Left Powerless: Non-English–Speaking Parents Denied Vital Translation Services
Flouting federal laws, schools routinely fail to provide qualified interpreters. Districts say they lack the resources ‘no matter how hard we try.’
About Me
I'm a staff reporter at The 74, where I cover major issues in the K-12 education landscape, including chronic absenteeism, English language learners and their families, pandemic recovery, grading practices, the teacher pipeline and paid parental leave for educators. Most recently, I spent months investigating the widespread denial of translation services to parents who aren’t fluent in English, in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. I also covered the shifting youth electorate in the 2024 election, with a focus on young, male voters who cast ballots in support of abortion rights despite their support of President-elect Donald Trump.
I entered the field of investigative journalism after spending six years teaching high school English in urban public schools in Boston and NYC. During the pandemic, I began publishing op-eds about my experiences as a teacher. This ultimately led me to Columbia’s School of Journalism where I was a Stabile Investigative Fellow and the recipient of the Fred M. Hechinger Education Journalism Award as well as a Pulitzer Travel fellowship, awarded to the top five students in the graduating class.
My experiences in the classroom — especially surrounding grading practices, equity and discipline — continue to inform and inspire my work. I'm particularly passionate about reporting on the various institutions that intersect with public education, such as the housing, carceral, and child welfare systems. My reporting has exposed wrongdoing by the NYC Department of Education — from fraudulent grading practices to a school busing crisis — and has appeared in the Miami Herald, The Washington Post, Chalkbeat, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Maine Monitor, The Portland Press Herald, CNN Digital, and elsewhere.
Before The 74, I interned on the education desk at the Miami Herald, where I wrote about book bans, homeschooling regulations, the substitute teacher shortage, stagnant teacher salaries, private for-profit universities and student activism around the war in Gaza.
My Latest Work
Without Paid Parental Leave, Teachers Scramble for Time with Their Newborns
Depleting sick days, paying for their own subs, returning to work weeks after giving birth, teachers — and their babies — suffer without paid leave
Young Voters Favored Abortion Rights and President-Elect Trump, New Data Shows
Analysis shows Gen Z can be liberal on issues like reproductive rights and climate change while conservative on the economy, jobs and immigration.
At Special Ed Teacher Shortage Hearing, Panelists Debate Dismantling Ed Dept.
One expert predicted a “free-for-all”; another called it largely symbolic. Civil rights commission readying a report on special ed teacher shortages.
Too Hard or Too Easy: The ‘Big, Statewide Fight’ Over MA. Graduation Requirement
Latest polling shows 58% of voters would get rid of the MCAS exam as a graduation must amid debate over learning standards vs. student well-being.
In Troubling Shift, English Learners Outpace Peers in Chronic Absenteeism in CA
A new study finds English learners in 4 California districts are more likely to be absent than their peers, a marked shift from before the pandemic.
Unlikely Ed Allies Join Forces to Cut Chronic Absenteeism in Half
‘All hands on deck’: AEI, Ed Trust and Attendance Works stake out a bold goal in the face of the pandemic’s most persistent problem.
High School Seniors Eye Campus Protests as High-Stakes College Decision Looms
As protests engulf college campuses, prospective freshmen forced to weigh their own appetite for student activism, police presence and sense of safety
In a Disastrous Year, States That Mandate FAFSA Completion Fared a Bit Better
Mandatory states’ existing support infrastructure may have insulated them — and their students — during the messy rollout.
‘Behind the 8 Ball:’ How Research is Trying to Catch Up on Cannabis and Kids
New study reveals how many teens are using delta-8-THC, a weed-like product, but research is behind on pot’s more potent strains, one expert said.
Why is a Grading System Touted as More Accurate, Equitable So Hard to Implement?
As schools jump into standards-based grading, attempting to separate academic mastery from behavior, many are “failing miserably,” experts say.
