Aspen kindergarteners come together to support deaf classmate

It’s not often that 16 children unite to help a classmate. 

But an Aspen Elementary School kindergarten class did just that when Ms. Hollis Magee, the teacher, implemented sign language into the curriculum to support one of her students — Otto Bontempo. 

Bontempo, who is deaf and hard of hearing, saw all 16 classmates learn sign language per the initiative of Magee, to give him a community he could communicate with.

“They made being deaf feel completely natural,” said Katrina Gallant, Bontempo’s mother, “which is not easy to do, especially in a hearing community.”

Gallant said that when Bontempo was diagnosed last year, she was encouraged to relocate to a deaf and hard of hearing community. Rather than move, they focused on building a sign-language friendly community around Bontempo.

“I was so lucky that Ms. Hollis stepped up and was like, ‘Oh, the environment?’ I’ll take care of it,'” Gallant said. “And she did an even better, stronger, faster job than I could have imagined.”

Gallant said she was “blown away” by how quickly Bontempo’s fellow students picked up sign language.

“They were curious about it, and they want to communicate with him, and they seek him out, and they look for ways to connect with him,” she said.

Bontempo’s relationship with his classmates is especially notable given how students with special needs are sometimes picked on or ignored, she added.

“And that’s not the case here,” she said. “People seek Otto out.”

Aspen School District Superintendent Tharyn Mulberry said he’s received at least 10 letters of support from parents telling him how happy they were with the use of sign language in the class.

“Just hats off to Hollis for making that decision to do that with her class,” he said.

Though he can’t yet confirm, Mulberry said the school district could explore adding sign language to the curriculum on a wider level. 

For Magee’s kindergartners, however, sign language extends beyond the classroom.

Liz Bollinger, parent of Otto’s classmate Gracie Bollinger, said the class’s use of sign language has caused them to break down barriers. 

“It’s incredible because they’re communicating in ways that are unifying each other rather than dividing,” she said, adding, “The kids, they’re invested. They have that agency. It’s not like, ‘Oh, you must do this.’ They want to.”

Students also took what they learned and applied it to other aspects of their life. 

“(Cy) would just come home speaking in sign sometimes and, in some ways, now speaks or uses sign interchangeably,” Mary Bloom said of her son, Cy Bloom, another one of Bontempo’s classmates.

She added that she’s seen her son’s ability to communicate verbally, read, and write blossom since learning sign language. 

“It’s all sort of connecting together and creating a super communicator,” she said. 

To further the community’s access to sign language, Bontempo’s parents started Aspen Sign Language, which will offer classes later this year. For more information, email aspensignlanguage@gmail.com or look them up on instagram at @aspensignlanguage. Donate to the organization by donating to the Aspen Camp of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing with a memo directing the funding to Aspen Sign Language.

Skyler Stark-Ragsdale can be reached at 970-429-9152 or email him at sstark-ragsdale@aspentimes.com.