The creation of a translation office in the Department of Education (DOE) is not enough to resolve the problems of parents who do not speak English; a municipal law obliging the government to provide needed help is called for, according to the statement made yesterday by a group of City Council members and immigrant organizations.

The proposed law, dubbed the Educational Equity Law, “would provide translation services in all our public schools,” said Council Member Hiram Monserrate, one of the proposal’s sponsors.

The law would require schools to provide an interpreter’s services for parents in any meeting with teachers and in any other conversation a parent might have with employees of the school system.

The law would also mandate that the DOE translate all documents intended for parents into the eight languages most commonly spoken in the city, including Spanish. “These measures are necessary so that pupils’ parents can participate fully in their children’s education,” said David Yassky, another of the bill’s sponsors.

“How can we expect the parents to be involved in their children’s education if they cannot understand the information being sent to them?” asked Yassky.

A parent present at the press conference, María Lozano, said she had great difficulty getting information from he son’s school when the boy was hurt in an accident inside the school last spring. According to Lozano, in order to speak to school officials she had had to bring along her daughter, a tenth grade student, to serve as a translator.

“She had to be absent from her classes for two days to be my translator,” said Lozano. “It was very hard for me; we were sent from pillar to post. They didn’t want to help me because I spoke Spanish and they spoke English.” To get a home tutor for her son, Lozano said she had to turn for intervention to Make the Road by Walking, one of the community organizations that has been pushing for the new law.

Although Schools Chancellor Joel Klein established a translation office, the council members and organizations that support the proposed law pointed out that the office – which has only one employee so far – has no clearly defined responsibilities as yet, nor does it have sufficient resources to respond to the problem of parents who do not understand English.

The Bloomberg Administration, for its part, has no comment on the proposal, since it has not yet been evaluated, said a spokesperson for the mayor.