Bruce J Dierenfield and David A. Gerber
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780252043208
- eISBN:
- 9780252052088
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252043208.001.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Constitutional and Administrative Law
In 1988, Sandi and Larry Zobrest became agents in the struggle for disability rights when they sued a suburban Tucson, Arizona, school district to obtain public funding for the signed language ...
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In 1988, Sandi and Larry Zobrest became agents in the struggle for disability rights when they sued a suburban Tucson, Arizona, school district to obtain public funding for the signed language interpreter their deaf son Jim needed in high school. Such funding would have been unproblematic under the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (later retitled the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) if Jim went to a public high school, but they were intent on his attending a Roman Catholic school. The law was unclear on the legality of public money assisting students with disabilities to attend religiously affiliated schools, but it had long been a general principle of interpretation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment in the U.S. Supreme Court that governments must be cautious about dispensing public resources to religious institutions. Their successful lawsuit represents a classic American clash of rights. This history of the Zobrests’ lawsuit begins well before they went to court. The narrative extends back to Jim’s birth in 1974, a pediatrician’s diagnosis of deafness, and the efforts of his parents, who are not deaf, to seek resources for their son’s education prior to high school. It analyzes their desire to mainstream Jim for preparation for life in the hearing world, not in the Deaf community, and the succession of choices they made to that end.Less
In 1988, Sandi and Larry Zobrest became agents in the struggle for disability rights when they sued a suburban Tucson, Arizona, school district to obtain public funding for the signed language interpreter their deaf son Jim needed in high school. Such funding would have been unproblematic under the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (later retitled the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) if Jim went to a public high school, but they were intent on his attending a Roman Catholic school. The law was unclear on the legality of public money assisting students with disabilities to attend religiously affiliated schools, but it had long been a general principle of interpretation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment in the U.S. Supreme Court that governments must be cautious about dispensing public resources to religious institutions. Their successful lawsuit represents a classic American clash of rights. This history of the Zobrests’ lawsuit begins well before they went to court. The narrative extends back to Jim’s birth in 1974, a pediatrician’s diagnosis of deafness, and the efforts of his parents, who are not deaf, to seek resources for their son’s education prior to high school. It analyzes their desire to mainstream Jim for preparation for life in the hearing world, not in the Deaf community, and the succession of choices they made to that end.
Bruce J. Dierenfield and David A. Gerber
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780252043208
- eISBN:
- 9780252052088
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252043208.003.0007
- Subject:
- Law, Constitutional and Administrative Law
Chapter 6 traces the impact of the Zobrest decision, as precedent, on U.S. Supreme Court Establishment Clause doctrine and on the practices of public school districts throughout the United States; ...
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Chapter 6 traces the impact of the Zobrest decision, as precedent, on U.S. Supreme Court Establishment Clause doctrine and on the practices of public school districts throughout the United States; and it discusses the lives of the Zobrest family since the decision. While strict separationists, such as the leaders of Americans United, predicted the decision would profoundly remake the meanings of the Establishment Clause in the critical area of the sharing of public resources with religiously affiliated schools, William Bentley Ball was closer to being correct, believing the decision would have an incremental impact, pushing the court modestly toward a less strict standard than had prevailed under the Lemon Test. The most important of the decisions growing out of the Zobrest lawsuit, Agostini v. Felton, is discussed.Less
Chapter 6 traces the impact of the Zobrest decision, as precedent, on U.S. Supreme Court Establishment Clause doctrine and on the practices of public school districts throughout the United States; and it discusses the lives of the Zobrest family since the decision. While strict separationists, such as the leaders of Americans United, predicted the decision would profoundly remake the meanings of the Establishment Clause in the critical area of the sharing of public resources with religiously affiliated schools, William Bentley Ball was closer to being correct, believing the decision would have an incremental impact, pushing the court modestly toward a less strict standard than had prevailed under the Lemon Test. The most important of the decisions growing out of the Zobrest lawsuit, Agostini v. Felton, is discussed.
Bruce J. Dierenfield and David A. Gerber
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780252043208
- eISBN:
- 9780252052088
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252043208.003.0002
- Subject:
- Law, Constitutional and Administrative Law
This chapter traces the Zobrests’ decision-making regarding their deaf son Jim’s education from a pediatrician’s diagnosis in Erie, Pennsylvania, through Jim’s early training at the Gertrude A. ...
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This chapter traces the Zobrests’ decision-making regarding their deaf son Jim’s education from a pediatrician’s diagnosis in Erie, Pennsylvania, through Jim’s early training at the Gertrude A. Barber Center, to the family’s removal to Tucson, so that Jim could attend the Arizona School for the Deaf and the Blind, a public school. The analysis centers on the claims of competing pedagogies in deaf education: American Sign Language and socialization within Deaf culture, identity, and community and mainstreaming through Total Communication, speechreading, and Signed Exact English. The preference for mainstreaming is analyzed in the context of both a parental disposition toward complete social integration of deaf children and in the context of strong parental activism in behalf of enhancing opportunities for deaf children.Less
This chapter traces the Zobrests’ decision-making regarding their deaf son Jim’s education from a pediatrician’s diagnosis in Erie, Pennsylvania, through Jim’s early training at the Gertrude A. Barber Center, to the family’s removal to Tucson, so that Jim could attend the Arizona School for the Deaf and the Blind, a public school. The analysis centers on the claims of competing pedagogies in deaf education: American Sign Language and socialization within Deaf culture, identity, and community and mainstreaming through Total Communication, speechreading, and Signed Exact English. The preference for mainstreaming is analyzed in the context of both a parental disposition toward complete social integration of deaf children and in the context of strong parental activism in behalf of enhancing opportunities for deaf children.
