RatifyNow CRPD Blog Swarm 2008!

There is an international movement to gain ratification of the International disability rights convention. Through medium of the Internet and world opinion, called the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

This effort has not met with much success, particularly in the US. The hope is that an international response would increase awareness and develop sensitivity to full inclusion of people with disabilities in society. There is a link for data and statistics on people with disability.

St. Mary's School of The Deaf Protests

Students, faculty, alumni and parents picket Tuesday outside St. Mary’s School for the Deaf, their only recourse because they are barred from meetings of the board that runs the educational facility on Main Street.


Parents and staff will air their concerns at the St. Mary’s School for the Deaf board meeting this afternoon — by picketing with placards outside the front entrance of the Main Street school.

That’s the closest they are likely to get to the board meeting, since they are not allowed in.

Along with 10 other such schools serving the blind and deaf in New York State, St. Mary’s is state-funded but is run as a nonprofit private institution. Decades ago, the State Legislature exempted such schools from the state’s Freedom of Information Law.

That means St. Mary’s enjoys the funding of a public school and the shroud from public scrutiny of a private school.

Like any public school, St. Mary’s gets nearly all its money from taxpayers, in this case about $11.65 million annually.

But unlike public schools, St. Mary’s conducts all its business out of public view. Among actions the board has taken in recent years behind closed doors:

• Extending the superintendent’s contract, with an immediate 10 percent pay hike to $159,000 this year, as well as a car, lifetime health coverage and a six-month consultant stint upon retirement.
• Hiring the current superintendent’s son as a teacher. A previous superintendent’s wife and daughter had been hired to oversee the school’s video repository.
• Enacting a policy putting more authority in the hands of the board’s executive committee, while, at the same time, making it more difficult for employees to bring concerns to individual board members.
• Considering removal of two members — including a nun who had worked at the school for 44 years — from the board for talking to employees. The motion was on the agenda but never brought to a vote.

The school’s board meetings are closed. No parents, staff or students are allowed in. The 15-member board is not required to release minutes from its meetings or even to tell what was voted on.

What’s more, the board basically appoints itself. When a member leaves, the board appoints a replacement. Recently, for example, attorney John P. DePaolo, the son of board Chairman Joseph S. DePaolo, was appointed to a three-year term.

With parents, students and staff concerned about recent decisions by the school’s superintendent, William P. Johnson — including staff reassignments and the dismissal of a popular math teacher — there have been requests for open board meetings.

“It’s a huge disservice to the board as well as the parents and staff that they cannot attend meetings,” parent Jane Wilkes said during a meeting parents had with school officials.

Some employees agree. “CSEA supports having open board of trustee meetings and direct access or communication with members of the board of trustees if we feel Superintendent Dr. Johnson is ignoring or neglecting our concerns,” Local 891, Civil Service Employees Association, wrote to the board.

Board chairman DePaolo said the board has considered opening its meetings but has consistently rejected the idea.

“We have discussed it many times and decided to keep our meetings closed,” he said.

But at least one board member — Assemblyman Sam Hoyt — says he wants the meetings open.

“While it may be statutorily or legally a private school, in essence it is a public school, with large public funding. The parents and taxpayers ought to have access to what is going on at the meetings,” Hoyt said.

As an assemblyman, he could propose legislation requiring St. Mary’s to open its meetings, but he would prefer not to.

“I’d rather we make a decision as a board [to open the meetings],” Hoyt said.

St. Mary’s finances are also exempt from public scrutiny. Not even the state Education Department knows exactly who’s on the payroll or how much each employee earns.

The state spends about $111 million on all the schools for the deaf and blind in New York State but only loosely oversees how the money is spent. Each school is required to submit an annual report to the state detailing spending by category, rather than providing the specifics that public schools are required to provide.

The most recent financial statement St. Mary’s submitted to the state — for 2006-07 — shows 37 teachers making a total of $3.1 million and 20 teacher’s aides making $765,437. State aid to the school, which serves 130 students — including 35 residential students — was $11.65 million that year.

