New law requires districtwide notices to be bilingual
By Miguel Morales miguel@theacorn.com

Under a new state law, it is now mandatory for the Simi Valley Unified School District to print out public notices in Spanish as well as English at schools where 15 percent or more of the students enrolled speak Spanish as their primary language.

At Tuesday's school board meeting, revisions made to board policy were approved to reflect Assembly Bill No. 680.

According to the new law, the California Department of Education will be required to monitor district compliance with the 15 percent rule, making sure all notices to the public must be written in that language.

Every year new rules and laws come out, said Bill Waxman, director of secondary education; the school district has had to make several changes to many board policies this year to keep up with all the new laws coming out, he said.

Waxman recalled when laws were first made 15 or 20 years ago concerning Internet use in schools and how they are all common practice now.

"Those notices were a big deal when they were first made mandatory, and now everybody uses them," Waxman said.

This law will be implemented similarly in schools, he said. He added that the district updates policies on an "as needed" basis and that the school district is following state regulations that all other school districts must follow as well.

"We have always made information available in Spanish to those who need it," Waxman said. "Now, since there are so many people that speak other languages, there have been laws passed to raise communication standards in communities."