I went to middle school and high school with a Deaf girl who was being mainstreamed in the public school system. She had two ASL-using friends: one met her in elementary school and took ASL classes during her lunch periods and could use ASL comfortably by middle school; the other friend had Deaf parents. Her friends would interpret for her during lunch and such when she interacted with other students and she had an interpreter who went to all of her classes with her. I'm pretty sure her usual interpreter knew what she was doing as she gave off an aura of confidence and was the same woman who taught the Deaf girl's friend ASL. Occasionally she would have other interpreters who seemed very unqualified. I remember once at a school play a woman who looked very stressed and confused attempting to finger-spell everything being said. I am not sure how much the Deaf girl got out of the public school system, but I know the only people she ever directly communicated with were her two friends and her usual interpreter.
I like the idea of the Charter schools. The issue with Charter schools, however, is that they require lots of parent support and interaction, and apparently the parents of the Deaf just do not care for the most part (I am thinking about how they often let their children go without language until they start school and how they do not make an effort to learn to sign themselves most of the time). The original Deaf schools before the take-over of oralism (which I cannot understand the reason for it happening in the first place) seemed to work well based on the chapter with the exception of how time-consuming they were. After comparing this chapter and my personal experience, I am of the opinion that mainstreaming is probably not the best choice, but that a Charter school-like option should be available to Deaf children with uncaring parents.
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