New Study: School Nurses Are Untapped Resource to Combat Chronic Absenteeism
“Many people think our primary focus is to send children home, but actually our focus is to keep kids in school,” said school nurse Kate King.
The Price of Being First: Effort to Rename Brown v. Board Reveals Family’s Pain
A failed quest to rename the famed school desegregation case for the South Carolina family who filed first is about more than legal recognition.
In Miami-Dade Schools, all you need to be a substitute teacher is a GED degree
Barbara Hochman, a retired physical therapist, decided she wanted to become a substitute teacher. After applying for the position, submitting her college transcript and completing the necessary training, she started working in Miami-Dade County Public Schools about a year and a half ago.
Over the summer, Hochman received an email from the district alerting her that all hiring and management of substitutes, also known as temporary teachers, would be outsourced to a company called Kelly Education
Over the summer, Hochman received an email from the district alerting her that all hiring and management of substitutes, also known as temporary teachers, would be outsourced to a company called Kelly Education
‘It’s hard to survive and live.’ Broward teachers rally for raises, against insurance costs
Broward Teachers Union members rallied Wednesday evening, protesting the district’s proposed 1.7% pay raise, which would be funded exclusively by state funds, rather than the district’s budget.
Gathered inside the Broward School Board building, teachers in blue and red BTU tee-shirts also were outraged that they may be asked to contribute to their health insurance for the first time, effectively exceeding the raise being offered, according to a union statement.
If the union and the district ar
Gathered inside the Broward School Board building, teachers in blue and red BTU tee-shirts also were outraged that they may be asked to contribute to their health insurance for the first time, effectively exceeding the raise being offered, according to a union statement.
If the union and the district ar
‘Shouldn’t be a war that’s fought on a college campus.’ Tensions rise for Florida students
When Mona Abuzahra moved from the West Bank in 2020 to begin her freshman year at the University of Miami, she was struck by how little Americans knew about Palestinian life.
Many UM students assumed all the Palestinians living in the two territories in the Middle East — the West Bank and Gaza — were governed by Hamas, the armed Palestinian militant group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7. Unlike the Gaza Strip, which has been ruled by Hamas since 2007, some areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank
Many UM students assumed all the Palestinians living in the two territories in the Middle East — the West Bank and Gaza — were governed by Hamas, the armed Palestinian militant group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7. Unlike the Gaza Strip, which has been ruled by Hamas since 2007, some areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank
Florida now leads the country in book bans, new PEN report says. How did that happen?
More books were pulled from shelves in Florida public schools compared to any other state during the past school year, a new report released Thursday by PEN America found.
The nonprofit, which advocates for freedom of expression, recorded 3,362 instances of bans in public school classrooms and libraries from July 2022 to June 2023 across the country. Out of these, about 1,400 — or 40% of the national total — took place in Florida.
“Florida is not an aberration,” said Tasslyn Magnusson, a consu
The nonprofit, which advocates for freedom of expression, recorded 3,362 instances of bans in public school classrooms and libraries from July 2022 to June 2023 across the country. Out of these, about 1,400 — or 40% of the national total — took place in Florida.
“Florida is not an aberration,” said Tasslyn Magnusson, a consu
Twenty-two challenges to school library books have been filed in Maine since January 2022. Just one book has been removed.
On a Monday in September 2022, a semi-retired Livermore Falls resident requested the removal of a graphic novel from the shelves of the local school library. It was the seventh official challenge the area’s school board received that month.
The challenger, Arin Quintel, had no children in the school district, though she said she previously volunteered as a foster grandparent in the local elementary school. She eventually left the volunteer program, concerned by the direction she felt the educat
The challenger, Arin Quintel, had no children in the school district, though she said she previously volunteered as a foster grandparent in the local elementary school. She eventually left the volunteer program, concerned by the direction she felt the educat
New York City’s graduation rate rose during the pandemic, bucking national trends. Why?
When high school teacher Rachel King welcomed a new cohort of 10th graders to her classroom in the fall of 2021, she made a discovery: a number of her students had never completed their coursework from the previous year.
