NAD Legislative Training

Philippe Montalette

I have been part of NAD board for nearly four years. I saw that our state needed to have an opportunity to hire our NAD expert with legislative knowledge from Indiana, Kim Bianco-Majeri. She came on Saturday, November 14. It was a free session at Sanderson Community Center. Over 70 people were thrilled to come and learn in depth how to build a relationship with Utah legislative people. She gave an all day workshop. We learned new things and want to thank her for to coming to Utah. We were also fortunate to have a legislator from Orem, Brad M. Daw at the workshop. He shared his experience and showed us the process of connecting with legislators depending on zip code where you live. UAD/NAD thanks those at the Sanderson Community Center for allowing the use of their facility.

President’s Corner

Happy New Year everyone! Can’t believe it’s now 2016! Wow!

In two weeks, the National Association of the Deaf board will be in town.  So please come to the town hall meeting Friday night, January 15 at Sanderson Community Center.  We need lots of community input, ideas, suggestions, feedback, and more.  See you there!

This is the year we’re all voting for the next President of the USA.  If you’re not registered to vote, you can get ahead of the game and do that now.  http://vote.utah.gov/vote/menu/online.html

Every year Utah Senate and House of Representatives get together for 45 day Legislative session. The first day of the session starts January 25th.  There will be a lot of discussions and bills they’re trying to pass.  We’ll be keeping a close eye on the possible changes with USOR (Utah State Office of Rehabilitation) and DSDHH (Division of Services to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing).  As of right now, USOR is under UBOE (Utah Board of Education) and the legislative are talking about changing that.  This can affect the services we are getting from Sanderson and St. George Community Center.  So we want to make sure that any changes done will have the LEAST impact on the services we’re all getting from DSDHH.

If you’re aware of any bills UAD should support, please email me the bill # and the goal of the bill.

Let’s have a wonderful and successful year. If you want to be a part of the movement for change, think about becoming a member of UAD for only 15 dollars a year! http://uad.org/register/individual-membership/ The more members we have, the stronger UAD will be!

Here’s to the new year 2016! 🙂

UAD President
uad.pres@gmail.com

To a Higher Glory

October 1, 2015 – LuAnn Collier, age 71, of Vernal passed away in Vernal. Funeral services and burial took place in Vernal. She attended Utah School for the Deaf.

December 18, 2015 – Suzanne Bishop-Starkey, age 54, passed away in Roy as a result of an auto-pedestrian accident. She was an alumna of Utah School for the Deaf. One of her survivors is a brother, Kerry Bishop of Salt Lake City and a nephew, Kevin Bishop of California. A graveside service was held in Ogden on December 26.

Reminder – Directory to be Available in January

Valerie Kinney

The Utah ASL Directory will be ready for distribution in January at the UAD Bookstore.  Directories to be shipped to out of state people will come from the UAD Bookstore also. Hours are 1 to 4, Tuesdays through Thursdays.

People are encouraged to become a UAD member. The UAD has set fees for the purchase of a directory copy:

~ UAD MemberFree copy; if shipped, $4 for postage
~ Non Member$15 membership plus $2 for the book
~ Non Member$6 for the book; if shipped, $4 for postage

Group sales to businesses and churches are available. Contact Adele Sigoda for details.  She may be contacted at 801-657-5207 or 801-938-5083.  She can also be contacted at fab622@comcast.net.

When the directory is ready for distribution in January 2016, an announcement will be sent out through UAD Announce.

January 2016 Holidays

• 1    New Year’s Day
• 4    Trivia Day
• 5    National Bird Day
• 18  Martin Luther King’s Birthday
• 25  Opposite Day
• 26  Australia Day

Jean Massieu School News

Aimee Breinholt

Happy New Year!  We are excited for this new year and the opportunities that lay ahead!  We have had a wonderful holiday season that started with our winter program.  Thank you to everyone who supported and participated in that program!

We are looking forward to several upcoming events in January.  The NAD board will be visiting on January 14th.  Our second academic term ends January 14th as well.  On January 16th our fifth, sixth and seventh grade students will compete in the annual lego robotics competition.  Jayson Bluhme and Dan Mathis are coaching our boy’s basketball team.  We have several games in the month of January.  Two of those will be home games held at the Deaf Center.  Come support our team on January 14th at 5:30pm and January 19th at 4:30 pm.  The boys will compete in the WSBCC January 27th through the 31st in Arizona.

We are thrilled to share the hard work of our middle school journalism students.  Please subscribe to our Buzz News through the YouTube channel – Jean Massieu School Buzz News – http://bit.ly/1incKhl.

Thank you for your continued support!

Ogden Seniors Make Donations

With donations made by Ogden seniors each month from January to November, the group collected over $300.  In December, the seniors voted to donate $100 each to three organizations serving deaf people:

Jean Massieu School for the Deaf
Ned C. Wheeler Scholarship Foundation for the Deaf
Utah Academic Bowl

The Ogden seniors meet on second Friday at the South Ogden Chuck-a-Rama. Visitors are welcome; for more information, contact Nancy Taylor, president, at 801-528-9868 or Valerie Kinney, secretary, at 801-784-6962 or valerie.g.kinney@gmail.com.