Immigrant parents tell tales of exclusion

PHILADELPHIA >> Philadelphia parents who don’t speak English say they’ve long been excluded from parts of their children’s education because of language barriers, something exacerbated by the pandemic and the return to inperson learning.

Parents told The Associated Press about students being used as translators despite federal prohibitions, incorrect telephone translations and poor communication about bullying. Experts say many other school districts have lagged in creating equitable systems for non-English speakers.

Philadelphia school officials said there has been progress, including sending communication in parents’ languages and hiring dozens more in-school interpreters called bilingual cultural assistants, or BCAs. They also said the district has robust guidance on requesting language help. Still, problems persist. Mandy, who asked the AP not to use her last name, struggled with returning her 10-year-old special needs son to in-person school but decided the virtual option didn’t offer enough support for parents who don’t speak English.

Mandy said her biggest language struggles were during special education meetings at her son’s previous school. She still spends hours translating reports into Mandarin.

A U.S. Department of Education report from last year showed the number of English learners increased nationally by about 28% between the 2000–01 school year and the 2016–17 school year. The report showed 43 states had increases in English learners. Nationally, the census showed the number of people who speak languages other than English at home increased by more than 8 million over the last decade, to almost 22% from about 20.6%.

Juntos, a Latino immigrant advocacy group in Philadelphia, surveyed families in 2020 about their pandemic concerns. Executive Director Erika Guadalupe Núñez said after basic needs, schooling was a major concern, including how to communicate with teachers who spoke only English.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights receives dozens of parental language complaints yearly. It issued guidance in 2015 on the legal obligation to communicate in parents’ languages, saying neither students nor untrained bilingual staff should translate.