Our Story

Our story began in 1978, with the inception of the English as a Second Language (ESL) Program in JCPS. At that time, our district faced a great influx of immigrants and took action to ensure interpretation and document translation support for ESL staff to communicate with JCPS ESL students and their families. Until 2016, facilitating interpretation and document translation requests fell to one ESL staff member. However, due to the substantial growth in demand, facilitating requests became the responsibility of four full-time staff members. Thus, the present-day Language Services (LS) office was established.  

LS is a full-service language support provider of all forms of interpretation and document translation. Our interpreters and translators are trained and assessed for language proficiency. We collaborate with multiple outside agencies to provide certified interpretation and document translation services. Therefore, we guarantee complete accuracy and confidentiality.   

We strive toward excellence through forward thinking and listening to our customers, who always tell us when they need more effective ways to communicate with JCPS international populations and provide feedback about our services, interpreters, and translators. 

These are some of the LS milestones: 

School Year (SY) 1978-79 

  • District starts providing interpretation and document translation services for ESL staff to communicate effectively with ESL students and families. 

SY 2005-06

  • An employee who facilitates interpretation and document translation services in the district begins tracking the number of interpretation and document translation requests. There were more than 650 requests facilitated this year. 

SY 2012-13 

  • An employee who facilitates interpretation and document translation assesses the district's needs to access interpretation and document translation services and plans for improvement. 

SY 2015-16 

  • District creates the LS office. 

  • LS office starts facilitating interpretation and document translation services for all programs. 

SY 2016-17 

  • LS facilitates more than 3,875 requests, representing a 485 percent increase as compared to 650 requests in SY 2005-06. 

  • LS creates the LS webpage.  

  • LS implements an automated interpretation and document translation scheduling system.  

  • LS establishes an ever-growing library of translated documents available to every JCPS employee. 

SY 2017-18

  • LS increases awareness of interpretation and document translation services in our district by providing more than 30 hours of informational sessions to district employees.  

  • LS upgrades the LS online scheduling system to a professional system. 

  • LS provides certified interpreters for the top five languages spoken in the district to assist in the JCPS Superintendent Finalists Public Forums.  

SY 2018-19

  • LS begins providing interpretation and document translation services using certified interpreters and translators only.  

  • LS starts providing certified interpretation and document translation services to all English learners and families regardless of program affiliation.  

  • LS provides all schools and programs with access to immediate on-demand interpreting services (audio and video).  

SY 2019-20 

  • LS starts using social media to promote certified interpretation and document translation services. 

  • LS translates #HealthyAtSchool information for the Kentucky Governor’s office in the top five languages spoken in the state. LS gets a shout-out from Lt. Governor Coleman on a June 24, 2020, Corona Virus state update. 

  • The Pichard Committee highlights the work of LS for students and families in the community in the article “Crisis Expands Definition of School Work.” 

SY 2020-21

  • LS translates into Spanish the 2021 Kentucky’s Commissioner of Education and Chief Learner Jason E. Glass’s listening tour information. 

  • LS secures four Spanish interpreters for the Kentucky Commissioner's Listening Tour.  

SY 2021-22

  • District adopts the Jefferson County Board of Education (JCBE) policy 08.1348 Certified Oral and Written Language Support.

  • LS makes a video to explain how district employees must comply with JCBE policy 08.1348. 

  • LS starts providing certified interpretation and document translation services for district communication with JCPS bilingual employees who prefer to communicate in their native languages. 

  • LS adds Remote Simultaneous Interpretation (RSI) services to its list of services. 

  • LS provides RSI at JCBE regular meetings and Title I family engagement events.