Parents in one Colorado school district, “may have been a little confused,” as a local newspaper suggested, when they recently got an email from the district.
In Arabic.
According to a report in USA Today, the email was sent Aug. 24 to parents of students at Bauder Elementary School near Fort Collins.
It was intended to invite Arabic-speaking parents and families to join English classes.
But other than an overline, “Message for our Arabic Families,” there was no explanation.
Those who do not read Arabic, and therefore couldn’t know of the invitation, were left to “scratch their heads,” the report said.
“It’s not likely to happen again – at least not without a brief explanation of the email’s contents to avoid confusion, said John McKay, Poudre School District’s director of language, culture and equity,” the report said.
McKay explained that the elementary has a high concentration of Arabic-speaking students, and the Aug. 24 email was needed but the district apparently has no way to contact only the Arabic-speaking familes.
“Any future emails in Arabic will include a brief description in English to provide more clarity to non-Arabic speaking parents,” the report said McKay assured.
The district has some 3,000 students who spoke a native language other than English last year.
Subscribe to feed