MILTON, Del. - A teacher at Mariner Middle School has filed a civil rights complaint against the Cape Henlopen School District, alleging discrimination against multilingual learners and their families.
Louise Michaud Ngido, who teaches multilingual learners (MLLs), said she noticed compliance issues with civil rights law shortly after she began teaching at the school nearly three years ago. Mariner Middle School currently has about 70 English learners, according to Michaud Ngido. After seeing little change, she filed a formal complaint with the United States Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in July 2024.
"My primary concern was that for the newcomers or recent immigrants, they didn't have a specific English class where they learn English Language Development, and that is part of Lau v. Nichols," Michaud Ngido said. "That was a Supreme Court decision a little over 50 years ago."
She said MLL students often receive English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction during a 30-minute advisory period, but alleges that's not equitable because there's no designated classroom, materials or curriculum.
"It's kind of a flex time that is also used for other things," she said. "Often that time gets taken away. It's also a time where kids are supposed to make up tests if they've been out."
Michaud Ngido, who points out how difficult it is to move to another country and learn a new language, also noted that advisory is sometimes used for discussions on discipline, upcoming field trips, or social-emotional learning, further reducing time for English Language Development (ELD).
"We’re not on their schedule," she said. "It doesn’t say ELD on the schedule. We don’t have a Schoology classroom with our names where we can post assignments or grades. Every other teacher has that, we don’t."
She also filed a complaint over translation and interpretation services. Michaud Ngido said approximately 95 percent of her MLL students speak Spanish as their first language.
"Anything that a parent signs is considered a contract, and it needs to be professionally interpreted," she said. "Parents are not supposed to sign things that they don't understand, and it's not up to the kid to explain to a parent what it is they're signing," she said.
According to Michaud Ngido, the front office lacks bilingual staff, leaving many Spanish-speaking families to rely on a phone interpreter system or non-certified staff members.
"We do have immersion teachers, but it's not the role of the immersion teacher to be fielding questions about sports physicals or lunch forms or things that are normally handled in the front office," she said. "Children should not be used as interpreters, random staff members shouldn't be used as interpreters. Just because you speak two languages doesn't mean you can interpret, they are two different skills."
She said the school currently does not have a certified interpreter on staff.
In a statement to CoastTV News, Superintendent Bob Fulton said, "The district denies all allegations of discrimination against MLL students based upon national origin and welcomes the OCR investigation into the complaint. We are confident that our MLL parents receive meaningful access to communications and information regarding their students in a language they understand," Fulton said. "At Cape, we have an incredible team of talented MLL educators in all of our schools who work tirelessly to make sure our MLL students receive the very best instruction, supports, and access to services they need and deserve each and every day."
Michaud Ngido said funding must be properly allocated to support student needs.
"[Resources] go directly to the kids who need it most, and to programs that are based on educationally sound theory, not just random ideas by whoever happens to be in charge," she said.
The district refutes her allegations saying, "We feel strongly that all of our MLL students receive meaningful academic instruction as well as equal meaningful access to all school programming and services."
She is also calling for more bilingual staffing across the district.
"I would really like every office to have a truly, honestly bilingual person. The main office, every school office, the high school office, someone in food service, someone in medical, like the medical clinic over at the high school," she said. "There needs to be more Spanish-speaking employees. It's really beneficial for the parent just to be able to walk in and talk to someone in their native language and Cape doesn't give a pay differential for bilingual people, so you can't tell me it cost them more."
Michaud Ngido also warned of consequences for noncompliance with civil rights regulations.
"Once they investigate, you have a settlement agreement. If you don't comply with the settlement agreement, you'll lose your funding, and if you lose Title III funding, there's a lot of money that you're going to lose," Michaud Ngido said. "Mariner gets a lot of Title III money. It also gets a lot of Title I, and those are both pots of money that students in ESL bring into the school, so, if you're bringing in this money but you're not doing the things you're supposed to be doing to be in compliance with the Office of [Civil] Rights, there's a problem because they're giving you money."
While the federal investigation is currently paused due to a nationwide freeze on civil rights proceedings, Michaud Ngido is turning to state leaders for help.