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Oakland Unified School District

Interpretation and Translation Unit

The Interpretation and Translation unit was created in the mid-1990s when more than one-third of the students enrolled in the District came from non-English-speaking families. Per Education Code Section 48985, if 15 percent or more of the pupils enrolled in a public school that provides instruction in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, speak a single primary language other than English, all notices, reports, statements, or records sent to the parent or guardian of any such pupil by the school or school district shall, in addition to being written in English, be written in the primary language, and may be responded to either in English or the primary language.

  • Guidance from Ed Code 48985, determines that we will provide interpretation and translation for sites with a student population of 15% or more where the student home language is not English. Currently, 56 sites meet this threshold for Spanish, 9 sites for Mam, 2 sites for Arabic, and 1 for Cantonese.
  • Sites will coordinate any interpretation or translation for any other language needs in their community, by contacting an approved OUSD vendor, and paying the vendor directly using site funds for their service. Instructions on how to do this can be found here.
  • Districtwide, the only language that meets the 15% threshold is Spanish, and this is the only language we are able to provide for non-compliance related districtwide meetings and activities

Compliance-related interpretation and translation

  • All sites are to receive centrally funded Individualized Education Program (IEP) and Special Education related interpretation and translation services, for any language needed by the family;
  • All sites are to receive centrally funded SSC and SELLS interpretation and translation services, for any language needed by the elected family-community member(s) on the committee; and
  • All departments requesting compliance related parent or staff notifications or communication such as:
    • Student Attendance Review Team (SART) & Student Attendance Review Board (SARB);
    • Expulsion hearings and District discipline meetings;
    • Safety-related communication; and
    • Compliance-related parent notification.

Process for Requesting Interpretation and Translation:

Staffing & Languages

To support the translation needs of multilingual students and families in the District, the Translation Services office is made up of the following staff members:

  • Five (5) Full-Time Spanish Interpreter/Translator Specialists
  • Two (2) Full-Time Chinese Interpreter/Translator Specialists
  • One (1) Full-Time Arabic Interpreter/Translator Specialist
  • One (1) Full-Time Mam Interpreter Specialist

The team provides interpretation (oral) and translation (written) services in the following languages

  • Spanish
  • Chinese (written) / Cantonese (oral)
  • Arabic
  • Mam (oral only)

Additional Newcomer Community Navigators

To supplement the above services, and in order to meet the needs of recently arrived refugee and asylum-seeking newcomers, the Newcomer and Refugee/Asylee Services Program within the ELLMA (English Language Learner and Multilingual Achievement) office hires Community Navigators to serve several other language groups and help families navigate OUSD systems. Some Community Navigators are available on-call, and others are available through partner Community-Based Organizations:

  • Mam
  • Arabic
  • Karen
  • Burmese
  • Tigrinya
  • Amharic
  • Dari
  • Pashto

Please e-mail Nate Dunstan to schedule a Community Navigator for your school and for more information about our OUSD Community Navigators for newcomers!

Translation Resources

Contact Us

Ebony Copes

Interpretation & Translation Program Assistant

Office of Equity

Office: (510) 879-8429

Email Me