REVERE — Revere Superintendent Dr. Dianne Kelly tweets about school information and news in three languages: English, Spanish, and Arabic, in order to better serve the Revere community.
“If it’s is not a letter being sent home, tweets are a great way to notify students and parents. It is quick and convenient,” Kelly said.
“We have a lot of students in our schools that speak a second language at home like Spanish or Arabic. We want everyone to know what is going on.”
The tweets are translated to Arabic and Spanish by the school system’s translators, says Kelly.
In Revere, a language other than English is spoken in 50 percent of the community’s households, according to the U.S. Census data.
“A lot of the news parents get is from their kids or something they can read in their language,” said local Latino activist and Revere TV Board Member Monse Hood.
Hood believes this has been a benefit for the community and hopes to see the pursuit to disseminate information in multiple languages continues to grow.
“It is super important,” she said. “We need to be able to get information out that everyone can access.”
Revere resident Albert Asfour, who lives with a family that speaks and writes in both Arabic and English, and has a niece in Revere Public Schools, likes the idea of local authorities communicating this way.
“I think it is a very good idea,” he said. “It would be good for us to see things like this a lot more.”
