An informed, empowered community of parents, guardians and other persons in parental relation is critical to ensuring that English Language Learners (ELLs) are well served. The New York State Education Department's Office of Bilingual Education and World Languages (OBEWL) has created an English Language Learner Parents' Bill of Rights which summarizes critical rights concerning educational access and programming for ELLs and their parents. These key rights are summarized in an easy to reference one page format and have been translated into nine languages.
The bill also includes information on how parents and students can contact our Parent Hotlineor OBEWL if they have questions or complaints. This resource, operated by the New York State Language Regional Bilingual Education Resource Network (RBE-RN) serves as a mechanism for parents of ELLs and persons in parental relation to inquire about their rights and the delivery of services for their children based on state regulations. Via a dedicated website and phone lines, parents can inquire and receive responses in the top ten ELL home languages in NYS. NYSED has printed and distributed bookmarks with full hotline information, translated in the top ten ELL home languages in NYS. If you would like PDFs of these bookmarks, suitable for printing, please contact OBEWL.
ELL Parent Hotline #: (800) 469-8224
You may also contact the parent hotline team in writing at:
NYS ELL Parent Website and Hotline Team
c/o NYS Statewide Language RBERN at NYU Metro Center
726 Broadway – 5th Floor
New York, NY 10003
New York State Bilingual Common Core Initiative
