevich told reporters. "We have no news for you. There's nothing new to say. Everything's the same."
Last week Blagojevich stood by Muhammad, saying he did not hold her responsible for Farrakhan's comments and that she should be judged by her own words of tolerance. At the same time, he said he didn't know until recently that she was on the commission.
Two Republican candidates for governor, state Sen. Bill Brady and Aurora businessman Jim Oberweis, said after a GOP debate Wednesday that the commission should be abolished. Republican Ron Gidwitz said commissioners should be replaced with new members. State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka called for a review of the commission's membership and organization.
Appearing on a local radio program Tuesday, Muhammad said it was "ridiculous" to criticize her for Farrakhan's remarks, which "were perceived by some as anti-Semitic."
Spellberg, who is Jewish, provided his letter of resignation to reporters but declined to comment further.
"By failing to confront and denounce the blatantly anti-Semitic and anti-gay statements ... I believe the commission will be seen as sanctioning those repugnant remarks," wrote Spellberg, deputy supervisor of the criminal appeals division in the Cook County state's attorney's office.
Two Jewish leaders cited Muhammad's refusal to renounce Farrakhan's statements as reason for resigning last week. A third member who is also Jewish said he could not "serve on a commission that, by implication, accepts divisive and bigoted standards." A fourth quit one day after agreeing to be a replacement on the commission.
Gov. George Ryan formed the panel in 1999 to fulfill a campaign promise to combat hate crimes and discrimination, but it fell dormant and began meeting again only after Blagojevich named Muhammad and other new members in August.
Other commission members plan to keep their posts.
"It's difficult to distance Sister Muhammad from her work," said YWCA Metropolitan Chicago Chief Executive Officer Laura Thrall, who was appointed to the commission in August. "By the same token, I don't feel like resigning is the way to rectify this."
Governor, this isn't going away
Published March 9, 2006
Another Jewish member of the Governor's Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes resigned Wednesday to protest Claudette Marie Muhammad's continued presence on the panel. That makes five in less than a week. Alan J. Spellberg, a Cook County prosecutor, said Muhammad's refusal to repudiate the anti-Semitic and anti-gay rantings of Minister Louis Farrakhan made a mockery of the panel's mission.
Muhammad is a top official of Farrakhan's Nation of Islam. She invited fellow commissioners to attend a recent speech at which Farrakhan unleashed a tirade against "wicked Jews, false Jews." He blamed Jews for promoting homosexuality and other "filth of Hollywood."
Speaking on WVON-AM Tuesday, Muhammad expressed a deep devotion to Farrakhan but termed it "ridiculous" that she be held accountable for comments he made. Comments, she said, "which were perceived by some as anti-Semitic."
By some? Farrakhan's sentiments were ugly and spiteful--and anti-Semitic. They're not really open to a benign interpretation.
This controversy lingers because Gov. Rod Blagojevich won't confront it. Last week he quickly condemned Farrakhan's words but defended Muhammad's membership on the commission. He also said he didn't know he had appointed her to the panel. For the last few days the governor has refused to speak to the controversy.
But this doesn't seem to be a case in which the governor can make a problem go away by ignoring it. There's a lot of anger out there.
Blagojevich appointed an ally, Rep. Lou Lang, to fill one of the vacancies on the commission, but Lang quit a day later in the face of outrage from constituents and Jewish leaders.
Some black leaders are defending Muhammad. So there's no easy solution for Blagojevich. But he will have to resolve this.
The governor dug himself into a hole by reviving this once-moribund panel to score points with supporters and then being inattentive to the appointments he made to it. It demands his attention now.
The solution: Ask Muhammad publicly to renounce the anti-Semitic comments of Farrakhan--and ask her to leave the commission if she will not do so.
Kathianne said:No, this is not a joke. Only in Chicago:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0603100180mar10,1,20630.story
Kathianne said:No, this is not a joke. Only in Chicago:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0603100180mar10,1,20630.story
