Staff Intranet
Language Support
We understand that language support is important, and the Department of Multilingual Education & Services is committed to providing the necessary resources to support building’s needs. At this time, the district has both internal and contracted interpretation & translation services to help buildings and provide language support to families. Please use this as a guide to finding how to access those resources.
CONTACTING NON-ENGLISH-SPEAKING FAMILIES
If any staff member needs language support to reach out to a non-English-speaking family, there are different options available in the district:
BILINGUAL COMMUNITY OUTREACH WORKERS/ESL FAMILY ADVOCATES
The Bilingual Community Outreach Workers/ESL Family Advocates in the Department of Multilingual Education & Services can support staff needs by calling families (three-way calls), sending emails/text messages, as well as providing in-person and virtual interpretation services.
Here are some of the things they can assist with:
- Help staff members schedule meetings with parents.
- Inform parents about specific situations with their students.
- Notify parents of school activities/events.
If there are any emergency situations and the Bilingual Community Outreach Workers/ESL Family Advocates are not available, or the language needed is not supported by the Department of Multilingual Education & Services, please utilize Propio On-Demand Services.
BRIGHT ARROW AND BRIGHT CHAT PLATFORMS
Embedded in Infinite Campus, the Bright Arrow functionality also includes the use of the Bright Chat feature.
Bright Chat is a two-way communication feature within Bright Arrow specially designed to support one-on-one communication between parents and teachers. Bright Chat is available to all teachers in the district and allows immediate communication between families and staff members in the families’ own language through a sophisticated translation system.
Bright Chat allows direct communication with parents and gives them the possibility to reply back to teachers’ messages in their own language. Each party will receive messages in the language they speak. Parents must install the Bright Arrow App to be able to chat with teachers.
All buildings should have a Bright Arrow/Bright Chat support person. Please ask your principal who is the designated person in your building if you have any questions on how to use Bright Arrow/Bright Chat. For additional information or support, fill this BrightChat Technical Support form
PROPIO ON-DEMAND SERVICES
Propio offers On-Demand Over-the-Phone and Live Video interpretation services throughout the school year as another alternative to support families' language needs.
Due to the high need for language support, there are some departments in the district that have their own Propio access code to facilitate communication with families: Health Services, Parents as Teachers, Head Start, State Pre-K, Project SPARK, Special Education. If you work for any of these departments and have questions on how to access your department's Propio access code, please contact your department secretary or email language.support@kckps.org
Do not share your department's Propio access code with co-workers from other departments. Each Propio access code is unique to only one department and is intended to be used by employees from that specific department.
For departments that don't have their own Propio access code, please follow the directions below.
Over-the-Phone Services
If a staff member needs to reach out to a student, parent, and/or family member “on the spot” and the Bilingual Community Outreach Workers/ESL Family Advocates are not available, or if the language needed is not supported by the Department of Multilingual Education & Services; staff can use the Propio Over-the-Phone system. This service is available to all buildings throughout the school year. Please reach out to your school’s principal secretary for more information about this, or email language.support@kckps.org.
Live Video Services for School Visitors
To facilitate communication with our non-English speaking families, each school has a Chromebook at the main office to access Propio On-Demand Video Interpretation Services. Front desk staff are trained on how to use this device. This ensures we can support all families and create a welcoming school environment. This service is available to all buildings throughout the school year and should only be used when parents who need language support show up at the schools without a previous appointment. If a staff member needs to use on-demand live video services to communicate with a family, please contact the front desk staff at the school.
Over-the Phone and Live Video Services for FA Days
Our district will continue to provide interpretation support during Family Advocacy Days through Propio. We will be providing interpretation services On-Demand via Over-the-Phone, and Live Video. Please check the FA Week Guide for additional information. We understand some conferences might happen outside of the designated date, so please know that the Propio access code for FA will be active all FA week for additional support.
Propio On-Demand Services are available to all staff members across the district to bridge the language gap between staff members and non-English-speaking families. If you have questions on how to access Propio On-Demand services, please email language.support@kckps.org
KCKPS Language Support Requests
ONSITE INTERPRETATION SERVICES
Staff members can submit an interpreter request using the Interpreter Request Form. Requests for in-person interpreters must be made at least 3 business days prior to the date the interpreter is needed. Failure to comply with this requirement may result in an in-person interpreter not being available. Due to the high need for interpreters during district-wide days like Family Advocate Days or Kindergarten Roundup, it is imperative that staff submit their interpreter requests at least two weeks prior to the event. If you need to cancel your interpreter request, please email language.support@kckps.org at least 24 hours in advance.
DOCUMENT TRANSLATION SERVICES
For documents that need translation, staff members can submit a request using the Document Translation Request Form. Please allow 3-5 business days for projects to be completed. However, staff members are encouraged to submit their projects at least 2 weeks prior to the date they need the translation. For flyers, pictures and PDF documents, please send only the text that needs to be translated in a Word document. Translators can’t guarantee a proper translation if the project is submitted in a format that cannot be edited. Departments with their own access codes can submit their requests directly to their-third party translation agency.
INTERPRETATION HEADSETS SERVICES
For school or district events involving many people with different language needs, the district has interpretation headsets at the buildings’ disposal. A headsets set includes 1 transmitter (device into which the interpreter speaks) and 15 receivers (headsets connected to the transmitter through a designated channel that receive the message being interpreted).
Interpretation headsets are ideal for mass events to get interpretation services simultaneously to multiple people in different languages while only one interpreter per language is needed. Staff members can submit a headsets request using the Headsets Request Form.
To improve the effectiveness of the district in-person interpretation services and simplify the way staff members can request onsite interpretation services and translation services, all in-person interpreter requests and document translation requests can be made online.
If there is an emergency, and the 3-day requirement for in-person interpreter requests can’t be met, or staff members need their translation projects to be completed before the 3-5 business days deadline, please email language.support@kckps.org or call (913)-627-4384.
KCKPS Document Repository
To make sure that meaningful communication from the school is communicated in a language parents can understand, teachers and staff members across the district can utilize the KCKPS Document Repository. The district and schools' most common documents have been translated into the district's top languages so that parents can receive translated material in a language they can understand. If you think that certain documents should be added to the repository for district use, please don't hesitate to contact language.support@kckps.org.
LANGUAGE SUPPORT SATISFACTION SURVERY
This short survey is designed to help our team improve the language support services we offer across the district. We encourage our district staff members to complete this survey every time they receive in-person interpretation services either from an external agency or from one of the Department of Multilingual Education & Services’ Bilingual Outreach Workers. Feedback from district staff is crucial to providing a high-quality language support system. Please click here to complete the Language Support Satisfaction Survey.
"The district and schools must ensure that meaningful communication with parents is communicated in a language they can understand, such as through translated materials or a language interpreter, and to adequate notice of information about any program, service, or activity."
--ED’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR)