FREMONT, Calif. — It’s not every year that a U.S. government teacher gets to see their 12th-grade students help pass a new state law, but this may be the year for Molly Christensen.
A project spearheaded by students in Christensen’s class has inspired a state bill that, if passed, would help increase the visibility of their school, the California School for the Deaf, in Fremont. Earlier this year, Assemblymember Alex Lee (D-24th District) introduced Assembly Bill 2367, which would allow the state Department of Transportation, or Caltrans, to erect highway signs to the school on one of the three nearby highways.
As amended March 19, the bill would direct Caltrans to allow destination signs for state special schools that have at least 300 students and are located within five miles of the highway in its next revision of the California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices.
Seniors Jace Tillotson, Patricia Patron, Zorina Briseno and Rishav Singh explained to the East Bay Echo how learning about political institutions and the democratic process equipped them with the knowledge to push for legislation that could raise awareness of their school, which offers unique learning and socializing opportunities for students who are deaf, hard of hearing or blind.
“Deaf schools in other states have exit signs, but we don’t,” Tillotson said. “We recognized that and decided we should propose a bill to establish exit signs to garner more awareness about this important school.”
Singh added that their sister school in Riverside has directional signs and they thought it was only fair to have a sign for their school, too, as well as the California School for the Blind, which is co-located on their campus.
The students described the preliminary research they did to figure out how to get the ball rolling, leading them to the discovery that Caltrans has rules that disqualify CSD from being able to get a directional sign. Instead of giving up, they reached out to local legislators like Lee and gave them a presentation highlighting the importance of changing the regulations to increase the school’s visibility.
Lee introduced a bill doing just that weeks later and issued a statement crediting the students at CSD as the inspiration for the bill.
“This bill is a prime example of how young people can participate in our democracy,” Lee said, “and it’s great to see the passion of CSD students in pushing forward their cause.”
The students said they were really thankful that the legislators took the time to come and listen to their presentation. They were even more grateful that Lee followed through with his commitment to them.
“We’ll be really excited if there’s actually a sign that goes up,” Patron said, “to be able to say ‘That’s what we did our senior year.’”
California School for the Deaf serves about 350 students who are deaf and hard of hearing from across Northern California. Many students live on campus since they don’t live nearby.
The students described how enrolling in the school changed their lives and gave them opportunities they could never have had at a standard public school.
“It’s been a great experience being at this school,” said Tillotson, who started at the school in kindergarten. “I can’t imagine if I had just gone to the mainstream public school. I think life would have been harder.”
Communication, for instance, is easy, Tillotson said; he doesn’t struggle to have people understand him. Patron, who also enrolled in kindergarten, added that there are more people to talk to at the school than at a mainstream school, where the students are more likely to be placed into a small cohort.
However, the students described how they only learned about the school by chance and didn’t want other students to miss out on the opportunity to attend.
“It would be huge for people to be able to drive by and actually know that the California School for the Deaf is here,” Briseno said.
Christensen said she was proud of her students and believes the research and persuasion skills they learned during this project alone will last them a lifetime. The project helps show them how the U.S. government connects with them personally. It also illustrates how they have to get involved for the government to know what their needs are.
“I think they’re going to take that away for the rest of their lives,” Christensen said, “‘I have a role in my democracy.’”
Sonia Waraich can be reached at 510-952-7455.
Photo caption: Seniors Jace Tillotson, Patricia Patron, Zorina Briseno and Rishav Singh pose for a photo in front of a wall depicting their progress toward getting highway signs that would increase the visibility of their school, the California School for the Deaf and Blind, on Feb. 27. (Sonia Waraich/East Bay Echo)
The article highlights how awareness for students with disabilities, like those who are deaf or blind, has grown through the efforts of both peers and adults. It’s great to see that compassion and determination are shown in not just adults but students as well, stepping up to support one another. Showing a strong sense of community, where one another supports each other.