 
|
|||||||||
              
|
Protest gets hearing Monday
Friday, September 08, 2000 By Janice Crompton, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
While Deanna Lesneski meets with McGuffey School District and state officials Monday morning in an effort to iron out the educational needs of her disabled son, a Washington County Common Pleas Court judge is scheduled to hear arguments over whether the disgruntled mother will have to move her protest from a flagpole at the Blaine-Buffalo Elementary School.
Lesneski, 47, of Buffalo, has maintained the district mishandled the education of her son, 7-year-old Ryan "Max" Lesneski, by not providing him with a qualified sign-language interpreter and by refusing to administer his medications. Max, a second-grader at the school, has Down syndrome, asthma and a hearing disability.
Lesneski used a lawn chair and jump ropes to strap herself to the flagpole Aug. 28 after she said she learned the district would not be administering Max's medications this year.
Last Friday, she agreed to end her five-day protest, which drew media attention from as far away as England, when the district promised to hire a teacher of the deaf for Max, and to administer updated medical prescriptions.
But on Tuesday, Lesneski retied herself to the pole, saying the district reneged on what she said was a promise to hire a teacher who would work one-on-one with Max. The teacher, who has a master's degree in education of the deaf and other credentials, quit her job Tuesday evening, fearing that the publicity surrounding the issue could hurt her future career. District officials are searching for a replacement but say it's unclear if they will be able to find another teacher with such experience.
A school PTA meeting Wednesday night turned into a shouting match when about 70 parents showed up to angrily complain about Lesneski's tactics.
While Lesneski said she will remain strapped to the pole over the weekend, she is expected to unfasten herself Monday long enough to meet with district officials and representatives from the state Department of Health and the Pennsylvania Deaf and Hard of Hearing Association to work out a possible solution in the dispute.
At the same time Monday morning, Judge Paul Pozonsky is scheduled to hear arguments from the school district, which will be seeking an injunction to have Lesneski and her growing group of supporters moved from the flagpole area of the property.
District Solicitor Dennis Makel said he will ask that the protest be moved to the school's entrance at the edge of the property -- an area not visible from the school building.
Lesneski, who yesterday was joined by about 30 protesters from Erie, Washington D.C., and a local disability rights organization, said she would prefer to stay at the flagpole.
"I'm hoping that Monday's meeting will resolve this," she said. "People need community education on what it means to have a special needs child in their community."
|
||||||||
