The city school board is considering adopting a policy that would ensure that important information and regulations are interpreted for parents and students who speak English as a second language. While the district already provides translation services, the policy would make it more official — and send a good message to community members who can’t understand English, said Denise Bowling, the school system’s assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction.

The city schools serve a community of “English language learners” — or students whose first language is not English — who speak close to 60 native languages. While the most common, and fastest growing, foreign language is Spanish, the district also serves a large number of students who primarily speak Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Russian. The schools already provide English lessons for students who can’t speak the language and translation services during events. The most commonly seen are simultaneous interpreters who translate programs into Spanish while Spanish-speaking attendees listen through headphones.

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