[NFB-Utah] Urgent: USDB stakeholder info

Wed Nov 19 04:57:43 UTC 2025

I am writing because I am quite concerned about 11/17 and 11/18 posts on the UAD blog which may be misleading the stakeholders in the deaf community, regarding the EAC meeting today regarding USBE/USDB. The website is linked here, and the posts are attached.

https://utahassocdeaf.substack.com/p/emergency-update-proposed-changes

Background 

On yesterday’s posts, Sara Williams from the Disability Law Center is cited as a source. This concerns me because it is important that the DLC remains an independent source for disability related matters, and not used to persuade the public to believe in one direction or another.

I spent a few hours last night and this morning answering questions on social media from folks in the Deaf/HH community who have likely not been following this year’s events, until the enrichment funds from blind/VI trust the were no longer available for the school for the deaf’s use after the USBE internal audit. While the community’s concern for deaf enrichment and extra curricular activities and their funding is most definitely valid, I believe this type of dialogue that is inflammatory harms all of our stakeholders by using bandwidth and energy that could be used to truly educate with factual information.

EAC chairs:

Are there accessibility gaps that may have contributed to stakeholder mistrust of the legislative process regarding USDB? If so, have these been remediated so that all who would like to participate may do so?

Call for collaboration

I truly believe that the USDB yarn ball with possibly 15 different topics/issues entangled is complex enough on its own, and as a stakeholder, I am asking for the help of our consumer groups- within the Deaf/HH and the Blind/VI Communities to help us sort out the facts in an accessible manner that is not misleading, so that we can “get to what right is” for Utah. I believe the problems we face are solveable, and I also believe that this will take our whole community to resolve, together.

Source Documents

Attached is a printout of 2 UAD posts- one from last night, and one from today. Neither post directs the public to the actual documents referenced. Further, the 11/18 post references the PEAC recommendations to the EAC document as “extremely formal and complicated”…

Full text of this 11/18/25 blog post intro:

“Breaking Down the USDB Proposal in Clear, Simple Language
ASL Breakdown by UAD President Ashli-Marie
 <https://substack.com/@utahassocdeaf> UTAH ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF
NOV 18, 2025

The State of Utah has released recommendations about the Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind (USDB). The wording is extremely formal and complicated, so the Utah Association of the Deaf (UAD) President has created an ASL video to clearly explain what these proposals actually mean for Deaf, blind, and deafblind students.
Here is a simplified summary…”

It appears that the UAD members are not being properly informed by giving them the facts straight, but instead using disability as a guise to manipulate stakeholders under the banner of accessibility. This post meets neither definition of translation nor accessibility, because it is inconsistent with the language in the PEA intent document.  

https://le.utah.gov/interim/2025/pdf/00004180.pdf

See the OCR’s definition of accessibility in my signature below.

Sara, I have only met you once while at the October 2025 USDB advisory council meeting, and the portrayal of your involvement in these posts differs from my first impression of your character.

Whether or not you took a part in relaying this misinforming dialogue, I feel it is important for you and the DLC to know that your names are being publicly used to back the 4 concerns listed in The post, followed by this dialogue, posted on 11/17/25:

“Emergency Update: Proposed Changes Could Harm Deaf & Blind Students — Immediate Action Needed

USDB leadership did not learn about this meeting until Friday night, November 14.

We thank Sara Williams from the Disability Law Center for notifying us—without her, the community might still not know.”

1️⃣ Get involved — your voice matters.

This is OUR community. We must ask:

Why did Interim Superintendent Dr. Molly Hart exclude the Deaf and Blind Associate Superintendents from state-level decision-making?

They were not informed about the meeting or proposals.
No Deaf or Blind education experts were included.

  _____  

2️⃣ Protect the current USDB service model.

The model:

*	Supports Deaf, hard of hearing, and Blind students
*	Provides communication choices
*	Ensures statewide consistency
*	Prevents students from being lost in mainstream systems

This model works. It must stay.

  _____  

3️⃣ Fully fund the Deaf Enrichment Program.

This program provides:

*	Language development
*	Social opportunities
*	Sports
*	After-school programs

Deaf students deserve the same opportunities as every other child.”

My observation: I have been tuning in to the Board of Education’s USDB meetings as well as the USDB advisory council meetings. Molly Hart took the mantle of USBE superintendent with a decent prior knowledge of USDB’s challenges. The board members have done their due diligence this year to respond to input from stakeholders, but I feel there is more work to do to inform the public on the facts at hand, and for our broad stakeholder group to provide more input on the challenges we face as a result of the issues highlighted in the Board of Education’s internal audit of USDB.

We need inout from our entire state, including non-USDB LEAs.

Fact: The EAC meetings have been scheduled and received since at least the end of the 2025 legislative session.

Question: Why is the UAD president posting a call to action without actually citing the source documents?

Request: Could someone at the DLC please help close this information gap that has begun due to misinformation?

This misinformation makes it more challenging for the legislature to do their job to come together with stakeholders, USDB, and USBE staff while they work to ensure Utah code supports our school systems, and also allows for proper governance and oversight for our students across the state with sensory impairments.

With appropriate leadership, I believe we can work well together when we trust the process and honor truth and transparency.

Thank you for your time,

Sarah Erb

Salt Lake City Parent & USDB stakeholder

Cell: 801-556-6649

“Accessible” means a person with a disability is afforded the opportunity to acquire the same information, engage in the same interactions, and enjoy the same services as a person without a disability in an equally effective and equally integrated manner, with substantially equivalent ease of use.

- Office of Civil Rights, and US Department of Education

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