Hold First Bilingual Meeting

With an agenda in Spanish, signs in two languages on the school’s front door, and a pair of teachers who translated spoken English into Spanish, Monday’s Springs School Board meeting seemed to be a step forward in the relationship between the district’s administration and Spanish-speaking community.

Allegations had been made during previous school board meetings that the district was not meeting the needs of its Latino population, which represents 55 percent of the student body. Although parents, school officials, and teachers have refuted these complaints, reports have surfaced of students being asked to translate information for parents and of Latino families having to wait several weeks to register students for school even with proper paperwork in hand.

Last week, the school informed the community via its website that a translator would be provided at the next school board meeting, and that information also went out on Friday and Monday in bilingual  phone messages. The district also put the news in a radio announcement in Spanish.

During Monday’s meeting, which was attended by at least 15 parents with limited proficiency in English, two faculty members, Ana Jacobs and Lilliam Flores, served as translators. “I think it worked pretty well. The parents were very thankful,” Ms. Jacobs said after the meeting.

Eric Casale, the school principal, said the administration would sit down with Ms. Jacobs and Ms. Flores to discuss ways to make the effort even better. “We’d be moving backward if we weren’t moving forward,” he said.

During the second public comment portion of the meeting, Ms. Jacobs translated for Carmen Quituisacu, who thanked the school board for the service and other Latino parents for coming to the meeting. “It’s important to know what’s going on for the well-being of the children,” Ms. Quituisacu said as Ms. Jacobs translated.

Minerva Perez, the executive director of Organizacion Latino-Americana of Long Island, or OLA, a not-for-profit organization that promotes educational, cultural, social, and economic opportunities for the region’s Latino population, also spoke. She praised the effort, but  said she wished there had been more of an open discussion about it because “it did sort of feel like this secret, undercover thing.”

Ms. Perez said OLA has had “meetings with several Latino parents talking about some issues that they’ve had over the years” at the Springs School. She said the organization had formally brought matters to the school board “that are specifically against the New York State Board of Education regulations.”

Tatiana Tucci, a former bilingual clerk in the district, who had alleged during recent school board meetings that the district had violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by failing to meet the needs of some of its Latino families, made some comments aimed at the Spanish-speaking parents in the audience, but was told by Liz Mendelman, the board president, that it was not appropriate to address other members of the audience.

Later in the meeting Brenda Crozier, the school’s front desk greeter, took to the podium, responding to comments made during a previous meeting that she thought were defamatory. Directing her comments toward Ms. Tucci, she said, “I’ve always treated everyone the same. I believe in equality. . . . Never has it ever been said, implied, or reported that I have ever treated the Latin community differently until recently. I have never turned away, ignored, failed to greet, or . . . failed to help a person.” Ms. Tucci has filed a lawsuit against the district, alleging racial and ethnic discrimination and harassment while she worked there.

Ms. Mendelman did not scold Ms. Crozier  for speaking to another member of the audience.

In an email yesterday, she said that having translators at the meeting was “a good step forward” and that the district looks forward to continuing the effort.

“In addition to the several components that the district currently has in place to effectively communicate with our Spanish-speaking residents, we are always exploring additional ways to further enhance our communication efforts,” she said.

Also at Monday’s meeting, it was reported that the administration had pared down the 2016-17 budget so that it will stay within the state’s limit on tax levy increases. The annual district meeting and balloting will be on May 17.