September 07, 2024
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Oswego SD308 adds high school sign language course

Will be offered starting in the 2024-25 school year

By Eric Schelkopf
Oswego School District 308 is investigating acts of vandalism that occurred at Oswego East High School Wednesday night, including racial slurs written on the school grounds.

At the Oct. 23 Oswego School Board meeting, School Board members voted 7-0 to add an American Sign Language course to the district’s high school curriculum at Oswego High School and Oswego East High School starting in the 2024-25 school year. (Eric Schelkopf)

Oswego School District 308 is moving ahead with plans to offer a sign language course for high school students.

At the Oct. 23 Oswego school board meeting, school board members voted 7-0 to add an American Sign Language course to the district’s high school curriculum at Oswego High School and Oswego East High School starting in the 2024-25 school year.

“I think we’ve done an awesome thing here for our students,” Oswego school board member Jared Ploger said following the vote.

Board member Jennifer Johnson agreed.

“I’m just very grateful,” she said. “As part of the deaf and hard of hearing community, I’m incredibly grateful that we are finally bringing this forward.”

Oswego School Superintendent Andalib Khelghati also took note of the importance of adding the course.

“This is actually a momentous moment for our district,” he said. “It took a lot to get to this point.”

ASL is the third most commonly used language in the U.S., after English and Spanish.

“This course has tremendous value to our students,” Dan Arntzen, SD308′s executive director of high school instruction and K-12 assessments, said in addressing school board members at their Oct. 10 meeting.

School board member Dominick Cirone had previously asked how many school districts in the area offer sign language as a high school course.

“There’s quite a few, actually,” Arntzen said. “This is pretty much the norm to offer this. It wouldn’t be something out of the ordinary.”

He noted that Plainfield and Yorkville school districts are among the districts in the area offering sign language courses for students. Staff said the course will allow for the district’s deaf and hard of hearing students who use sign language as their primary mode of communication to feel more included in their learning environment.

At the same time, the course will allow students to explore potential careers (some of which are experiencing a nationwide shortage) that require the use of sign language in the daily performance of their jobs, such as a sign language interpreter for the deaf or a speech/language pathologist.