[Ohio-talk] story on me as a substitute teacher

Sun Nov 29 17:58:13 UTC 2015

I'm not sure why that happened for you all, but I am pasting the text below.

MONROE - Teachers are known for having eyes in the back of their heads, and 
Kyle Conley is no different.

Even if he can’t see.

“I may be blind, but I’m not deaf,” says Conley, 25, a substitute teacher at 
Monroe Junior/Senior High School in Monroe, Ohio. “I know when something is 
going on that shouldn’t be.”

Conley, who has been blind since birth, graduated from Wright State in 2014 
with a degree in music education. He was the first blind student to do so.

He’s been playing violin for 16 years and would love to teach middle school 
orchestra full time. To get his foot in the door teaching, he became an 
independent contractor with the Educational Service Centers of Butler and 
Warren counties, which supply substitutes for 17 different school districts 
including Edgewood, Fairfield, Ross, Lakota, Middletown, and Hamilton.

Sub jobs are given on a first-come, first-served basis, but Conley never 
takes a job at the last minute, because he likes to prepare. He asks for 
lesson plans to be emailed to him in advance from the teacher. He then loads 
those documents onto a flash drive that he uses with his BrailleNote, a 
small electronic device that translates everything into Braille.

“Once kids have had me, (seeing the BrailleNote) is second nature, but when 
students see it for the first time, they think it’s the coolest thing,” he 
said.

Teaching middle school is definitely not for wimpy kids. But Conley has an 
affinity for this age group.

“They’re not too needy and not too crazy. They’re just a fun bunch of kids, 
and I’m a kid at heart,” he said.

It’s a rapport that Brian Powderly, the principal at Monroe Junior/Senior 
High School, has seen first hand.

“There is so much going on in the junior high world – hormones, growth 
spurts, differences among the students’ maturation and physical 
development – and when you find someone who has the personality to work with 
them, it’s a gem,” Powderly said.

Conley has also subbed at Crawford Woods Elementary and Garfield Middle 
School, both in Hamilton.

Not every district has been so welcoming, however.

Shortly after he started subbing in 2014, Conley received a copy of a letter 
sent by Fairfield assistant superintendent Roger Martin to Tom Isaacs, 
superintendent at Warren County Educational Services, requesting that Conley 
have a sighted assistant with him in order to teach in the district.

“We told him he needs an aide or someone to assist him to protect him and 
the educational process,” said Gina Gentry-Fletcher, Fairfield Schools 
spokeswoman.

But Conley said he doesn’t need that help.

“I want people to see the ability and past the disability,” said Conley, who 
is a 2008 graduate of Fairfield High School. Conley’s attorney, Robert 
Klingler, confirmed that Conley has filed a charge against the district with 
the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for discrimination under the 
Americans with Disabilities Act. The charge also includes Ross and Lakota 
school districts. However, Conley and Klingler are hoping for a negotiated 
resolution

“I think school districts need to be educated about what a blind teacher 
like Kyle can do,” Klingler said. “He loves teaching. He loves his students, 
and we ought to be supporting all of our different teachers.”

Exhibit A can be found right next-door in Indiana.

Kathy Nimmer, a teacher at Harrison High School in West Lafayette, was 
Indiana’s 2014 Teacher of the Year and was one of four finalists for the 
National Teacher of the Year award in 2015.

And, yes, she’s blind.

Kyle Conley relies on the students to police each other. But misbehavior 
isn't really an issue. The kids respect Conley and are eager to help him 
out.

Conley’s biggest classroom challenge is the same as any other teacher’s: 
keeping his students on task.

“I tell them exactly how I run the ship,” Conley said.

When it comes to misbehavior, he finds most of the kids police each other, 
and sometimes inadvertently rat themselves out. A student he had last year 
thought she could get away with keeping her cell phone out during class. 
Then it rang. According to Conley, when he asked her to bring the phone up 
to him, she slammed it on his desk and he invited her to take it to the 
principal’s office.

“I heard she was so mad at getting caught that she threw her cell phone in 
the hall,” Conley said.

Conley, who relies on Uber or rides from family and friends to get to his 
sub jobs, always prefers to explore the layout of a building by himself 
first, using his cane. Once he’s familiar, he might decide to bring Alpine, 
his yellow Lab guide dog.

With the help of his dog, Alpine, Kyle Conley is better able to get around 
the school, but only after he explores the halls by himself first.

“The first time Kyle subbed for us, I was concerned about him not bringing 
his dog, because I wondered how he’d do without that support,” Powderly 
said. “But when I met him, he gave me his mantra about being the most 
independent blind person I’ll ever meet.”
In August, Conley began pursuing a master’s degree in music education 
through an online program offered by Tarleton State University in Texas.

If there’s no lesson plan, Conley likes to (gasp!) talk to his students, and 
while sometimes the topic is blindness, more often it’s about current events 
or the Reds. Conley is a huge fan; he’s also sung the national anthem 
onfield at a Reds game for the last nine years.

“If we’re working on a specific topic, there’s no time (to chat), but if it’s 
just busy work, we can have that interaction,” said Conley, who has subbed 
in eighth-grade language arts, social studies, and math classes at Monroe as 
well as middle school choir classes.

“The kids really gravitate to him and want to help him,” Powderly said. “He 
has that ‘it’ factor, and he’s having an impact on our kids in more ways 
than they can recognize.”

Kyle Conley enjoys talking to the students, whether it's to discuss his 
blindness or talk about either current events or his passion, the Reds.

-----Original Message----- 
From: Timothy J. Meloy via Ohio-talk
Sent: Sunday, November 29, 2015 12:13 PM
To: NFB of Ohio Announcement and Discussion List
Cc: Timothy J. Meloy
Subject: Re: [Ohio-talk] story on meas a substitute teacher

I am also getting a this page cannot be found message. Would love to read 
the article! If someone as a text version feel free to share…
Best,
T.J.

> On Nov 29, 2015, at 1:18 AM, Deborah Kendrick via Ohio-talk 
> <ohio-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>
> OK.  This is really strange.  I just read it a little while ago and had
> absolutely no problem reading the whole story.
> Now I'm getting the "this page cannot be found" message.
> I'll try again tomorrow as I think the subtext might be "it's time to go 
> to
> bed!"
> Peace,
> Deborah
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ohio-talk [mailto:ohio-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of David
> Perry via Ohio-talk
> Sent: Sunday, November 29, 2015 1:06 AM
> To: NFB of Ohio Announcement and Discussion List
> Cc: David Perry
> Subject: Re: [Ohio-talk] story on meas a substitute teacher
>
> Hello,
> I had trouble being able to download the story, and would love to check it
> out.
>
> Enjoy your Sunday Federation Family!
>
>
> David C. Perry,
>
> Sent from my iPhone,
>
> Phone: (513) 470-1122,
> Email: daveperry509 at gmail.com
>
> Laborer with the Cincinnati Association for the Blind and Visually 
> Impaired,
> Affiliated with the National Industries for the Blind,
>
> Member of the United States Association of Blind Athletes,
>
>
> Advocate with the World Blind Union, and Teamster's Local 100.
>
> All people have Vision, so may we all see through the eyes in our hearts 
> and
> abilities!
>
>> On Nov 23, 2015, at 7:41 AM, Kyle Conley via Ohio-talk
> <ohio-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>
>> I hope you enjoy. The story starts a bit down the page.
>>
>> http://www.wcpo.com/news/insider/blind-substitute-teacher-connecting-w
>> ith-kids-in-monroe _______________________________________________
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