Bilingual School Family Liaison

Purpose Statement

The job of Bilingual School Family Liaison is done for the purpose/s of facilitating communication between nonEnglish speaking families and the school district by performing live translation services which enhances parental involvement, support student achievement, and encourage cultural understanding.This position is primarily focused on increasing the engagement of multilingual families with school activities, programs, and communications. The liaison serves as a bridge between home and school, promoting opportunities for involvement, facilitating access to resources, and supporting student achievement. The position aligns with the goals outlined in the Federal Title III Grant.

Essential Functions

• Assists with interpreting during school-related events (e.g. enrollment and oreintation, etc.) for the purpose of facilitating effective communication between educators and non-English speaking families, ensuring that parents/guardians have a clear understanding of their child's academic progress and support needs.
• Attends home visits as needed for the purpose of assisting staff in communicating effectively with non-English parents or guardians.
• Builds and maintains strong relationships with families through face-to-face meetings, phone calls, written messages, and home visits for the purpose of supporting student learning and engagement.
• Collaborates with other departments in the district and outside community organizations for the purpose of connecting families with helpful resources.
• Collaborates with school staff by regularly visiting schools and communicating by phone and email for the purpose of ensuring accurate and timely information for student success and building positive relationships.
• Communicates important information with families and students about school expectations, programs, and services for the purpose of ensuring student success.
• Maintains a variety of manual and electronic documents files and records for the purpose of providing up-to-date information and/or historical reference in accordance with established administrative guidelines and legal requirements.
• Provides accurate and confidential translation services between non-English speaking families and school staff during meetings, events, conferences, and other interactions, sometimes after school hours, for the purpose of ensuring that all parties understand and can actively participate in discussions related to the students' education.
• Supports staff learning by helping with training on topics like language, culture, and working with diverse families for the purpose of ensuring understanding.
• Translates documents, when needed during meetings, (e.g. letters, forms, and announcements from the district, schools, and teachers, etc.) for the purpose of ensuring that non-English speaking families have a clear understanding of information or services.

Other Functions

• Performs other related duties as assigned for the purpose of ensuring the efficient and effective functioning of the work unit.

Job Requirements: Minimum Qualifications

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

KNOWLEDGE is required to perform basic math, including calculations using fractions, percents, and/or ratios; read technical information, compose a variety of documents, and/or facilitate group discussions; and solve practical problems. Specific knowledge based competencies required to satisfactorily perform the functions of the job include: Special Education terms (legal, medical, educational); Special Education processes and programs; and protocol in confidential translation/interpretation; full professional fluency in English and either Spanish or Arabic with strong skills in speaking, reading, and writing.

SKILLS are required to perform single, technical tasks with a need to occasionally upgrade skills in order to meet changing job conditions. Specific skill based competencies required to satisfactorily perform the functions of the job include: operating standard office equipment including using pertinent software applications such as Outlook and Microsoft Office;  and preparing and maintaining accurate records;.

ABILITY is required to schedule activities and/or meetings; collate data; and use basic, job-related equipment. Flexibility is required to  work with others in a variety of circumstances; work with data utilizing defined but different processes; and operate equipment using defined methods. Ability is also required to work with a diversity of individuals and/or groups; work with similar types of data; and utilize specific, job-related equipment. Problem solving is required to identify issues and create action plans. Problem solving with data may require independent interpretation; and problem solving with equipment is limited. Specific ability based competencies required to satisfactorily perform the functions of the job include: communicating with diverse groups; establishing and maintaining cooperative and effective working relationships with others; and maintaining confidentiality; work independently; being available on-call.

Responsibility

Responsibilities include: working under limited supervision following standardized practices and/or methods; providing information and/or advising others; operating within a defined budget. Utilization of some resources from other work units may be required to perform the job's functions. There is some opportunity to impact the organization’s services.

Work Environment

The usual and customary methods of performing the job's functions require the following physical demands: some lifting, carrying, pushing, and/or pulling,   and significant fine finger dexterity. Generally the job requires 60% sitting, 20% walking, and 20% standing. The job is performed in a generally hazard free environment.

Experience:                        Job related experience is required.

Education (Preferred):         Bachelor's preferred; minimum of 60 college credit hours required

Education:            Targeted job related education that meets organization’s prerequisite requirements with an emphasis in Bachelor's preferred; minimum of 60 college credit hours

Required Testing                                              Certificates and Licenses

     None Specified                                             None Specified

Continuing Educ./Training                                            Clearances

     None Specified                                        Criminal Background Clearance