GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

Lost in Translation

June 20, 2012

Lawsuit demands DOE increase language services for parents

by Grace Tatter, at 5:01 pm

Parents attended a rally at Tweed Hall, where they demanded the DOE provide more translation and interpretation services to those whose children require special education.

Advocates filed a federal complaint today against the city Department of Education that they said represents years of troubling reports from parents who don’t speak English.

Hundreds of those parents have come to the advocacy groups with concerns that the department doesn’t provide sufficient language services for navigating special education. And with extensive special education reforms in progress, the need for language services is more pressing than ever, said Kim Sweet, executive director of Advocates for Children.

AFC, which represents low-income students and students with disabilities, joined with New York Lawyers for the Public Interest to file the complaint with the U.S. Office of Civil Rights on behalf of 19 city families. The complaint charges the city with violating federal, state, and city laws by failing to provide translation services for the parents of children with special needs.

The complaint profiles one of the parents in detail. Nyuk Siem Looi, who speaks only Cantonese, has two sons who are autistic and cannot speak. According to the complaint, Looi has been told to bring her own interpreter to meetings and pressured to sign documents about her sons’ educational programs that she could not understand.

Parents named in the complaint were joined by dozens of others at a rally on the steps of City Hall today after the complaint was filed, many holding umbrellas to relieve themselves from more than 90-degree heat.

Parents say they need more of a voice in their children’s education, especially considering the complex nature of the Individualized Education Plans that all students with disabilities receive. IEPs describe the student’s educational needs and how the school should address them.

The drafting of each student’s IEP is supposed to be a collaborative process between the school and parents. But Sweet said parents who can’t speak English often are not provided with translators during the meetings where the IEP is formulated, so they can’t contribute crucial information about their children.

This fall’s reforms will increase the number of students mainstreamed into general education classrooms. Some parents — including native English speakers — feel they don’t have enough information and are worried that the department is pushing schools to change IEPs to include less time in special education classrooms, even if the move is not in the child’s best interest.

The Department of Education has repeatedly said this is not the case. But at a City Council meeting last week, Laura Rodriguez, the outgoing deputy chancellor of special education, acknowledged that communication about the reforms had not been ideal.

Jessica Daye, NYLPI’s disability advocate, said the group had several meetings with department officials about its concerns in recent years. Last year, the group realized the department would not act without an impetus, and began to work on the official complaint, she said.

She said the department has the resources to serve its non-English-speaking parents but it needs a system to put those resources to good use.

“They have a lot of plans on paper,” she said. “What’s lacking is the actual implementation, on the ground.”

A spokeswoman said the Department of Education had not received the complaint by this afternoon. But she said the department has complied with the law around supplying translation services at meetings about special education and would continue to do so.

“We provide translation and interpretation services, including translation of documents containing critical information regarding the special education process,” reads the department’s Language Access plan. “The DOE’s policy is that upon parental request the student’s individual education plan will be translated. We also provide interpreters at special education meetings.”

The complaint filed with the Office of Civil Rights today is below.

Print Print
  • MG

    There are legit examples in the complaint of parents denied the most basic aspect of fairness. 

    However

    If you’re suing the department to reallocate money towards hiring one type of staff, it’d be nice if you’d suggest the specific corresponding cuts and who’ll be fired. 

    Example:

    Lawsuit demands DOE hire more translators, fire more regular teachers, slightly increase class size. 

    Or

    Lawsuit demands more translation, less tutoring. 

    It may be satisfying to simply complain and then punt on the real-life implications for kids.  But I’m not sure how responsible that is. 

  • Copernicus

    In all seriousness, there was an astronomical increase in language translation of memos home and services at conferences.  Without sounding too right wingish, how about the parents and children put a little effort into learning the language? 

  • Invictus

    While there are parents that are given instructions written on paper or told, verbally, there are parents that are unable to understand the legalese behind what affects their children either in English or worse, their native languages…..

    that being told, 

    If the DoE can afford to have empty suits, running around typing away at their blackberries and drinking skim soy milk iced coffees from Starbucks, their overpriced salaries out to be used in better ways that engage the educational community at large.  

    There need not to be silly demands that the DoE get more translators in lieu of classroom teachers and the increase of class sizes.  

    To state or demand that in a lawsuit, in spirit is agreeing with all the waste and corruption that the DoE and the Supreme Leader has been advocating for the past 10 years.  

    There is plenty of $$$$$ that is wasted in no bid contracts and ineffective school improvement outfits that sell their useless services to struggling schools while siphoning off much needed moneys that are needed in direct classroom services.

    The new Special Education initiative is another way of starving services to children in need….as schools whose budgets are shrinking need another way of getting $$$$ and what better way of doing so than being incentivized into forceful inclusion  of children with needs to regular classroom, in order to earn peanuts according to the DoE guidelines?  

