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A lawsuit has been filed in federal court alleging human rights violations in Holyoke Public Schools.
The suit alleges the district fails to provide parents who speak limited English adequate translation services, including for educational documents regarding the children in their families.
“For at least two decades, HPS has routinely and repeatedly failed to translate important educational documents and communications to LEP Parents,” the lawsuit reads. “This includes notices of meetings, evaluations, proposed individual education plans (‘IEPs’), final IEPs, disciplinary notices, student and parent handbooks, anti-bullying information, notices of events, authorizations for release of information, health plans, nursing materials, documents related to extracurricular activities, progress reports, special education documents, and other routine communications. HPS also failed to provide trained interpreters for meetings between Parents and school officials, including critical meetings to discuss and formulate IEPs.”
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Padres Latinos de las Escuelas de Springfield y Holyoke, an association of Latino parents in Western Massachusetts.
A number of parties are named in the suit, including: Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the state education board, Holyoke Public Schools Receiver Stephen Zrike, Holyoke Chief of Pupil Services Marianne Currier and ………
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