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Language
Barriers Continue to Effect Schools in NY
From El Diario
May 25, 2004
By Claudia Zequeira
The majority of the parent coordinators who work in the city’s
public schools, work in schools where there are more languages
spoken than they can understand or translate, according to a study
by two groups that advocate for the city’s public education
system.
The report, published by Advocates for Children and the New York
Immigration Coalition, revealed that 63 percent of the parent coordinators
interviewed said the language needs of the parents of the students
in their schools, went beyond their capacity for interpretation.
The Department of Education created the post of the parent coordinator
a year ago to take care of problems that directly affect the parents.Although
the study revealed that 86 percent of the parent coordinators interviewed
said that they provided written translation services, and 94 percent
said they orally translated for the parents of immigrant children,
apparently they were often incapable of working without the service
of a third person. The same study indicated that 82 percent of
the parent coordinators reported having used a bilingual person
in the school as interpreter. Among those people who the coordinators
asked for help translating were teachers, counselors, other parents,
and even students.
“
It is encouraging to know that 66 percent of the coordinators interviewed
are bilingual, but the study makes it clear that the translation
and interpretation work in the schools is much more than one person
is capable of handling,” said Jill Chaifetz, executive director
of Advocates for Children. Margie McHugh, director of the New York
Immigration Coalition, said, “More than half of the New York
students come from immigrant families. . . . The mayor and the
school chancellor must create a system to surpass the barriers
that separate thousands of parents from the basic information provided
by the school.” The Department of Education said the agency
is in the process of contracting a person to head a new central
division for translation and interpretation services that, beginning
next fall, will be capable of helping those parents who do not
speak English.
The plans, they said, were made in collaboration with the Advocates
for Children and the New York Immigration Coalition. Both groups
wanted the city to create a centralized system for translation,
like that in Los Angeles, where parents can call a number if they
need an appointment with a translator to discuss important matters
in the education of their children.
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Translated from Spanish by Charlotte
Triggs.
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