Position: Interpreting Services Coordinator

Position Summary:

Under the direction of the Director, the Interpreting Services Coordinator serves all schools and offices in Prince George's County Public Schools by facilitating the service of interpreters in any language as needed for seamless communication with parents and community members at school-based and systemic meetings and events.  An employee in this position completes his/her own work and serves as a lead worker, giving guidance and assistance to other workers in the office.  This employee will have extensive contact with administrators, teachers, parents/guardians, temporary interpreter employees in the Interpreter Bank and supporting vendor agencies.  The Interpreting Services Coordinator is responsible for all administrative and scheduling management components to facilitate interpreting services for schools and offices.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Assists with recruitment and assessment of interpreter candidates for the PGCPS Interpreter Bank;

Designs and facilitates new interpreter trainings and the development of presentations and related materials for interpreter professional development opportunities;

Trains interpreters on PGCPS-specific terminology (glossaries), school guidelines and processes;

Conducts trainings for PGCPS staff regarding Federal language access requirements and the use of interpreters to communicate with parents/guardians;

Manages requests for virtual and in-person interpreting services from schools and offices in the online scheduling platform;

Maintains simultaneous equipment and arranges loan schedule for schools and offices needing equipment for events;

Coordinates and facilitates interpreter assignments in online scheduling platform by date, time, duration and language;

Facilitates communication between interpreters and school staff, troubleshooting service provision for events during the school day and after hours;

Organizes systemic interpreter support on specialized days of high volume parent/guardian engagement;

Maintains data on use of interpreters and telephonic interpreting services;

Maintains records for all interpreter employees, interpreting assignments, and interpreting vendor invoices and payments;

Supports office staff in reviewing time cards, assignment of funding sources, and processing time cards for temporary on-call interpreters as needed;

Generates appropriate reports upon request;

Orients district personnel to the availability of telephonic interpretation through a system-wide phone service, including how and under what circumstances to access the service;

Works closely with contractual vendors for interpreting services and program needs;

Provides the immediate supervisor with justification of funding and language access program fiscal priorities;

Contributes to strategic planning for the Language Access Office;

Assists with parent needs and interprets in high profile emergency circumstances, as needed; and

Performs other duties as assigned.

Qualifications:

Bilingual in English and Spanish in all four communicative areas;

Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with all staff, students, families and the public;

Ability to establish rapport with families and employees from diverse cultures and backgrounds;

Technology literacy to include the use of virtual platforms, an online interpreter scheduling platform, Microsoft applications, Google applications and Oracle;

Ability to problem-solve;

Strong and effective oral and written communication skills;

Excellent interpersonal skills;

Organized and detail-oriented, especially in coordinating schedules and handling invoices;

Ability to manage multiple tasks; and

Customer-service oriented.

Education and/or Experience Requirements:

Associate’s degree from an accredited college or university required, or 60 college credits of applicable education, training, and experience which provides the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to perform effectively in the position may be considered; Bachelor’s degree preferred.  A minimum of five (5) years’ experience as an educational interpreter with experience in consecutive and simultaneous interpretation, remote virtual platform interpretation and working with linguistically diverse populations required.

Certification:

Documented training and ongoing professional development in educational interpreting or completion of The Community Interpreter® training.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

No direct supervisory responsibilities.

Physical Demands:

The physical demands are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to stand, talk, hear, walk, sit, and use fingers, tools or controls. The employee is occasionally required to reach with hands and arms and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision such as to read handwritten or typed material, the ability to adjust focus, and depth perception. While performing the duties of this job, the employee may occasionally push or lift up to 25 lbs.

Working Environment:

The work environment characteristics are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of the job.

Additional Information:

None.