Deaf East Brunswick High School Teacher Says School District Denying His Request for Help at Graduation

East Brunswick, NJ - A deaf East Brunswick High School teacher had to to turn to The Star Ledger for help after he said the East Brunswick school district repeatedly ignored or denied his requests for hearing-impaired help for the upcoming 2016 high school graduation.

Richard Koenigsberg has been legally deaf since he was 19. But that hasn't stopped him from working as an award-winning sociology and film teacher at East Brunswick High School for the past 30 years. He does not, however, use American Sign Language, and instead reads lips and uses normal verbal skills. He says his disability actually forces students in his film classes to pay extra attention and not speak out of turn

Where it gets difficult, however, is staff meetings: Several people talk at once and it can become impossible for Koenigsberg to understand what is being said. He said previous administrations at the East Brunswick Board of Education have been extremely understanding and accommodating of his needs. About four years ago, however, new administrators took over, who he said "had no understanding of my being profoundly deaf," he told the Star Ledger.

So Koenigsberg sued the East Brunswick Board of Education and filed charges with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission. The result was a settlement where the School Board had to provide him with a Computer Assisted Real-Time Translation reporter, or CART reporter, for certain school events, such as meetings. The CART reporter shows text in real-time on a screen, typed by a stenographer.

2016 graduation problems

The problem arose with the upcoming June 2016 East Brunswick High School graduation, held at the Sun Bank Center in Trenton.

Koenigsberg said he always loves to attend the graduation — even though he is not required to — and he asked the school district several times if it would provide the CART reporter for the event, since it would be impossible for him to read lips from so far away.

The first letter he sent went ignored. A second request was met with this response from East Brunswick superintendent Victor Valeski: "Although the district provides CART services for professional development and meetings as specified in the agreement, there is no requirement to provide CART services for the graduation ceremony," Valeski wrote.

Koenigsberg wrote back on Aug. 15, requesting reconsideration.

"I should be afforded the same opportunity as the hearing staff to participate and have the same experience as my colleagues," he wrote. "The legal agreement states that I have the right to request CART for other events as they occur."

No response. He wrote again on Oct. 2, and Valeski wrote back on Oct. 7, saying he had already replied to his request. That's when Koenigsberg turned to The Star Ledger "Bamboozled" column for help.

Issue now "under review"

The Star Ledger called Valeski, the superintendent.

"We didn't understand what the CART reporter was going to provide that we weren't already providing," Valeski reportedly said.

But after more calls and OPRA requests from the Ledger, Valeski said, the matter is now under review. The school district would "look into" providing the CART for Koenigsberg at graduation, he said.

He also said the East Brunswick School District realized Koenigsberg may not be the only hearing-impaired person in the audience, so they're looking at other options, including making the entire graduation closed-captioned and broadcasting the text on the jumbotrons at the Sun Bank Center.

"I find it sad that I had to take legal action to get CART through an attorney and the EEOC the first time and I now have to get Bamboozled to assist me with my right to have effective accommodations for graduation," Koenigsberg told the the Ledger. "I will be happier when it becomes a reality and I have CART or the jumbo screen is captioned for everyone at the EBHS graduation in June 2016."

Read the original article here.

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