$50,000 settlement approved for deaf teacher

The Atlanta school board has agreed to pay $50,000 to settle a federal lawsuit by a former special education teacher who claimed he was denied a classroom interpreter to communicate with deaf and hearing impaired students.

Kamaldeen Alabi, a deaf math teacher at King Middle School in 2007, said in court documents that Atlanta Public Schools stopped providing full-time American Sign Language interpreters during the month of December 2007, causing students to laugh at him when he tried to communicate orally.

APS told Alabi the cost of providing a qualified full-time interpreter would have created an undue financial burden, and he was transferred to Slater Elementary, which had more students enrolled who could communicate directly with Alabi through American Sign Language.