A Nebraska public school is barring a deaf three-year-old boy from using sign language to sign his name because, it claims, the gesture resembles a gun.
The school’s policies have prompted outrage from parents, rights groups and ordinary citizens.
Hunter Spanjer’s parents were informed by the Grand Island Public School that the way their child signed his name was a violation of the school’s weapons policy.
“He’s deaf, and his name sign, they say, is a violation of their weapons policy,” the boy’s father Brian Spanjer told Nebraska Central News (NCN).
The three-year-old uses Signing Exact English (SEE), a manual communication system mostly used by deaf children and based on the American Sign Language (ASL).
Spanjer crosses his index and middle fingers to show that his name sign is uniquely his.
“It’s a symbol,” his father stressed. “It’s an actual sign, a registered sign, through SEE.”
But the Grand Island Public Schools board policy 8470 prohibits students from possessing, handling or transmitting a “firearm, weapon” or anything that “looks like a weapon.”
“Such items will be considered weapons for the purposed (sic) of this policy,” the document states. “Students who are in possession of the aforementioned articles will be subject to mandatory suspension or expulsion procedures.”
The school has so far failed to produce an adequate explanation for how a three-year-old’s crossed index and middle fingers could be grounds for expulsion. A spokesperson for the facility said it was trying to arrive at the “best possible solution” for the child.
A number of civil rights groups derided the school’s policies, which effectively mean that the child would either have to change the way he signs his name or be deprived of the right to education.
“A name sign is the equivalent of a person’s name, and to prohibit a name sign is to prohibit a person’s name,” Howard Rosenblum, the CEO of the National Association of the Deaf was quoted by The Huffington Post as stating.
The American Civil Liberties Union also sent a letter to the local school district, asking it to rethink its policies.
Brian Spanjer also started a Facebook page to garner support for his son to be able to keep his name sign. Most of the commenters were amazed by the school’s extreme policies.
“What is this world coming to?” Facebook user Louise Arsenault Lanyon Kissinger noted. “There is so much more wrong in this world they could be worrying about [than] this little [boy’s] name in sign language. Oh please…”
Stacey Coar Philips remarked that the policy was right out of classic dystopian novels 1984 or Brave New World. Many others complained that the school was devoting too much attention to trivial issues instead of concentrating on real issues like education and actual security.
This video shows Mayan artifacts depicting aliens and alien craft. Some of the artifacts have been protected by the Mexican government for 80 years.
Many images of individual artifacts are shown in this video. In addition, this video also contains analysis of some of the artifacts by Nassim Haramein and Klaus Donna.
The Mayans used to construct one pyramid over another. In the site at Calakmul, workers discovered rooms inside the pyramid that have never been seen or explored before. Featured in this film are some of the finds found in these newly discovered rooms, plus some finds that have been held by the Mexico Government. These items clearly depict UFO’s and Alien Life Forms.
Note: Although much of the information presented in the video has been available for at least six months, it is worth watching (even if you’ve already seen it before). Here’s a good article that includes images of many of the artifacts and several other videos: Newly Discovered Artifacts Prove Mayans Had Alien Contact!
In Myanmar, tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims had their homes burnt down and scores have been killed. Nearly 60 thousand Muslims used to live in Myanmar, but now the area is a wasteland. The Myanmar government and much of the world media would merely have the public believe that this is merely a fight between two ethnic groups. Myanmar is notorious for being one of the most closed and repressive countries in the world. The government claims to have sent in the army to stop what it called ethnic violence. This edition of INfocus uncovers evidences that the governments are involved.
At least 12 people have been killed and another 48 injured as a car bomb detonated at a funeral procession in Jaramana, a suburb of Damascus. The men being buried are reported to have been supporters of the Bashar al-Assad government.
“At around 3 pm (12:00 GMT), a funeral procession was making its way to the cemetery, when a car parked on the side of the road exploded, killing and inuring many people,” AFP quotes an army official as saying.
Many of those injured are in critical condition, state television reported.
The attack at the entrance to a Druze cemetery in the Jaramana district in southeast Damascus is alleged to have targeted Assad supporters.
Some buildings near the cemetery were severely damaged by the blast. The façade of one was completely destroyed, a photographer at the scene said. The windows of apartments several stories up were shattered.
“During the funeral of two martyrs of ours who had been killed yesterday we were having our breakfast when a very huge explosion was heard, the whole building rocked. My brothers were injured when all the windows fell apart. We took them to the hospital – they were hit by shrapnel, and their injuries are moderate. Downstairs as well there were injuries; more than 20 people injured,” AP quotes a witness whose name was not given as saying.
The attack, said to be the third bombing in Jaramana in 24 hours, comes amid escalating fighting between government forces and rebels in Damascus’ eastern belt, home to some of the rebel Free Syrian Army’s best-organized battalions.
Political pressure is also rising, as on Monday French President Francois Hollande urged the Syrian opposition to form a provisional government, saying his country would recognize it as legitimate.
Teach-in organized by the CT Coalition Against Indefinite Detention — will feature a speaker knowledgeable about Japanese Internment during WWII, and another speaker on the NDAA indefinite detention provisions we’re facing today, as well as representatives from the CT Coalition who are working to pass an anti-indefinite detention resolution in the New Britain City Council.
PANDA will be at Campusfest in Bowling Green, OH! Come out to support the fight for liberty and the Constitution. We will be preparing for our push on the Bowling Green County Commission to pass a resolution against NDAA.
Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has strongly opposed any form of foreign military intervention in Syria, stressing that his country seeks a peaceful solution to the unrest in the Arab country.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011. Damascus says outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorists are behind the unrest while the opposition accuses the security forces of killing protesters.
The Syrian government says that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and that there are reports that a very large number of the armed militants are foreign nationals.
“The time has come for everyone to realize that war do[es] not achieve stability, because peace is based on justice and comprehensive peace for everyone, without any side attacking the other,” the 61-year-old Egyptian leader said.
“We will never be a party to an attack on any side and we will never accept anyone threatening our security or the security of the region for one reason or another,” he added.
In a recent statement, Morsi said he plans to form a regional contact group including Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, to find a way to end the violence in Syria and meet people’s demands.
Press TV has conducted an interview with Dr. Kevin Barrett, the author and Islamic studies expert in Montana to further discuss the issue.
