Quincy Public Schools unveils draft language access plan after statewide cohort selection

Quincy Public Schools on May 28 presented a draft district language access plan developed after the district was selected to join the state’s first cohort to create formal language access plans.

The plan, introduced by a team of Quincy Public Schools family liaisons, lays out interpretation and translation services, staff training and tools the district uses to communicate with families who speak languages other than English. It also sets a public rollout timeline: the district will post the plan on the QPS website in September 2025 and solicits additional feedback from families and staff before finalizing it.

The district’s presentation emphasized existing capacity. Heather (presenter) (Staff member, Quincy Public Schools) introduced the four family liaisons and said Quincy was selected largely because of “our family liaisons, and … our existing language access tools and practices.” Ray Lau (Family Liaison, Quincy Public Schools) said the team supports registration, orientation and ongoing family outreach so “families can complete this entire process in a language they understand.” Laura Tang (Family Liaison, Quincy Public Schools) described translated welcome packets and parent academies in Mandarin, Cantonese, Portuguese and Spanish; Moshi/ Mo Xi Dong (Family Liaison, Quincy Public Schools) explained how interpreters can be scheduled for IEP meetings, report card conferences and other school meetings; Dean Vinh (Family Liaison, Quincy Public Schools) discussed staff training and monitoring.

The presentation listed concrete district steps taken in recent years: adoption of School Messenger for multilingual mass notifications (January 2020), creation of a centralized translation-tracking spreadsheet (November 2020) and formation of the family liaison team (January 2022). Smore, a platform that supports automatic written translation, was adopted in August 2023, and the district has shifted from a shared spreadsheet to a Google Form for interpreter requests. Presenters said family liaisons completed roughly 70–75 hours of specialized training through the Edwin Getzler Translation Center at UMass Amherst and DESE-sponsored workshops.

Committee members asked about funding and operational details. Cahill (Committee member, Quincy School Committee) asked whether the work is funded by the district or through outside grants; the liaisons said the training and services were initially supported by DESE and the UMass center and that current training costs are covered through Title III funding. A liaison reported more than 700 scheduled interpreter requests in the school year (scheduled meetings only) and said the district also tracks on-demand phone interpreter usage.

Officials described how phone calls from families that arrive without an identified language are handled: school secretaries note the caller ID, determine the language when possible, then either add an interpreter immediately or call back with an interpreter. The liaisons said this sequence happens daily in some schools and that they often follow up directly with families to confirm details.

The plan’s monitoring elements include an annual family survey about language access services and ongoing verification of families’ language needs in student records. Presenters emphasized two separate flags in the district system—one for oral interpretation needs and another for written translation needs—so staff know whether to request spoken interpreters or translated documents.

The team asked the committee to review the draft and said next steps include gathering explicit family and staff feedback over the summer and preparing a final posting in September. Presenters also recommended continuing staff training and maintaining the interpreter-request workflow districtwide.

Committee members commended the work and asked staff to return with any additional metrics requested. The liaisons said they will provide further counts on phone-based interpreter use in addition to the 700 scheduled-meeting requests already reported.