The Dearborn Public Schools must make changes to comply with civil rights laws, following an enforcement action launched by a federal agency in April 2010.
The U.S. Education Department said Thursday an agreement with the district and the department’s Office for Civil Rights resolves the federal inquiry.
Parents with limited English proficiency in the heavily Arab American district were not given adequate access to information about their children’s education in a language they could understand, according to the investigation. Officials said the district also denied students learning English access to nonacademic programs and activities.
It’s about time the district was required to change its policies, said Osama Siblani, publisher of the Arab American News.
“That’s something we’ve been fighting for a long time,” said Siblani. “It’s about time for a civil rights organization to intervene.”
Imad Hamad concurs, but says the district has been forthright in its attempts to rectify the problems.
“It has been an ongoing challenge, and one we’ve been working on with the district,” said Hamad, who is regional director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in Dearborn. “But they were very open and never resisted.”
An Office of Civil Rights spokesman said the resolution agreement with the district, when fully implemented, will ensure that hundreds of limited-English proficient (LEP) parents in the district have access to important school-related information that is made available to other parents.
Half of the district’s 30 schools have a majority Arabic student population.
Under the agreement, the district will:
— Revise its home language survey to ensure that it accurately identifies all of the parents in the district needing language assistance;
— Develop and implement a comprehensive, written plan to provide language assistance services to parents that ensures that they have meaningful access to the district’s programs and activities; the plan will include providing interpreting and translation services for parents for all non-English languages (this could include the use of various services, such as onsite translators/interpreters, telephonic translators/interpreters, and effective translation programs);
— Develop and implement a process for notifying English-learning students about the availability of nonacademic and extracurricular programs, services and activities, such as guidance and counseling services;
— Conduct an annual evaluation of the effectiveness of its language assistance services for LEP parents; and,
— Develop and implement procedures to ensure that English-learning students receive special education and related services as appropriate to their disabilities, if any, and not because of their English language proficiency.
The Office of Civil Rights will monitor the district’s implementation of the resolution agreement until it has determined that the district has fulfilled the terms of the agreement and is in compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120531/SCHOOLS/205310459#ixzz1y39byXYc