SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) — A recent study showed that Spanish-speaking parents in Southeast Georgia had to rely on their children to translate the majority of school-related interactions.

More than half of the parents report that they are not satisfied with parent-school communication.

“This isn’t just for Latino families. It’s for everybody, so we can be a multicultural community,” one parent explains.

Throughout the country, the Hispanic population has grown by 32% — but in Savannah, it has grown by 66%.

“The problem is that the parents of Latin families don’t know what’s happening. That’s why we lose opportunities,” one parent says.

Without interpreters, Spanish-speaking parents face an obstacle when trying to voice their concerns at school-board meetings.

The inability to communicate isn’t just limited to school board meetings.

Parents report having trouble understanding emergency communication – and communicating with teachers about their child’s grades.

“It’s mostly just communication. So, they’re really proud of their kids, their kids are doing really great things. But they have a lot of problems communicating with the teachers and the administration at the schools that they’re going to. In a lot of parent-teacher meetings, they can’t communicate properly with teachers.”

The results of this lack of communication are quite apparent – Hispanic students scored lower in standardized tests – and graduated in lower numbers than their peers.

Parents sent several requests to the school board about having an interpreter at the most recent meeting – they didn’t receive an answer.

“There’s not sufficient information for immigrant parents in their language where they can understand and express themselves.”