Julia Chambers took the part-time job as an interpreter one year ago with the Monroe Public Schools. Now, she is among the nearly two dozen interpreters used by the district.  Chambers’ job may have sounded like an oddity decades ago, but today, many school districts in Snohomish County say interpreters and translators are just another part of doing business.

Kevin Hendzel, a spokesman with the American Translators Association based in Alexandria, Va., said the reason for that shift can be attributed to President Bill Clinton’s executive order in 2000. That federal mandate required schools receiving federal aid to provide translation, addressing the written word, and interpretation, for oral remarks.

Twenty years ago, if the parents didn’t speak English, there was simply a communications gap.

While the executive order may have formalized the need, many local districts said they already had the practice in place. The services have been used in Mukilteo, Lake Stevens and Granite Falls for as long as anyone can remember.

Now, some letters to Everett students’ homes are drafted in five different languages — English, Spanish, Russian, Arabic and Vietnamese. The district’s automated phone-call system also leaves messages in preferred languages.

This is the most important way to ensure our families are part of the education process.

None boomed as greatly as the Hispanic population. According to the U.S. Census, the county had 28,600 Hispanics in 2000. By 2008, the most recent year with data available, that number leapt to 47,100.

Monroe has felt that growth. At Frank Wagner Elementary School, for instance, the school posts messages on its outdoor reader board in both Spanish and English. Interpreters also are a regular sight. Their use has become more common as the community has grown and families have moved to the area that have different native languages.

See: Herald Net