Translation Guidelines and Request Form 2011-2012
TRANSLATIONS GUIDELINES: SCHOOL YEAR 2011-2012
The State and Office of Civil Rights guidelines mandate that all official and relevant communication be conveyed in the native language of the student/parent. Spanish is the primary language for translation in Hammond, but other languages may be completed through requests to the Bilingual Program. Translation of instructional content is considered inappropriate by the IDOE, however directional terms may be helpful for assignment completions and will be translated upon request. For district consistency, dialectical neutrality and quality assurance, all written documents should go through the Bilingual Department. Verbal communication may be conducted by on-site bilingual staff.
I. Emergency Translations submitted by the Superintendent or other administrators will be completed immediately.
II. Notes/Letters from Teacher to Parent:
For the translation of an informal note from a teacher to an individual parent, the teacher should request the assistance of the Bilingual staff
person (s) in their building with the understanding that their students’ schedules and instruction are first priority. Bilingual staff may then select to send the document to the Bilingual Office for completion and/or editing. Simple terms or phrases may be e-mailed to ergonzalez@hammond.k12.in.us or phoned in to the office ext: 1989 for immediate response.
III. Newsletters & Lengthy Documents:
To expedite translation of newsletters, lengthy documents and frequent newsletters documents should be summarized by bullet points.
Translation Completion Dates:
• All translation requests must contain the information below and must include requested return date to expedite the translation process. All written translations will be processed on a first-received-first-processed basis. This does not apply not to emergency requests which may be completed immediately.
• Translation requests may be sent via e-mail (for format translation), fax or interoffice mail. E-mail translations are preferred in
MSWord format. Please place the term "TRANSLATION REQUEST" in the subject line for more rapid identification.
• Emergency, health related or safety translation requests (which are deemed true emergencies by administrators and approved for translation) will take top priority. Once the emergency translation request is completed, other translations will continue to be processed in the order they were received.
• E-mail requests should be sent to Mrs. Harrington: pdharrington@hammond.k12.in.us cc ergonzalez@hammond.k12.in.us and cc to SECollazo@hammond.k12.in.us. If translations are official, they should be approved by, or copied to the Principal, Department Director, Chief Administrator or Superintendent according to the area under which the translation falls. Lack of approval may delay the translation process.
• Note: Because translations are processed on a first-received-first-processed basis, return time frames will vary for quality assurance as a result of the team editing/review process.
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