The statement does not list all employees. It does not, for example, show Johnson’s son was hired part time last year and full time this school year.

But it does state that Superintendent Johnson was paid $145,000 in 2006-07.

His salary jumped to $159,000 this school year after the board, at a closed-door meeting, extended his contract until September 2009, when he plans to retire.

That contract says Johnson could receive another merit raise next year. It also allows him, upon retiring, to work as a consultant for six months — at his full rate of pay — training a new superintendent.

Prior to retirement, Johnson gets a car and seven weeks’ vacation. Upon retirement, he gets lifetime health insurance.

His contract is not public information, but The Buffalo News obtained a copy of it.

Beyond the money the school gets from the state, St. Mary’s also has a foundation that raises money for expenses the state doesn’t cover.

The Foundation for Deaf Education is not required to detail its finances. However, as a nonprofit, it must, like the school itself, file federal tax reports.

The foundation raised about $26,000 last year, had net assets of more than $900,000 and gave the school $147,356 last year for the purpose of “education,” according to the report. Harry Scull Jr./Buffalo News

mpasciak@buffnews.com and sschulman@buffnews.com
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The following is an on the ground report from Dean DeRusso, Deaf Systems Advocate at the Regional Center for Independent Living out of Rochester, NY:
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Anita Cameron, Frank Kimmes and I were there. Yesterday from 3 to 5 pm. They need people wearing white and supporting them with funds to continue their work.

Based on my understanding from speaking with staff, people and students, the students were tired of the system being changed for worst than ever.

For one, they were given an Athetic Director who they do not want and can not communicate with them. They were given new teachers who they claim was not certificated and did not know how to communicate the resources to them. They even claimed that one of the teacher played Chess in the class rather than teach them anything.

This teacher Nettie did not do any of above, she gave them full lecture in ASL helping them. She even brought visual aids of resources to classrooms to help them understand math better than ever in their lifes. She gave them all education they needed. They can not figure why the teacher was fired. And, they still do not understand why they were given an Athetic Director who can not sign or communicate with them.

I spoke with some people about the Dr. Johnson of St. Mary School for the Deaf wants to hire staff and board officers who will not speak up to him. That's the only reason they suspect that he requested that this teacher was released was because she can speak up to him. Nettie had a strong relationship with the students and she would always stand for the students and it appears that he did not appricate that.

The students are going to fight. And from an Advocate point of view it's sad that the newspapers reporters did not contact any deaf people while they were interviewing. They are getting information from the union or hearing people who are in favor of the students.

More information about it can be found below:

St. Mary’s School for the Deaf board keeps its meetings closed
By Mary B. Pasciak and Susan Schulman
Updated: 03/19/08 9:10 AM

Thank you,

Dean DeRusso
Deaf Systems Advocate
Regional Center for Independent Living
Advocacy and Independent Living Services for Individuals
497 State Street
Rochester, NY 14608

Sorenson VP: 585 546-7598
VP: 74.39.189.195
Voice Callers 1: (877) 467-4877 ext 07598
Voice Callers 2: 866-327-8877 ext 585.546.7598
TTY: (585) 697-1604
Fax: 585.546.7577
E-Mail: dderusso@rcil.org



-------------------

Below is an email from Tom Coughlin:
-------------------
Hello Millie and friends: thanks for sending me news about SMSD. It is
shocking to hear about Mr. Johnson not showing respect to our beloved
Sisters. Please see the attached Open Letter I have written to our
Alumni. Please share this letter with all who you know via your email
as I do not have many of their email address. the more this letter is
circulated the better we can defend our Sisters. We must defend Sister
Virginia and Sister Loretta. Sr. Mary Delaney would have done the
same. Fr. Tom C.

