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QUEENS WEEKLY, JUNE 16, 2019
Flushing family in federal suit against Ed. Dept.
BY BILL PARRY
A federal civil rights
lawsuit was filed against
the city’s Department of
Education on behalf of
four families — including
one from Queens — for
denying interpretation
and translation services to
Limited English Proficient
parents who don’t
speak English.
Legal Services NYC
filed the suit in the Eastern
District of New York for
the Spanish- and Chinesespeaking
plaintiffs who
allege school officials
routinely denied them
oral interpretation and
written translations
when communicating
vital information about
their children’s wellbeing
and academic
progress, including
during emergency
situations and regular
academic evaluation
meetings related to their
children’s disabilities.
“As a parent, I find
it unconscionable that
information about my child
could be denied or withheld
because of the language I
speak,” Legal Services NYC
Senior Staff Attorney Amy
Leipziger said. “In this
case, the DOE repeatedly
denied LEP parents
critical information
about their children’s
health, well-being, and
education by refusing
to provide interpreters
and translation services,
causing the parent
unnecessary fear and
anxiety by resulting in
a denial of services and
support for their children.
The DOE has a clear
legal obligation to give
LEP parents meaningful
access to their children’s
education, yet time and
again, they refused
to do so.”
One parent — Flushing
resident Hui Qin Liu, the
mother of an 8-year-old
daughter with autism
who attends P.S. 76 —
received a call in English
from her daughter’s bus
driver telling her that her
daughter had a seizure
and was being taken to the
emergency room.
Liu, a native Mandarin
speaker, was able to
decipher the name of the
hospital but had no other
information about he
daughter’s well-being.
On another occasion,
Liu’s daughter came
home with bite marks on
her body. After making
a written request for an
explanation from the
school, she received a
phone call, in English,
but understood none of
it. Another parent asked
the school for a Spanish
interpreter in advance of
a school meeting but was
asked, “Why don’t you
learn English?” by a staff
member in response.
“Every parent deserves
information, of any kind,
regarding their child’s
education communicated
to them in the language
they speak,” state Senator
John Liu said. “In these
cases, parents were not
only denied a critical role
in their child’s education
plans, they were not
formally alerted then their
child’s physical safety was
in harm’s way. The DOE
caused these families
trauma. Moreover, they
are in violation of the basic
law that every child is
entitled to a high-quality
public school education.”
The lawsuit alleges
the DOE violated Title
VI of the Civil Rights Act
of 1964, which prohibits
institutions receiving
federal funds from
discriminating on the
basis of national origin,
as well as NYC Human
Rights Law and the
Equal Educational
Opportunities Act.
The parents are seeking
compensatory damages,
penalties and restorative
justice relief including
that DOE notify LEP
parents of their right to
obtain free interpretation
to communicate with
school personnel and
free translation of their
children’s Individualized
Education program.
Read more on QNS.com.
Photo via Getty Images
/QNS.com
