We were encouraged to see that the school system in Durham, N.C., last week agreed to end discriminatory practices that prevent Latino students from receiving an adequate public education.
Our parent organization, the Southern Poverty Law Center, filed a federal civil rights complaint in April citing, among other violations, that the district provided only three Spanish language interpreters for more than 5,300 students whose primary language is Spanish.
Under the agreement, Durham Public Schools will strengthen its anti-discrimination policy and create new procedures to help guarantee that thousands of non-English speaking students and their families are not excluded from education programs. Federal law requires public schools to take reasonable steps to ensure that non-English speaking students have a meaningful opportunity to participate in education programs.
The SPLC notified the district earlier this year of discriminatory behavior by teachers, including an incident involving a teacher who pushed a student against a wall and said “go back to your own country.”
The SPLC also cited a lack of Spanish language interpreters and ready access to translated materials for students and their parents.
“This agreement is a great victory for students and parents in Durham Public Schools,” said Jerri Katzerman, deputy legal director for the SPLC. “It goes a long way toward ensuring that children from immigrant families and their parents have a meaningful opportunity to participate in the district’s education programs.”
Federal law requires schools to provide students and their families with access to interpreters and important school documents in a language they can understand.
Under the agreement, the Durham school system will:
The Office for Civil Rights will monitor compliance with the terms of the agreement through June 2013.
Links:
[1] http://www.tolerance.org/author/teaching-tolerance-staff