Spanish Translator at School Board Meetings
Q: At a recent school board meeting attended by 600 community members and staff, the district attempted to deny translation of the meeting. 80% of the audience was Spanish speaking. Is the district required to provide a translator if needed?
A: With respect to the meetings of local government bodies such as school boards, the public’s right to attend, receive notice of, and otherwise access those meetings is governed by the Brown Act, Govt. Code section 54950 et seq. While the Brown Act requires that certain translation services be provided to disabled persons in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, it does not address those situations where a school district attempts to deny translation of a school board meeting where the audience is predominantly Spanish speaking.
Unfortunately, the Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual Services Act (Government Code section 7290 et seq.), which requires local agencies subject to the Brown Act to retain an interpreter in some situations, does not apply to school boards. See Govt. Code section 7298. I am not aware of any other provision of California law that would require a school board to have a translator on hand at public meetings under the situation you describe (Note: it is possible that some applicable provision of law exists which might apply here; I’m just not aware of it).
However, if indeed the audience was 80 percent Spanish speaking, not having an interpreter is certainly contrary to the spirit of the Brown Act, which was enacted to ensure that interested members of the public can monitor their local governing bodies. If a large percentage of the audience cannot understand what is being said at the meeting, that would seem to undercut the very purpose of the Brown Act.