Seattle Pledges To Improve Services for L.E.P. Students

By Lynn Schnaiberg

The Seattle school district has settled two related lawsuits that claimed it was not providing equal educational opportunities for students whose native language is not English.

The settlement, announced late last month, averted a trial in one of the cases that was scheduled to begin this week in state court.

In the agreement, the district promises to strengthen a number of services for students with limited English proficiency. The district agreed, among other steps, to improve the identification of such students, train and hire more teachers to serve them, and improve...