- Iowa City Community School District
- Welcome to Interpretation & Translation Services!
Welcome to Interpretation & Translation Services!
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Over 25% of our District students speak a language other than English at home, and 10% of students have families who prefer school communication in a language other than English. The most prominent spoken languages among our District students and families are Spanish, French, Arabic, and Swahili.
In order to ensure meaningful communication between schools, students, and families, our District's language access services include in-person interpretation, telephone interpretation, video interpretation, and written translation services.
Accessing Services
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If you are in need of Translation and Interpretation Services, there are a number of ways you can tell District staff:
- When you register your child in our District, indicate your preferred language of communication when completing the Home Language Survey.
- Interpretation services available
Hey District staff! Need to request an interpreter or translate a document? Check out our Interpretation & Translation Services for Staff.
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Have questions? Need support?
Contact Krystal Jossell at (319) 688-1000 or translation@iowacityschools.org.
Are you a staff member looking for translation and interpretation resources? See interpretation & translation services for staff for more information.
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Face-to-Face Interpretation Services
Oral interpreters and American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters are available to assist our District families when meeting in person or via video conferencing at your child’s school, virtually, or attending a school or District activity.
To request this service, please contact your child’s school at least 5 school days prior to ensure availability.
Interpreters can be provided for various meetings, such as parent-teacher conferences, special education eligibility meetings, and IEP meetings. Interpreters can also assist during school activities such as parent-teacher organization (PTO) meetings, ELL nights, back to-school nights, graduation ceremonies, and more!
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Over the Phone Interpretation
Language Line is an over-the-phone service that allows our multilingual families to communicate with their child’s school using their native language.
Through Language Line, your child’s school can call an interpreter on the telephone. The school staff will dial the Language Line number and ask for the language required. You will then have to wait on hold until an interpreter is connected to you, usually 1-2 minutes.
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TalkingPoints
TalkingPoints is a two-way multilingual family engagement platform that allows staff to communicate with families across language barriers. The platform translates messages back and forth into over 100 languages, allowing for staff to be able to reach families in their preferred language, which in turn increases parent engagement in the classroom and school communities.
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Written Translation Services
Our District translates district-wide documents to support school-parent communication. These documents include but are not limited to:
- district and school policies
- emergency information
- registration and enrollment forms
- health, and safety information
- student permission forms
- disciplinary letters
- parent handbooks
- academic options and planning
- information regarding access to functions, extracurricular activities, report cards, special education documents, and program-specific information