Hey everyone! This is simply amazing. We are a massive district with strength in numbers. Reaching people has been the hardest part of this process. If you know anyone that you feel might support this initiative, please encourage them to sign. The request we are making to our school district goes so much further than simply offering an additional bevy of courses to Olentangy students. Think diversity equity and inclusion. Do you have or do you know a student with dyslexia or learning disabilities or processing disorders? Do you have or do you know a student that struggles to learn a foreign language in the traditional way because accessing the materials or processing the information is not something they are able to do? Or are you just interested in having your child learn American Sign Language? The Ohio State University our incredible State school recognizes American Sign Language as a foreign language. It's time our district also offers this as an option. Doing so allows our students the opportunity to remain academically competitive on their high school transcripts the same way their counterparts are able to demonstrate course rigor on their transcripts by taking either Spanish French or German. That is why this is so important.. It is long past time that we made this change. The stats! American Sign Language (ASL) • Reliable estimates for people who use ASL as their native or primary sign language tend to fall between 250,000 and 500,000 persons.  • Broader estimates of people who use sign language (including those who are deaf, hard-of-hearing, hearing but fluent or using ASL for other reasons) suggest ~6.4 to ~7.0 million adults use sign language in some capacity. Once again, if financial restrictions are the barrier to making this change maybe it's time one of the less frequently taken languages out of the three Olentangy local schools offers start to be phased out to pave the way for the addition of ASL. Thanks for your support and I encourage you to continue the conversation with friends and neighbors and even your students because nothing is better than word-of-mouth. Have a beautiful day! Brooklyn