Bruce J. Dierenfield and David A. Gerber
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780252043208
- eISBN:
- 9780252052088
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252043208.003.0003
- Subject:
- Law, Constitutional and Administrative Law
Chapter 2 examines the Zobrests’ decision-making as they sought opportunities among various school systems available to them for mainstreaming their deaf son, Jim. We follow Jim’s education from the ...
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Chapter 2 examines the Zobrests’ decision-making as they sought opportunities among various school systems available to them for mainstreaming their deaf son, Jim. We follow Jim’s education from the Arizona School for the Deaf and the Blind to the Catalina Foothills public schools in suburban Tucson and analyze the Zobrests’ decision to remove Jim from the public schools and place him in Salpointe Catholic High School. The general attraction of Roman Catholic schools in the cultural and social climate of the 1980s is discussed, as is the expectation that a Catholic high school would offer a deaf-friendly educational and social environment. Jim’s IEPs, his performance in school, and his social situation, as the only deaf student in each educational setting, are analyzed.Less
Chapter 2 examines the Zobrests’ decision-making as they sought opportunities among various school systems available to them for mainstreaming their deaf son, Jim. We follow Jim’s education from the Arizona School for the Deaf and the Blind to the Catalina Foothills public schools in suburban Tucson and analyze the Zobrests’ decision to remove Jim from the public schools and place him in Salpointe Catholic High School. The general attraction of Roman Catholic schools in the cultural and social climate of the 1980s is discussed, as is the expectation that a Catholic high school would offer a deaf-friendly educational and social environment. Jim’s IEPs, his performance in school, and his social situation, as the only deaf student in each educational setting, are analyzed.
Bruce J. Dierenfield and David A. Gerber
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780252043208
- eISBN:
- 9780252052088
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252043208.003.0004
- Subject:
- Law, Constitutional and Administrative Law
This chapter looks at the considerable challenges that Jim Zobrest faced as he attended Salpointe Catholic High School in Tucson, as the only deaf student in that elite institution. Jim’s experiment ...
More
This chapter looks at the considerable challenges that Jim Zobrest faced as he attended Salpointe Catholic High School in Tucson, as the only deaf student in that elite institution. Jim’s experiment in mainstreaming did not succeed in overcoming his social isolation within the high school. The school itself largely left Jim to his own devices to succeed in this hearing environment. Jim therefore relied heavily on his interpreter, Jim Santeford, and his younger brother, Sam, to facilitate conversation with his teachers, classmates, and coaches. The kinds, methodologies, and technologies of deaf communication are also considered. Despite mostly succeeding in the classroom, Jim grew increasingly alienated from the school he and his family chose because he was unable to start on his school’s championship-caliber basketball team.Less
This chapter looks at the considerable challenges that Jim Zobrest faced as he attended Salpointe Catholic High School in Tucson, as the only deaf student in that elite institution. Jim’s experiment in mainstreaming did not succeed in overcoming his social isolation within the high school. The school itself largely left Jim to his own devices to succeed in this hearing environment. Jim therefore relied heavily on his interpreter, Jim Santeford, and his younger brother, Sam, to facilitate conversation with his teachers, classmates, and coaches. The kinds, methodologies, and technologies of deaf communication are also considered. Despite mostly succeeding in the classroom, Jim grew increasingly alienated from the school he and his family chose because he was unable to start on his school’s championship-caliber basketball team.
Bruce J. Dierenfield and David A. Gerber
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780252043208
- eISBN:
- 9780252052088
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252043208.003.0005
- Subject:
- Law, Constitutional and Administrative Law
This chapter discusses the origins of the Zobrests’ lawsuit against their public school district in Tucson, which refused on constitutional grounds to pay for Jim’s sign language interpreter in a ...
More
This chapter discusses the origins of the Zobrests’ lawsuit against their public school district in Tucson, which refused on constitutional grounds to pay for Jim’s sign language interpreter in a Catholic school. For the Zobrests, federal disability laws and the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause entitled Jim to have this essential service. What follows is an analysis of the zigzag line of thinking employed by the U.S. Supreme Court as it grappled with church-state issues in the twentieth century prior to its consideration of the Zobrest case. For years, two titans of constitutional law—Catholic neoconservative William Bentley Ball and civil libertarian Leo Pfeffer—battled over what was legally permissible with regard to freedom of religion. Ultimately, the court enunciated a controversial Lemon Test to address this thorny area of its jurisprudence.Less
This chapter discusses the origins of the Zobrests’ lawsuit against their public school district in Tucson, which refused on constitutional grounds to pay for Jim’s sign language interpreter in a Catholic school. For the Zobrests, federal disability laws and the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause entitled Jim to have this essential service. What follows is an analysis of the zigzag line of thinking employed by the U.S. Supreme Court as it grappled with church-state issues in the twentieth century prior to its consideration of the Zobrest case. For years, two titans of constitutional law—Catholic neoconservative William Bentley Ball and civil libertarian Leo Pfeffer—battled over what was legally permissible with regard to freedom of religion. Ultimately, the court enunciated a controversial Lemon Test to address this thorny area of its jurisprudence.