The Edina School Board approved language assistance services in accordance with a state mandate during its Oct. 13 regular meeting.

The Language Access Plan, unanimously approved by the board, provides interpreters for families in need, offers translations in Spanish and Somali for documents sent by the school, and facilitates communication through cultural liaisons. It follows the Minnesota Department of Education’s mandate that all schools must provide services and information to families that speak a language other than English.

“The most important part of all language access plans is that we come from the best intentions,” Dr. Frannie Becquer, Director of Achievement Equity and Multilingual Learner Programming, said during the meeting. “Families want to be active participants in their children’s educational career, and our job in the education system is to remove barriers for them.”

Specific practices to implement the plan include designing questions on the enrollment form, allowing parents to indicate the languages spoken in their household, and collaborating with qualified interpreters both in-person and virtually.

AI translations are allowed for “non-vital documents.” Vital documents, as defined by the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education, include documents related to education rights and services and legal and administrative documents.

Vice Chair Erica Allenburg proposed that the district offer more support through cultural liaisons for families who might be reluctant to ask for interpreters, given the “current state of the country.” Allenburg also suggested the Communications Department send documents in digital formats that allow text to be selected by the viewer, so families that need to translate them can do so conveniently.

For other agenda items, the school board:

• Heard an Excellence in Action presentation on the upcoming Edina Resource Night for Multilingual Families
• Heard a presentation from Kathy Rendleman, Executive Director of Edina Education Fund, which discussed the foundation’s past programs and goals for the 2025–26 fiscal year
• Selected the Minnesota School Boards Association (MSBA) as the preferred firm for the district’s superintendent search
• Planned a special meeting with MSBA on Oct. 14 focused on workshopping superintendent hiring
• Appreciated artwork created by Normandale Elementary School students currently on display in the district boardroom
• Revised Policy 903: adding electric bikes to the list of prohibited recreational vehicles on district property in the appendix and editing the section on PSEO students to guarantee them access to technology for coursework
• Updated Policy 624 on online learning in accordance with state statutes, allowing the policy to cover digital instruction and blended learning instead of only supplemental courses
• Updated Policy 606.5 to elaborate on the criterion of a “library media specialist” and clarify the process of filing a challenge report against library materials
• Approved revisions to Policies 208, 516, 516.5, 524, and 713 from previous meetings