Massachusetts Advocates for Children

Massachusetts Advocates for Children Since 1969 - Removing barriers to educational and life opportunities for children and youth

🎒📓 Start the school year strong! 🛠️ We’re offering some back-to-school tools to jump-start productive conversations wit...
09/23/2026

🎒📓 Start the school year strong!

🛠️ We’re offering some back-to-school tools to jump-start productive conversations with your child’s teachers.

️✉️ ✏️ What does your child’s school need to know? Open the door to two-way communication right now. If challenges arise, you’ll have relationships in place to keep your student learning and growing. Swipe for details.

📞 Looking for individual support? Our Helpline’s multilingual experts can help your student access the services they need: (617) 357-8431.

🔹 "Dear teacher" letters: bit.ly/letter-templates-
🔹 Questions to ask teachers: bit.ly/questions4teachers
🔹 Back to school reminders: bit.ly/back-2-school-tip

Meet Natalia, our student intern this summer! Natalia recently graduated from Wellesley High School and is attending Vas...
08/18/2026

Meet Natalia, our student intern this summer! Natalia recently graduated from Wellesley High School and is attending Vassar College in the fall as a political science major.

During her time at MAC, Natalia worked closely with our Community Partnerships and Engagement Manager, Emily Romero, to help design a website for the Massachusetts Coalition for Immigrant and Multilingual Justice. When it launches soon, the website will provide resources for immigrant students, multilingual learners, and newcomer families!

Thank you, Natalia, for being a wonderful addition to our team, and we’re so grateful for your hard work. We wish you the best of luck as you begin college!

📣 Ya están vigentes las nuevas normas estatales para los intérpretes y traductores escolares en Massachusetts. A partir ...
08/14/2026

📣 Ya están vigentes las nuevas normas estatales para los intérpretes y traductores escolares en Massachusetts.

A partir del 1 de septiembre de 2027, los intérpretes y traductores que brindan apoyo a las familias deberán cumplir con nuevos requisitos de cualificación y capacitación. Estos incluyen:

🔷 Los intérpretes deben ser capaces de comunicarse con claridad en inglés y en otro idioma, proteger la privacidad de las familias y seguir normas de ética profesional.

🔷 Se requerirá una capacitación más avanzada para los intérpretes que participen en reuniones del IEP (Programa de Educación Individualizada), audiencias disciplinarias escolares y otras reuniones que impliquen información compleja.

🔷 Por lo general, los documentos traducidos por medios automáticos deberán ser revisados por un traductor cualificado.

Estas normas son una parte importante de la Ley de Protección de la Equidad Educativa (*Protect Education Equity Law*), que MAC ayudó a impulsar el año pasado junto con familias y colaboradores de todo Massachusetts. Estas medidas ayudarán a las familias multilingües a comprender información importante y a participar en las decisiones sobre la educación de sus hijos.

Deslice la pantalla para saber qué significan estas nuevas normas para las familias y lea nuestro artículo completo aquí: www.massadvocates.org/news/new-standards-for-interpreters-and-translators

Si tiene dificultades para obtener servicios de interpretaciĂłn o traducciĂłn en la escuela de su hijo, comunĂ­quese con la lĂ­nea de ayuda multilingĂĽe y gratuita de MAC llamando al 617-357-8431.

đź“Ł New statewide standards are in place for school interpreters and translators in Massachusetts. Beginning September 1, ...
08/13/2026

đź“Ł New statewide standards are in place for school interpreters and translators in Massachusetts.

Beginning September 1, 2027, interpreters and translators who support families will need to meet new qualifications and training requirements. These include:

🔷 Interpreters must be able to communicate clearly in English and another language, protect families’ privacy, and follow professional ethics.

đź”· More advanced training will be required for interpreters at IEP meetings, school discipline hearings, and other meetings involving complex information.

đź”· Machine-translated documents will generally need to be reviewed by a qualified translator.

These standards are an important part of the Protect Education Equity Law, which MAC helped advance alongside families and partners across Massachusetts last year. They will help multilingual families understand important information and fully participate in decisions about their students’ education.

Swipe to learn what the new standards mean for families and read our full blog post here: www.massadvocates.org/news/new-standards-for-interpreters-and-translators.

If you are having trouble getting interpretation or translation services from your child’s school, contact MAC’s free, multilingual Helpline at 617 357-8431.

For our final summer legal intern spotlight, we’re highlighting Yijia Wang! Yijia will be a third-year student at Boston...
08/10/2026

For our final summer legal intern spotlight, we’re highlighting Yijia Wang! Yijia will be a third-year student at Boston University School of Law this fall. She worked with MAC’s Legal Director Diana Santiago, focusing on projects strengthening the rights of immigrant students, English Learners, and students with disabilities.

During her internship, she developed resources explaining the rights of students with disabilities to learn alongside their peers. She also researched standards for interpretation and translation services in Massachusetts schools and prepared a memo on best practices for interpreters during psychological evaluations.

For Yijia, having the opportunity to directly help parents understand their children’s education rights in their preferred language was an especially meaningful part of her summer at MAC. As a native Mandarin speaker, Yijia supported Mandarin-speaking families who contacted our Helpline and engaged in outreach with community partners in Chinatown.

