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Substitute urges Wake County to translate key lessons into Spanish, Mandarin
Summary
A substitute teacher and recent classroom volunteer told the board that language barriers impede classroom management and learning, and asked Wake County Public Schools to translate key lessons—starting with Spanish and Mandarin—to help multilingual students keep pace.
A substitute teacher told the Wake County Board of Education on Jan. 21 that language barriers are a classroom management and learning issue and urged the district to prioritize translating key instructional materials into Spanish and Mandarin.
"If we make our educational materials accessible to all students, especially those mastering the English language, then we can help connect those students to teachers and to other students and to the material that we are teaching them," said Natalie Verplugen, a substitute teacher in Wake County Public Schools. Verplugen said she has worked across grades and observed that bilingual students often help translate at the expense of their own learning.
Why it matters: Verplugen observed that about 20% of Wake County students are Hispanic and said only about 1,500 of roughly 11,000 Wake County teachers are bilingual—figures she offered to demonstrate a mismatch between student need and teacher language capacity.
Proposed solutions and evidence
Verplugen proposed translating key lessons and materials into Spanish and Mandarin first and suggested using modern translation tools. She cited a 2020 accuracy benchmark for DeepL at about 89% and said translation technology has improved since then, naming tools as cost-effective supports to reduce classroom disruption and support students' academic progress.
Board response and next steps
No formal action was taken at the meeting. The speaker framed the recommendation as a strategic investment to support inclusion and improve classroom management, and suggested the district pilot translated materials to assess effectiveness.
Ending
The speaker emphasized that translation is an inclusion strategy that can empower multilingual learners and reduce reliance on peer translators, who can fall behind academically while supporting classmates.
