Types of Services

Telephone interpreting may be used in place of on-site interpreting in some cases, especially in the case of emergency requests, when need for an interpreter arises unexpectedly or when no on-site interpreter is readily available at the location where services are needed. This type of interpretation is a three-way call and requires an LWSD staff member on the other side of the line. Interpreters (including those on a phone) are the vehicles of communication, not the source of information. They interpret the words they are asked to interpret, and ensure that the original source message is faithfully rendered into the target language.

Translating documents provides language access for families who don’t speak English as their first language. To this extent, the role of translations at schools is to convey messages as accurately as possible in a language that is easiest to understand for our families. 

Parents can request this service ahead of time for their meeting. The district will make reasonable efforts to provide a live interpreter for this service. Interpreters work on an on-call basis and a minimum of 72 business hours is needed to fill most requests; some lower-incidence languages may require more time to arrange.