The groups that filed the federal civil rights complaint that the Wake County school system announced it had settled last week are officially speaking out now.

On Thursday, the school system announced it would enhance the language services it provides to parents of students with limited English proficiency. The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights had investigated allegations that Wake was discriminating against those families.

In the statement today from the Southern Poverty Law Center and Advocates for Children's Services, which had jointly filed the complaint, the groups said the resolution was "encouraging" and "a great step in the right direction."

The Wake County school system announced today it's settled a federal civil rights complaint that alleged it discriminated against some Latino students by not providing their parents with Spanish translations of important documents.

Wake says that it reached a voluntary resolution with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights that will result in enhanced language assistance for parents with limited English proficiency. The complaint was filed in June by the Southern Poverty Law Center and Advocates for Children's Services.

Enhancements to the access of language assistance services include:

Is it a conspiracy or coincidence that the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights is spending a lot of its time investigating various complaints filed against the Wake County school system?

As noted in today's article, OCR has used its discretion to launch investigations of three complaints against Wake in the past two years. The scope of the investigations means OCR is looking at how students are assigned, how they’re suspended, what athletics opportunities they’re provided and whether they’re getting important notices in Spanish.

Depending on your point of view, they're welcome probes or a case of the feds butting in too much into Wake County's business.

The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights will investigate allegations that the Wake County school system discriminated against some Latino students by not providing their parents with Spanish translations of important documents.

The Southern Poverty Law Center and Advocates for Children's Services announced today that OCR is acting on the Title VI complaint that the two groups filed against Wake last month. Here's the OCR letter to Wake dated June 27.

“This is good news for all Latino students in Wake County schools whose parents have limited English proficiency,” said Peggy Nicholson, one of the ACS attorneys representing the students in the complaint. “We hope this investigation results in Wake County public schools adopting new policies and practices that better enable all parents to play a more meaningful role in their children’s education.”

The state NAACP is calling Wake County's new controlled-choice student assignment plan "an abject failure" and urging the U.S. Department of Education to "re-invigorate" its investigation of the school district.

In a press release Friday, the NAACP announced it had filed a supplement to its original Title VI complaint against Wake over eliminating the diversity policy. The supplement is based on an analysis in Wednesday's Raleigh Public Record that "the poorest schools are getting poorer at a much greater rate than more affluent schools" under the choice plan.

"In short, our worst projections will be realized this fall," according to the NAACP supplement. "Our children -- Black, Brown and Poor-will be funneled into schools that are already Black, Brown & Poor. As we have shown in our thoughtful, scientifically-based Title VI complaint, this bodes ill for all our children."

The NAACP asks the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights to make another site visit, "to review this ugly trend and to take steps to reverse it before it damns more of our children to high-poverty schools."

The Wake County school system is now facing another potential civil rights investigation.

This complaint filed today by the Southern Poverty Law Center and Advocates for Children’s Services charges that Wake is violating the civil rights of Hispanic families by not providing them adequate translation services.

The complaint asks the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights to require Wake to make changes, such as providing documents about suspensions and special education services in Spanish to limited English proficient parnets.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST FOR WAKE'S STATEMENT

The Wake County school system is now facing the threat of another federal civil rights complaint.

In this letter sent today to Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata, the Southern Poverty Law Center and Advocates for Children’s Services charge that the school system is violating the civil rights of students with Spanish-speaking parents by only sending them important notices in English. The letter cites examples of three limited English proficient parents not getting information in Spanish about their children’s long-term suspension notices and special-education services.

The groups contend that failure to provide the parents of these Hispanic students the information in their primary language violates Title VI of the federal Civil Rights Act. The groups charge that Wake “has a clear legal duty” to provide documents on suspensions and special education in Spanish to Spanish-speaking parents.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST FOR WAKE'S RESPONSE

The Wake County school system didn't come out looking too well in new data released Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights.

The data from the 2009-10 school year indicated that Wake's white students accounted for 57 percent of the population and received 25 percent of suspensions, while blacks make up 24 percent of the student body and received 57 percent of suspensions. It's been noted in several media reports, including this article in The Christian Science Monitor.

It was one example of how the feds say that minority students across America face harsher discipline, have less access to rigorous high school curricula and are more often taught by lower-paid and less experienced teachers.

As you guys may have seen in today's article by Martha Quillin and Amanda James, the YWCA of the Greater Triangle abruptly closed Wednesday because of budget woes.

The YWCA was known for various social service programs. But those involved in the Wake County school diversity fight also know the group as having played an active role in that issue in the past two years.

The YWCA was involved with groups such as N.C. HEAT and the Wake Youth Organizing Institute. It sponsored marches protesting the end of the diversity policy. It worked with federal investigators probing the school system.

The YWCA criticized the single-sex leadership academies. It honored Yevonne Brannon.

Thursday night's community mass meeting at Martin Street Baptist Church dealt with the new Wake County student assignment plan, getting mediation for the school board protesters and assailing the conditions at Walnut Creek Elementary School.

As noted in today's article, most the focus of the meeting led by the state NAACP and the Great Schools in Wake Coalition was on complaints about the assignment plan. The crowd of around 50 people, mainly supporters of the old diversity policy, were urged to contact school leaders to change the plan.

"If you let the plane fly in the air and you don’t make those course corrections that you feel need to be made in order to make it a more successful plan for all students so we have a fair and diverse and well-funded education for all students, then shame on us if we don’t advocate for the changes to make it happen," said Patty Williams of Great Schools in Wake.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST