| The Tartar Timeline |
 |
 |
|
| Welcome! Here, you will have the opportunity to read and understand the proceedings of the current situation at Michigan School for the Deaf. The link below shows the memo sent to the Administrative team expressing concern regarding the equal access for all students and some of the staff at MSD. Below the link are brief synopses of the events leading up to present time. For more information on related issues, scroll down. |
| Related Links: |
 |
|
| Due to communication inequalities endured by the students and staff at MSD, a memo was sent to the Administrators. Further concerns involved the disproportionate ratio of Deaf to hearing staff. |
| A meeting was called by Ceceila Winkler, the principal. At the meeting, the author of the memo and his superiors were present. Ms. Winkler was quoted in saying, "I don't understand the point of the memo" with a facial expression that implied that the memo was without foundation. |
| Oct. 9, 2003 |
| Week of Oct. 13, 2003 |
| Between Oct. 13-30, 2003 |
 |
|
| A follow up meeting was held with a larger number of administrative staff to further discuss some of the concerns listed in the memo. It was agreed that a time and place would be provided for the staff at MSD to discuss and hopefully resolve some of the issues listed in the Memo to Administrators. |
| Oct. 30, 2003 |
| Ceceila Winkler sent out a memo to MSD staff. It was entitled: "Tensions in the school meeting." The memo indicated that there would be three meetings: *Tuesday, Nov. 4th 3-4pm "Communication Mode: ASL" (small group) *Wednesday, Nov. 5th, 3-4 "Communication Mode: English" (small group) The small groups were intended to provide a place for staff to "vent" and uncover main issues to be brought up at the third, larger meeting. This large group was to meet several times until issues were resolved. *Thursday, Nov. 11th: Large group meeting, facilitated by two administrators (1st large meeting). |
| Nov. 11, 2003 |
| This was the first gathering of a large group of staff, with intention of addressing some of the concerns listed in the memo addressed to administrators. No real concerns were aired during this meeting, and staff commented that they felt there was too much tension. No real issues were discussed. A second large group meeting was to be scheduled. It never took place, and was never rescheduled. |
|
|
|
| Between Nov. 18-22 2003 |
| An article in |
| created a disturbance and Beth |
| Steenwyk was called into the picture. Beth Steenwyk is the current Deputy Director of MSD. |
| Beth called a meeting, first with the hearing staff. The principal (C. Winkler), and Assistant Principal (D. Jackson) both attended this meeting. The meeting went on for a considerable amount of time. Immediately following that meeting, Beth met with the Deaf staff. Both Winkler and Jackson opted out of this meeting. The Deaf Staff meeting was considerably shorter, and Beth opened the meeting in "lecture mode." A lot of her comments came from what she learned from the previous group. Shortly after, some of the Deaf staff started to express their concerns. Beth quieted down and finally allowed the Deaf staff to share, although she did make it clear that she felt pressed for time. The meeting was stopped and the hearing staff were invited back into the room. To the whole group, Beth declared, " 'BiBi' will never happen at MSD." (Bicultural-Bilingual) She also informed the staff that they would need to "tolerate each other." The resolution meetings and tension were swept under the rug. No further opportunities have been offered since then for resolution. |
|
|