---------------
Online articles about this controversy are availabe on the following websites:

http://www.wivb.com/global/story.asp?s=7977682

http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/story/297185.html

http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/buffaloerie/story/298127.html

http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/buffaloerie/story/298794.html

Well, dear readers, New York State is making history. A man who is African American and legally blind will be sworn in Monday March 17th (St. Patrick's Day) as our Governor. It is unfortunate that is is under such inauspicious circumstances-- in sports they call this an 'ugly win'. But it is a momentous occasion.

What will this bode for the future of people with disabilities in New York State? Or African Americans? How will Governor-elect Patterson ride out the local, state and national media storm and gossip-column type frenzy of his predecessor? We can read some of his speeches, to get an indication of his perspective.

Stay tuned.

GOVERNOR SPITZER & LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR PATERSON DISABILITY PROCLAMATION

Month-Long Celebration of "Success Stories" of Individuals with Disabilities
to be Held in Albany
_____

Governor Eliot Spitzer and Lieutenant Governor David A. Paterson today
proclaimed March Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month, honoring the
tens of thousands of people in New York State who live with developmental
disabilities, their contributions to the state, and the families, friends,
caregivers, and advocates who support them.

The New York State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental
Disabilities (OMRDD) will host a month-long exhibit in Albany chronicling
the history of disabilities in New York State and celebrating the "success
stories" of individuals with developmental disabilities.

"New York leads the nation in ensuring that persons with d evelopmental
disabilities are provided critical support through carefully designed and
innovative programs," said Governor Spitzer. "We have seen bold advancements
in the rights of people with developmental disabilities and we must continue
working to expand opportunities. As we applaud these achievements we must
also commend the family members and caregivers who play an integral role
every day in helping individuals with developmental disabilities lead
productive lives."

The exhibit will run from March 5 through March 31 in the Empire State
Plaza's South Concourse in Albany. It will feature displays from the Museum
of disABILITY History near Buffalo and profiles of accomplished individuals
with developmental disabilities.

Lieutenant Governor David A. Paterson said: "As a society we now know that a
developmental disability no longer means that an individual cannot achieve
his or her dreams and contribute to society. In fact , we have come to
realize the exceptional contributions people with disabilities can, and do,
make every day. This awareness month established by Governor Spitzer is a
time to reflect on these contributions."

OMRDD Commissioner Diana Jones Ritter said: "We applaud the Governor for his
leadership in continuing New York's State's extraordinary legacy of
supporting people with developmental disabilities and for commissioning this
month-long celebration and observance. Our goal is to help the community
at-large see the merits and abilities of the whole person - not simply a
disability."

Ramon Aldecoa, Co-Vice President of the Board for the Self-Advocacy
Association of New York State, Inc. (an organization run by and for people
with developmental disabilities) and a subject of one of the exhibits at the
Empire Plaza said: "For me, it was very important to learn about my rights
as a person with a developmental disability. No w, it's time for me to use
all I've learned to help teach other people with disabilities to do the same
thing. We all have the same rights. I feel it's my job as an advocate to
make sure all individuals know this, so they can act on those rights."

Nearly 350,000 New Yorkers live with a developmental disability. Initiatives
like NYS-CARES III, which provides out-of-home community residential
alternatives for adults, and other programs such as supported employment,
which helps individuals enter the workforce and become productive members of
society, are vitally important in creating opportunities for New Yorkers
with developmental disabilities.

For more information about the exhibit or about programs and services offered through OMRDD, visit the OMRDD website at http://www.omr.state.ny.us/state.ny.us.

Presidential forum on Disability

FEEL THE POWER OF THE DISABILITY VOTE!

Celebrate the 18th Anniversary of the ADA at a National Presidential Candidate Forum on Disability Issues


Saturday, July 26, 2008

Veteran's Memorial, Columbus OH

Free! Everyone welcome!

Hosted by: Ohio Disability Vote Coalition and major national sponsors


Additional information will be posted on JFActivist Blog.