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General discussion

A simple question about discrimination

Jan 27, 2015 10:17PM PST

Does not providing free translation services for the non-English speaking or limited proficiency English speaking persons amount to discrimination under the term "national origin" as defined in federal law?

I ask this as it's been published in the local news that school districts are being sued on that basis. Right no it's largely focused on special needs students in the public education system. The lawsuit is being brought by the parents of these students. It's not about their children being under-served but about themselves being under-served in that they cannot communicate with the educational system regarding their children. I can agree that we have a problem here and I applaud any parent that wants to participate in doing whatever is best for their child. I just don't see what national origin has to do with it.

Geesh...we have American born kids that took many years of English in school and I can barely understand what they say and write. Happy

Discussion is locked

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It used to be
Jan 27, 2015 11:58PM PST

that when someone immigrated to the USA, it was an automatic that they assimilate into what is considered to be "our" culture now......learn English, abide by our laws, work or start a business, contribute. If you couldn't speak English, your children learned it in school and taught their parents enough to get by at the very least. There were no interpreters or translators in the schools until the 1960's when Spanish became such a liberal issue that no longer did the immigrant Spanish speaking children have to actually learn English......banks, hospitals, government offices, etc. across the country began having 'requirements' for job applicants that they be bi-lingual....even to the point that all automated answering machines at places of business gave you 'press 1 for English' crap.

Bending over backwards to accommodate rather than enforcing USA 'unwritten' but long accepted rules has been our downfall and it continues to spiral into decline.........You come here, sometimes at your own personal risk even illegally, because we have so much that appeals to you, and then turn around and demand that 'we' change to 'your' liking instead of the other way around.

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This is the local article
Jan 28, 2015 2:21AM PST
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/01/27/English-only-special-education-complaint.html

and an excerpt from it:

"The complaint was filed with the Department of Justice on behalf of 21 families. The families argue they're being discriminated against on the basis of national origin and want the Justice Department to require the districts to identify which families need language assistance and train school staff on their obligations to provide services.

The state Education Department is named because, the complaint says, it doesn't offer Spanish-language assistance for families who want to file a special-education complaint against their schools."


So they want to file complaints but need language assistance to do so? They want to be involved in their children's education? Well...I'd say that part is commendable. But aren't their children learning everything in English? If these parents really wanted to help support their children's educational process, wouldn't it make sense for them to be learning English alongside them? The article also mentions that they complain about the support that they do get...that the language ability of the translators is inadequate to aid their understanding of their child's special schooling plan. So we need to not only translate everything for them but have it done by people who meet their standards of fluency? Seems rather bold to me. It would almost make better sense to spend money offering English to these complaining parents than to expect this much special treatment. They cannot help their children with homework if they cannot even read the lessons.
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A couple of issues here
Jan 28, 2015 6:25AM PST

The newer illegals (especially the children who swarmed in this past summer) come from countries that don't speak a 'normal' dialect of Spanish so schools where they have been moved to around the USA have all come out and complained that they now have to hire specific translators at their expense in order to deal with them.

The main issue I have is that when liberals intrude via the Department of Education on a Federal level into the schools and what/how they teach, they are deliberately trying to push the parental influence out of the children's educational lives. That's pretty much what common core does.....the 'new method' of learning is something so foreign to the parents that they no longer are ABLE to help kids with their homework or even have an understanding of whether the child is doing it correctly anymore so they can't even check it for errors.

Control the money, control the education......control the people.

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this is OUR national origin
Jan 28, 2015 7:52AM PST

so let them conform, and if they don't, not my problem, not my nation's problem, it's their problem. Address it privately, or get over it.

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Hasn't BO also practiced
Jan 28, 2015 7:38PM PST

discrimination and continues to do so on an even higher level by immediately closing down the charter schools in DC as he entered the Oval Office? According to all statistics, over 300 black children are applicants per school as each charter school opens up across the country but with the wave of liberal Dems still in charge, including NYC, those schools are being closed down. As the first 'black' president, you would think that educational opportunities for blacks would be a huge priority for him, especially considering that he, personally, was sent to a private school rather than public and look where that got him. For someone who talks about how much he is in favor of helping the poor and middle class, he appears to have no interest in furthering the opportunities for the very people who are hurting job-wise more than any other.....but prefers instead to keeping campaign promises to the unions and since charter schools aren't unionized, the black kids don't matter.

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He's a politician and, apparantly, a party loyalist
Jan 28, 2015 8:54PM PST

Those things alone cause me suspicion as to a person's true intentions. He's also not of the same descent as the African-Americans in this country who have family from the days of slavery here. I don't see how skin color alone offers much in the way of being able to identify with those people. This isn't to be critical but to be realistic but he also should behave as president of all and not just the few he feels are getting a raw deal. It's that sort of behavior that divides rather than unites. We're quite well divided right now and I'm hoping there's a way to recover. Thus far, it's only been when disaster occurs that folks pull together. Should we hope for another disaster?

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My sister works for a school district in Maryland
Jan 29, 2015 4:10AM PST

She finds the translators for the foreign parents. She has about 100 translators on call. Occasionally a translator doesn't show up and she has to get another one. This is all paid for by the school district. They don't want the student to translate because there is no telling what the kid will say.