    How much more abuse will there be on top of CTT classrooms filled with special needs students taught by regular academic licensed teachers WITHOUT any push in special education teachers or paraprofessionals?  This abuse is rampant and I do not trust the DoE to do ANYTHING on behalf of these children or the schools in general.  

  • MG

    hmm.  this is akin to the Republican argument about all social service spending. 

    there’s tons of administrative bloat, goes the meme, so no tough decisions need to be made.  just cut bloat! 

    yours, i’d suggest, is just a variation.  there are some dumb programs, hapless bureaucrats, etc.  agreed.  100%.  we should always endeavor to root them out. 

    what happens with legal mandates is not that, however.  it just doesn’t happen. 

    and it won’t happen this time.  instead, basic services in another area are cut.  that is the real life implication.  to argue that this would be the first time in history that the managerial response will be different is just away to avoid the discomfort of tradeoffs. 

    i’d welcome a single example of where the lawsuit resulted in cutting admin to provide services.  i’m open to them.  i just haven’t seen em.

    here’s what i’d say is a more typical example.  here in boston, the DOJ mandated a shit-ton of “ELL training” and ELL bureaucracy. 

    thousands of kids were simply reclassified as ELL, that was step 1.  but step 2 was a big increase in ELL teachers and administrators. 

    sports, music, and regular teaching, that’s what got cut. 

  • http://nyceducator.com/ NYC Educator

    I’d like to see comment codes on report cards available in languages other than English and Spanish. That’s probably not so tough to do, although given DOE’s massive failures in language exams, they’ll likely find a way to screw it up.

  • Copernicus

    How do you expect teachers to know which comments to use if they are in multiple languages?  At some point, parents must take responsibility for being prepared to raise a child.  As a teacher, I cannot be expected to be able to communicate in all the languages represented in my classroom. 
    There is a dangerous trend developing of catering to individual needs to a dangerous degree.  The fact is that in the work world you are expected to adapt to the job, not the job to you.  Instead, we train children and their parents to think they will be catered to continuously. 
    Why would an English teacher comment on a student’s work in English class in a foreign language?  In all other countries business is conducted in the national language. 

  • Mr. Flerporillo

    MG, what did you expect — a persuasive argument about how resources should be allocated?  90% of the discourse of the discontented on these message boards is in the vein of children complaining about their parents.  The “Supreme Leader” (alternatively, the “Emperor”) does things that aren’t fair, and it stinks.  He acts like a dictator.  He doesn’t respect us.  He says we can’t afford the stuff I want, but oh, he’s got enough money to buy fancy suits.  Etc.  Bloomberg’s extreme wealth and detachment just reinforce this paternalistic vibe.

    Any intelligent discussion of resource allocation has to acknowledge that allocating resources is a zero sum game, and any serious proposal to reallocate resources should make some attempt to use real, verifiable numbers.  But here, it’s just a b$#ch-fest.  How much money is “wasted in no bid contracts and ineffective school improvement outfits”?  ”[P]lenty of $$$$$,” that’s how much.

    Pensions, retiree health benefits, tax-deferred annuities with 7% guaranteed annual returns backed by the city, health care for current city  employees with no employee contributions — what’s left are the scraps that everyone’s fighting over. 

  • http://nyceducator.com/ NYC Educator

     That’s a very reasonable objection. I’m able to use the Spanish codes only because I happen to understand Spanish, and your point had not occurred to me before before.

    I would suggest a list where codes are grouped together. Comments would be listed in English and corresponding codes in various languages could be on the same line, under appropriate headings listing the language. Again, potential flaw would be DOE’s incompetence in translation, but you could always check with teachers in your school, who would likely know better.

    I’d also argue that the trend of catering to individual needs is largely in the minds of administrators who advocate such things but fail to acknowledge the supremely obvious–that evaluation in the form of standardized tests is precisely the same for everyone. Furthermore, the movement if more and more toward failing to differentiate for those with special needs, like the ELLs I serve or students with special needs.

  • Michael

    At this week’s National Conference on Volunteerism there was much discussion about the role volunteers can play in education. Translation services sounds like a natural – at a minimum to supplement paid staff. In fact, this is not just an idea – we are already doing it. At one Manhattan school PENCIL volunteers increased attendance at parent teacher conferences by 40% simply by providing translation.

Tips, questions, feedback?

Contact us at .

Word from Our Sponsor

Chalk It Up

Recent Comments

3 comments so far today
View all comments »

Events Calendar

RSS Feeds

Newsroom posts Community posts All GothamSchools content

Archives

June 2013
M T W T F S S
« May  
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930

Copyright Notice