Even though she may only be at tonight's LSC meeting in spirit, the WATCH has obtained what moves this spirit,
As you know, public school districts have a legal duty under state and federal law to provide parents and guardians with limited English proficiency access to important documents relevant to their children's education. In addition, districts are required to establish a system of oral interpretation to assist parents and guardians with limited English skills, including those who speak low-incidence languages. In order to fulfill these requirements, districts must have and use a system for determining which parents and guardians have limited English skills and need translation and interpreters.
I think interpretation and translation services are certainly relevant to a child's education, particularly in a large urban district such as ours where there is a large limited English proficiency population. Therefore, I think there should be an official written district policy regarding these services. It should explain the process and procedures parents and guardians should follow to request these services, as well as the time frame when these services will be provided once they are requested. This document should be given to all parents and guardians at the time of registration, who have listed a language other than English as their primary language. It should also be included in the packet of information and forms that students are given during the first few days of school, as well as posted in the Parent Information Center. I know Dr. Latham has mentioned in the past that all parents who give a 24 hour notice will receive interpretation services. However, to my knowledge, no such policy actually exists. Therefore, how are parents suppose to know this? Are they suppose to find this out when they walk into The Parent Information Center and are told they will not be helped and are then escorted out by security?
Whether this committee or administration is willing to admit it or not, parents are having great difficulty receiving these services, particularly interpretation services. This problem has been brought to the attention of the administration and this committee on more than one occasion. Yet it still remains a district wide issue. Therefore, after speaking to representatives from the Office of Civil Rights and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, I will now be informing parents of the process in which they can file an official complaint with both agencies, as well as providing them with any assistance they may need in doing so. Hopefully, once these agencies begin to receive a number of complaints, they will decide to investigate the issue and they can determine whether they feel any civil rights or laws are being violated and what, if any, actions should be taken.
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