HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Hillsborough County Schools rolled out a new hotline Monday to support families who don’t speak English by connecting them with school and community-based resources.
While waiting at her son’s bus stop, Maray Cautin shared the challenges of working through language barriers.
“It gets difficult and complicated to navigate systems, and in her case, she said that she doesn’t speak any English,” Cautin explained through interpreter Michelle Quinones.
Cautin has a student in Hillsborough County Schools. Recently, a new hotline got her the help she needed.
“Someone talked to her in Spanish, and she needed the phone number of a health clinic to be able to get the physical exam and immunization records for her child,” said Quinones.
Hillsborough County Schools officially opened the bilingual hotline Monday to better serve families who do not speak English. The service had gone through a soft launch in October.
Superintendent Addison Davis said close to 40 percent of their families identify as speaking Spanish.
“In Hillsborough County, 44,000 of our families identify themselves as Hispanic, and as the organizational leader, we have to find proactive solutions to make them feel enriched and a part of our community and a part of our schools every single day,” said Davis.
The hotline will help families with anything from enrollment and translation services to connecting them with mental health and community resources. District leaders said they’ll staff the hotline with four people to start.
Michelle Quinones, a bilingual social worker with Hillsborough County Schools, is part of the team that answers phone calls for the hotline.
“We know that we are getting a significant number of students that come from families that do not speak English, Hispanic or from other countries,” said Quinones. “We know that there’s a need, and we want to have opportunities for the families to communicate in their language.”
The number for the bilingual hotline is 813-272-4945. Bilingual staff is available Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 4:00pm.
