How American Sign Language Came To Chelmsford High School

CHELMSFORD, MA — Chelmsford High School junior Allie LoCoco has been teaching her varsity soccer and basketball teams basic sign language amid the pandemic. In the spring, masked on the field, she signed some strategy during a game to teammates on the sidelines.

With mask mandates for both sports, reading lips – vital for a hearing-impaired person – has become impossible. Little did she know her signing to her team was a harbinger of a class to come to the high school.

LoCoco, was born deaf but received a cochlear implant when she was 18 months old. Though the implant vastly improved her hearing, she learned basic sign as a toddler (as did her parents). By middle school, she lost interest, but rekindled that interest several years ago with online courses.

Last year, the school's World Language and Cultural Exchange Program Coordinator Jess Nollet surveyed students, teachers and parents to find an additional world language curriculum the school could offer. Mandarin was popular – and an increasing number of Massachusetts schools are offering it – but ASL won out.

"I did a lot of work last fall looking at language programs at different schools to get some inspiration," said Nollet. "We had an ASL club here, which helped in our decision. There was a real interest here."

Last year only 33 schools in the commonwealth offered ASL, according to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

“I was so ecstatic when they announced they were offering the class as a world language credit,” LoCoco said. “I love sign language so much, and I’m so happy that so many people have an interest in it.”

This year was the first year the school offered ASL as a world language course, and some 170 students jumped at the chance. Forty-four students – making up two classes – are studying ASL 1 for their world language requirement, while the rest enrolled as an elective for the first half of the academic year, according to the school.

"The kids are so interested in the language. They’re the ones who fought for this class. There were students enrolled before they even hired me," said first-year ASL teacher Meghan Fitzgibbons, who is herself a 2016 graduate of Chelmsford High and is studying to become an interpreter at Assumption College.

Although there's only one level offered this year, the goal is to add a level every year, according to Nollet.