Thank you, Yijia, for your incredible work this summer! We were lucky to have you on our team and can’t wait to see all that you accomplish next.

Meet Meredith Byrd! Meredith is entering her third year at the University of North Carolina School of Law. During her s...
08/08/2026

Meet Meredith Byrd! Meredith is entering her third year at the University of North Carolina School of Law.

During her summer internship at MAC, Meredith worked closely with Staff Attorney Jennifer White on projects related to school discipline. She researched state-by-state suspension bans as well as the use of emergency removals, which is a process schools use to send students home without notice or hearing required for a suspension. From there, she developed a memo supporting advocacy to end suspension for young students. Meredith also helped create school discipline resources for attorneys, coalition partners, and families who contact our Helpline.

Thank you, Meredith, for bringing your talents and dedication to MAC! We’re grateful for all you contributed and excited to see where your legal career takes you.

¡La Ley PROTECT ya es oficialmente ley en Massachusetts! 🎉Esta nueva ley estatal protege a los inmigrantes en todo Massa...
08/07/2026

¡La Ley PROTECT ya es oficialmente ley en Massachusetts! 🎉

Esta nueva ley estatal protege a los inmigrantes en todo Massachusetts e incluye protecciones sĂłlidas para estudiantes, familias, y educadores inmigrantes dentro de las escuelas.

Esto es lo que significa para las escuelas:
- ICE no tiene permitido hacer arrestos en los terrenos escolares, a menos que los agentes tengan una orden de arresto o una orden firmada por un juez.
- Cada distrito escolar debe tener un plan de respuesta de emergencia listo el primer día del nuevo año escolar, el 1 de septiembre de 2026.

Esta victoria le pertenece a todos nuestros vecinos inmigrantes. Ahora nuestro trabajo es asegurarnos de que cada familia y comunidad escolar conozca sus derechos bajo la Ley PROTECT, y trabajar juntos para que los distritos rindan cuentas y cumplan con la ley.

đź“ž Si tiene preguntas sobre sus derechos educativos bajo la nueva ley, llame a la LĂ­nea de Ayuda multilingĂĽe y gratuita de MAC al 617-357-8431.

Obtenga más información sobre la Ley PROTECT y lo que significa para usted como estudiante, cuidador, o educador: https://lnkd.in/g-FztU43

Almost 15 years ago, Massachusetts passed a law limiting when schools can suspend students. The number of suspensions ha...
08/07/2026

Almost 15 years ago, Massachusetts passed a law limiting when schools can suspend students. The number of suspensions have gone down since then, but another form of removing students from the classroom have risen dramatically. This practice known as “emergency removal” allows schools to send a student home for up to two days without formally suspending them.

MAC Attorney Jennifer White spoke with CommonWealth Beacon what we are hearing through our Helpline. Parents are getting calls in the middle of the school day telling them to pick up their child after an incident, without a hearing.

As Jay Blitzman, MAC’s Emeritus Policy Advisor said, being removed from the classroom can harm a student’s education no matter what it’s called, and exclusionary discipline contributes to the school-to-prison pipeline.

If you or your student has been sent home from school through emergency removals and you aren’t sure what your rights are, call our free, multilingual Helpline at 617 357-8431.

Read the full Commonwealth Beacon story: https://lnkd.in/gebNAsHc

We are thrilled to share that the PROTECT Act is officially law in Massachusetts!🎉This new state law protects immigrant ...
08/05/2026

We are thrilled to share that the PROTECT Act is officially law in Massachusetts!🎉

This new state law protects immigrant residents across Massachusetts and includes strong school-based protections for immigrant students, families, and educators:

- ICE is not allowed to make arrests on school grounds unless agents have a warrant or order signed by a judge.
- Every school district must have an emergency response plan in place by the first day of the new school year, September 1, 2026.

This victory belongs to all our immigrant neighbors. Now our work is making sure every family and school community knows their rights under the PROTECT Act, and together holding districts accountable to follow it.

📞 If you have any questions about your education rights under the new law, call MAC’s free multilingual Helpline at 617 357-8431.

Learn more about the PROTECT Act and what it means for you as a student, caregiver, or educator: https://lnkd.in/g-FztU43

It’s time to say goodbye to our summer interns, and we are taking a moment to celebrate all they contributed to MAC! Me...
08/03/2026

It’s time to say goodbye to our summer interns, and we are taking a moment to celebrate all they contributed to MAC!

Meet Sophia Mosley, a rising second-year student at Boston College Law School. This summer, Sophia worked alongside Senior Attorney Sarah Yousuf and supported our work on transition services, special education, and racial justice. She researched changes to state guidance on transition services for students with disabilities and wrote a memo to help guide MAC’s work. She also researched the disproportionate placement of students of color in classrooms separate from their peers. In addition, Sophia took Helpline calls and supported coalition efforts.

Thank you, Sophia, for your hard work and everything you contributed to MAC this summer. We wish you all the best as you return to law school!

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89 South Street, Suite 803
Boston, MA
02111

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Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

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