Agenda Item
c. Division of Student Services ~ Translations and Interpretation Services (Not to exceed $1,300,000)
Summary: Presented by: Dr. Norman C. Sauce III, Chief of Student Services, Division of Student Services
Request: It is requested that the Board of Education approve the purchase of professional translation and interpretation services from the following vendors in excess of $100,000.00 with a combined total not to exceed $1,300,000 for the following vendors:
ALTA Language Services
Language Line Services
LATN Language Solutions
Piedmont Global Language Service
Real Time Translation
SeSo, Inc.
Translation Station, Inc.
Zab Translation Solutions
Why: Due to combined spending from all schools and centers serving parents and students whose primary home language is other than English (PHLOTEs), the total cost of translation and interpretation services may exceed $100,000.00 from one or more of the service providers.
Details: The DeKalb County School District, as a local educational agency (LEA) receiving federal grants, including the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) grants, has a legal obligation to maintain meaningful communication with parents and students who may not have English as their primary language. The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and IDEA mandate that parental notices and communication must be in a language that the parents or guardians can understand. Services from approved agencies are included in the district’s agreement with the OCR to provide language support services to families and students who speak other languages. Additionally, interpretation services are required during Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings.
The continuous increase in families and students who speak other languages has resulted in a higher demand for translation and interpretation services. Communication with the parents and guardians of these students is crucial for their academic performance. The DeKalb County School District currently serves over 28,306 students whose primary home language is other than English (PHLOTEs). The significant number of languages and dialects, 178, spoken by our community requires the use of several resources to ensure effective communication with all students and parents. Interpretation and translation services to communicate with students and parents are necessary to ensure access to all our services and programs.
According to DJE III(C)(4), multiple vendors are used based on professional ability to provide translation/interpretation services in the requested languages district-wide for all schools.
Financial impact: The Financial Impact to the general funds for the school year 2025-2026 will not exceed the amount of $1,300,000.
Department of English Learners Charge Code:
100.2100 530000.07711.7130.9990.6015.094.0000 ($805.000)
Department of Exceptional Education Charge Code: 100.1000.530000.00011.7340.2021.8010.094.0000($400,000)
100.1000.530000.22711.7320.9990.8010.094.0000($50,000)
Contact: Presented by: Dr. Norman C. Sauce III, Chief of Student Services, Division of Student Services
Dr. Evelyn Hall, Executive Director of English Learners Department, Division of Student Services, 678-676-6603
Mrs. Kiana King, Executive Director, Exceptional Education, Division of Student Services, 678-676-61885
Effective: July 14, 2025- July 13, 2026
Status: Approved by the Office of Legal Affairs
Our goal is to help our schools and Education Solutions
educational organizations communicate We specialize in helping your organization through language
their message to students and parents translation solutions including the following:
effectively. • Document Translation & Multilingual Formatting/Desktop
With 45% of children being minorities in the United States Publishing
and 23% of students having at least one foreign-born parent, • Multimedia Localization, Including Videos and e-Learning
we recognize the critical need to improve communication • Software and Website Localization
with parents and students. This means we work hard to meet • International Consulting
your needs and work closely with you to improve • Customer Experience Solutions
communication within your organization.
Subject areas in the educational field include:
Our Translation Process Parent Communication Special Education/ELL
We know your needs are unique. We will collaborate Student IEPs, Assessments Online Learning
with you to design a comprehensive solution that best meets LMS or SIS e-Learning
your requirements. We will work with you to create an Student Guidelines Video/Audio Instruction
experience for students and parents that will keep them
Courses/Curriculum Certifications
informed and engaged.
Testing Press Releases
High-quality translation for education is critical to PowerPoint Presentations Training
eliminate risk. We follow a careful and thorough process
that has been established and refined over the past 10 years. Educational Terminology and Standards Are a Must.
This includes translation, editing and review/proofing steps Following established educational terminology and standards
done by our native, in-country experts that practice as well as using common educational tools is also crucial to
exclusively in the education industry. achieving optimal quality.
Confidentiality is key! We employ high privacy for all of your
We comply with required standards including: materials. In addition, FERPA/HIPAA affected documentation is
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expose any confidential information. We also keep those
• ISO 9001:2008 involved in viewing the information to a minimum.
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To assist our translators, we use state-of-the art technology to Our goal is to make the translation process as painless as
mitigate human error while reaching quality expectations and possible for our partners and customers. We pride ourselves in
bringing down costs. Our project managers ensure quality our excellent customer service, and promise to assist you in
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translation memory tools. expectations.
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We’re proud to say we regularly translate into more than 115 Let us help you take your organization
different languages. The following are a few of the principal to the next level!
languages our customers use:
Amharic Arabic Armenian Bengali Burmese
Chin-Hakha Chinese Croatian Danish Dari
Dutch Farsi Finnish French German Pre-K,
Greek
Hmong
Guajarati
Hungarian
Haitian Creole
Icelandic
Hebrew
Indonesian
Hindi
Italian
K-12 and
Japanese Karen Khmer Kinyarwanda Korean Higher Education
Laotian
Portuguese
Malay
Romanian
Nepali
Russian
Norwegian
Serbian
Polish
Slovak
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Zab - DeKalb Rate Schedule - 2025
Translation
Fuzzy Word 100% Match
Language Combination New Word (Partial Match) or Repetition
English > Amharic $0.220 $0.110 $0.055
English > Arabic $0.150 $0.075 $0.038
English > Bengali $0.140 $0.070 $0.035
English > Burmese $0.160 $0.080 $0.040
English > Chin (Hakka) $0.240 $0.120 $0.060
English > Chinese - Simplified
(Mainland China) $0.150 $0.075 $0.038
English > Chinese - Traditional
(Taiwan) $0.180 $0.090 $0.045
English > Chinese - Traditional
(Hong Kong) $0.180 $0.090 $0.045
English > Dari $0.160 $0.080 $0.040
English > Farsi $0.150 $0.075 $0.038
English > French (France) $0.200 $0.100 $0.050
English > French (Canada) $0.200 $0.100 $0.050
English > Haitian Creole $0.180 $0.090 $0.045
English > Hindi $0.160 $0.080 $0.040
English > Karen $0.300 $0.150 $0.075
English > Kazakh $0.205 $0.103 $0.051
English > Kinyarwanda $0.220 $0.110 $0.055
English > Kirundi $0.250 $0.125 $0.063
English > Kurdish (Kurmanji) $0.210 $0.105 $0.053
English > Nepali $0.180 $0.090 $0.045
English > Somali $0.220 $0.110 $0.055
English > Spanish
(Latin America, Mexico, and
Neutral/International) $0.129 $0.065 $0.032
English > Spanish (Spain) $0.180 $0.090 $0.045
English > Swahili $0.160 $0.080 $0.040
English > Telugu $0.205 $0.103 $0.051
English > Vietnamese $0.200 $0.100 $0.050
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