LOS ANGELES – The ACLU of Southern California (ACLU SoCal) unveiled today a guide to assist parents with children enrolled in the Temecula Valley Unified School District in understanding the rights of English Learner students under state and federal law.
In August, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge found the State of California was failing to ensure school districts were providing adequate instructional services to 20,000 English Learners across the state, despite federal and state requirements.
“This toolkit, the first of its kind in California, will help community members to ensure that Temecula Valley Unified School District stops being one of those districts reportedly failing to provide appropriate services,” said Jessica Price, a staff attorney at ACLU SoCal. “In our statewide lawsuit, we learned about many barriers that keep people from understanding whether students in their districts receive appropriate language instructional services. Now it is time to empower local community members to take action.”
The In Plain English toolkit will provide community members with key information that will allow them to understand their rights, the services available to students, and the complaint process available to them if school officials fail to provide adequate resources. Additionally, the toolkit describes the school committees where parents can go and provide input on issues that affect English Learners.
“We are really excited that there is now a resource that educates the community about English Learner rights,” said Kimberly Evans, a teacher in the Temecula Valley Unified School District. “This toolkit comes at a great time, and it addresses some of the significant changes affecting this population in the district, such as the programs the district promised to create using the money it received through the Local Control Funding Formula.”
In Plain English: A Toolkit for English Learner Advocates in Temecula Valley Unified School District
Download ACLU SoCal's toolkit:
https://www.aclusocal.org/toolkit-tvusd (English)
https://www.aclusocal.org/toolkit-tvusd-es (Spanish)
Contact: Sandra Hernandez 213. 977.5252, shernandez@aclusocal.org
