Oakland Schools Hope To Better Serve Arabic Community

OAKLAND (KCBS) -- Many foreign languages are spoken at homes of students in the Oakland Unified School District.

And Adrian Kirk, the Director of the Family and Community Office at the district, said the Arabic-speaking population is really on the rise.

"The language that is growing that's new on our horizon is Arabic," Kirk said. "Right now, I'm looking to fill a part-time position for an Arabic translator interpreter."

KCBS' Margie Shafer Reports:

Kirk said Spanish and Chinese are the most widely spoken languages outside of English. He said with the growing numbers, having translation abilities is a key to engaging parents.

"If we can actually activate parents more effectively, they will be part of the education process," Kirk said. "And we'll see better results and higher graduation rates and things like that."

The district is also home to Vietnamese and Cambodian speakers, as well as pockets of indigenous language speakers from Central America.

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