Utica Community Schools translators Luljeta Guri, Aned Bazan and Raad Tomika recently received their Language Line certifications.
By: Sarah Wright | Shelby-Utica News | Published December 8, 2025
UTICA — Three Utica Community Schools translators, who help support communications in Albanian, Arabic and Spanish, recently received their Language Line certifications.
The translators are UCS employees who work full time in the district. The district paid them to take the courses and get certified as part of their positions at UCS.
“The translators work during the day and are busy with enrollment, Individualized Education Plan (IEP) meetings, discipline/student code of conduct meetings, and support communications between the buildings and the families,” Utica Community Schools Public Relations Coordinator Jennifer Kane said in an email. “Buildings can contact the translators directly and staff can send them documents to be translated.”
They can be asked to perform extra duties that require them to work extra hours, such as at open houses, conferences, job fairs and back-to-school events.
“I think the certification adds to their credentials and ensures we have high quality translators using best practices in the field of translation and interpretation,” Jennifer Hernandez, Utica Community Schools executive director of state and federal programs, said in an email.
Luljeta Guri, Aned Bazan and Raad Tomika received their certifications after completing a six-hour online course going over the essentials of interpreting, and three hours of instructor‑led live sessions. The course covers skills such as attentive listening, dual-tasking, note-taking, memory development, and professional presentation and delivery.
“Going through the certification program helped with refreshing my industry-based knowledge, assessing the current level of my translation and interpretation skills, and comparing it with the current industry standards,” Guri said in a press release.
One key area that their work touches on is enrollment. They are there in every step of the process offering guidance and support to non-English-speaking families.
“The adjustment journey is normal but is also challenging and the starting point of that journey is proper communication,” Guri said in a press release. “The difficulties diverse families are facing are not limited to language proficiency.”
Guri said the challenges also include balancing new and old ways of life among family members.
“We are aware that the experience of working with a diverse population is enriching and challenging at the same time,” Guri said in a press release. “People who come from a diverse culture bring with them life views and approaches that are unique and different. Along with those values they also bring a desire to fit into the U.S. culture. We as interpreters can relate to that.”
For more information, visit uticak12.org.