At the time, the 36-year-old taught English at The Urban Assembly Institute of Math and Science for Young Women in downtown Brooklyn. It was her 13th year teaching and her third at the all-girls middle and high school, which serves predominantly Black and Latino children from l
At the time, the 36-year-old taught English at The Urban Assembly Institute of Math and Science for Young Women in downtown Brooklyn. It was her 13th year teaching and her third at the all-girls middle and high school, which serves predominantly Black and Latino children from l
Maine homeschooling numbers remain high following a pandemic spike
In the fall of 2016, Jessica Coakley became increasingly concerned that her son, Braden, was falling behind in school. The fourth grader had an Individualized Education Program, requiring certain services for students like him with different learning needs.
But his mother worried it was not enough.
“I was feeling like the teachers and the principals and the people weren’t listening to me,” said Coakley, who lives in Bradley, just north of Bangor. “I would go to these IEP meetings and I’d be cr
But his mother worried it was not enough.
“I was feeling like the teachers and the principals and the people weren’t listening to me,” said Coakley, who lives in Bradley, just north of Bangor. “I would go to these IEP meetings and I’d be cr
School bus delays help drive chronic absenteeism, parents and advocates say
One morning in late October, 8-year-old Eric Vilchis’s school bus picked him up on Bushwick Avenue at 7:30 a.m. About three and a half hours later, his mother, Araselis Pedrasa, received a phone call from his school: Her son had never arrived.
Panicked, the Brooklyn mom began calling the bus driver and bus attendant. Neither answered their phones.
“We didn’t know where the bus was,” she said in an interview translated from Spanish.
Pedrasa learned later that the bus had never left Brooklyn. A
Panicked, the Brooklyn mom began calling the bus driver and bus attendant. Neither answered their phones.
“We didn’t know where the bus was,” she said in an interview translated from Spanish.
Pedrasa learned later that the bus had never left Brooklyn. A
One Florida school district removed over 400 books. See books restricted in your district
A school district in northeastern Florida removed more than 400 books from classroom and library shelves during the past school year, the most of any of the state’s 67 school districts.
Clay County District Schools, near Jacksonville, was one of four districts in the state that banned or restricted over 100 books between July 2022 and June 2023, according to a report released Thursday by PEN America, a nonprofit that advocates for freedom of expression.
Escambia County Public Schools in the Pa
Clay County District Schools, near Jacksonville, was one of four districts in the state that banned or restricted over 100 books between July 2022 and June 2023, according to a report released Thursday by PEN America, a nonprofit that advocates for freedom of expression.
Escambia County Public Schools in the Pa
This education non-profit empowers parents to fight for public schools. Here’s how
One early morning, years ago, then-6th grader Mina Hosseini was hanging out with friends in her school’s auditorium, when the group was reprimanded by a teacher. She still remembers the moment he told them to settle down and show some gratitude for the education they were receiving in the United States. In Iran, he added, children merely go to school to become terrorists.
Hosseini still isn’t sure if that teacher knew she was Iranian.
“I just sunk into my chair,” she said in a recent interview
Hosseini still isn’t sure if that teacher knew she was Iranian.
“I just sunk into my chair,” she said in a recent interview
Miami art university to close, leaving hundreds of students scrambling. A week’s notice
Miami International University of Art & Design, along with its Tampa branch and six other Art Institute campuses, will shutter its doors, effective Saturday, leaving nearly 2,000 students and faculty members displaced and scrambling.
The Miami campus, 1501 Biscayne Blvd. in the former Omni mall site, and its Tampa branch are two of eight Art Institute schools. The other six campuses are in Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio in Texas, and Virginia Beach.
The Art Institutes consist
The Miami campus, 1501 Biscayne Blvd. in the former Omni mall site, and its Tampa branch are two of eight Art Institute schools. The other six campuses are in Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio in Texas, and Virginia Beach.
The Art Institutes consist
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