The translations team provides districtwide translations for families in Hmong, Somali, Spanish and Karen. Each year, the team translates more than 200,000 words, in addition to phone recordings, video voice overs, text messages, social media and interpreting services. The team also answers the district’s Somali, Hmong, Spanish and Karen phone lines.

Translation services meet guidelines found in our Racial Equity and Parent/Guardian Conferences policies as well as those provided by the Department of Justice and Office of Civil Rights.

Saint Paul Public Schools Policy

611.00 Parent Guardian Conferences: Communication

Principals, teachers and other school personnel shall take steps to assure adequate and equitable communications with all parents/guardians. Such steps may include use of interpreters and/or translated documents where effective in communicating with parents/guardians with limited English language proficiency.

Requirements in the ESEA reauthorization of 2001, and the Civil Rights Act, obligate the district to offer, among other documents, translated versions of frequenlty used district policies, required forms and procedures used by the school system. In order to facilitate the communication with parents, the district also needs to work with interpreters on a regular basis, in cases such as school conferences, routine phone calls, etc.

• ESEA No Child Left Behind states that we have to provide services“…to ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach, at a minimum, proficiency on challenging State academic achievement standards and state academic assessments. The Parent Involvement section, Tittle III-Sec. 3302 says that Local Educational Services must implement effective means of parental outreach in order for them to participate in their child’s Language Instruction Educational Program.
• The Civil Rights Act states that "No person in the United States shall, on the grounds of race, color, or national origin be excluded from participation in, denied the benefits of or otherwise be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance." In 1970, a memorandum sent to all school district, instructed them, among other aspects, to adequatly notify the language minority parents of the same things which all other parents are aware of, if necessary, "in a language other than English" (May 25th Memorandum).
• The Guidelines for Serving Students with Limited English Proficiency (LEP), created by the Minnesota Department of Education, states that "since many parents of LEP students do not speak English, documents and notices sent home should be in the parent's native language."