Remote Learning

As an English-Language learner and multilingual student like yours truly, I am here to say it's OKAY and you have rights.

1. The right for your children to receive a free public education in the school district where you live, regardless of your or your children’s immigration status, whether your family members are US citizens, immigrants, or undocumented, and the language that you or your children speak.

2. The right to enroll your children in school without being asked to provide information or paperwork which may reveal your or your children’s immigration status. You cannot be asked to provide a social security card or number, an immigration visa or visa status, or citizenship documents or citizenship status.

3. The right under federal law to have a qualified interpreter/translator in your preferred language for critical interactions with the school district.

4. The right to have your children in a Bilingual Education BE program when there are 15 or more grade-level ELL students in grades K-8 with the same home language in one or two contiguous grades and 20 or more ELL students in high school with the same home language in one grade. If there is not a sufficient number of qualifying students in a school, but there are within its district, the district must provide a BE program.

5. The right to written notice in English and your preferred language that your children have been identified as ELLs and will be placed in a Bilingual Education or English as a New Language formerly called English as a Second Language program. 

6. The right to a high-quality orientation session, provided by your school district, that focuses on state standards, tests, and school expectations for ELLs, as well as the program goals and requirements for Bilingual Education and English as a New Language. This orientation must occur before final school program placement and must be in your preferred language.

7. The right to receive information about your children’s English language development, and also about their home language development if they are in a Bilingual Education program.

8. The right to meet with school staff at least once a year, in addition to other generally required meetings, to discuss your children’s overall learning and language development progress.

9. The right for your children to be placed in a Bilingual Education or English as a New Language program within 10 days of enrollment, and the right to opt-out of a Bilingual Education program. At a minimum, your children must receive English as a New Language instruction.

10. The right for your children to transfer to another school in your district that offers Bilingual Education in your language if your children’s original school does not offer such a program.