As the number of English learners in Kentucky continues to grow, Fayette County Public Schools are working with students and families to keep up to meet the growing need to resources and services.Geoneida Molina moved to Lexington from Venezuela last year with her 8-year-old daughter. Despite a language barrier, Molina said her daughter is thriving and now already has a command of the English language.With the assistance of a multilingual family ambassador, LEX 18 spoke with Molina about her experience moving into the district."My daughter's experience has really been extraordinary," she said.She added that her daughter has been able to become quickly integrated into the FCPS community."That has been very important because she feels happy and secure, safe."At the head of the district's multilingual department is Rose Santiago. Santiago grew up in Puerto Rico before moving to the Bronx in New York City, when she became an English learner herself.She said she was able to succeed in school because of teachers who pushed her and had empathy, not pity, for her."I said I'm gonna be a bilingual teacher because they were very influential," she said. It's exactly what she did, working as a bilingual teacher around the country before becoming the director of multilingual and gifted and talented services for FCPS.Her experience has influenced the way she works with students and families."I remember that my mother, she went to school the day that she enrolled me. And the second time she went to school was the day that I graduated. Not because she did not care, but it was because she did not know how to navigate the system," Santiago said.Her team has worked to develop programs to not just integrate students in the district, but also their families.With 113 different language backgrounds in the district, its eight multilingual family ambassadors serve as bridges between schools and families who do not speak or write English.The district has also contracted translators and translation devices to help with communication. Classes for families and a multilingual center, which helps connect families to food, housing and employment, have also made an impact."We're adding professional learning opportunities for our families to understand attendance, to understand how to navigate the school system, about their rights but also about their responsibilities," Santiago said.The district's testing results have shown consistent improvement among English learners. In 2022, 17 FCPS schools were flagged under federal guidelines for "low achievement" among English learners. This year, just 6 FCPS schools were flagged."Regardless of the zip code, what we're doing is removing barriers and providing opportunities," Santiago said.This piece is part two of a two-part series about the growing English learner population in Kentucky schools. Part one can be found here.