( CNN ) -- Two advocacy groups filed a federal complaint Tuesday alleging a North Carolina school district 's treatment of three Latino families was discriminatory because it did not provide important information in Spanish . The Southern Poverty Law Center and Advocates for Children 's Services , a project of Legal Aid of North Carolina , filed the complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice 's Office for Civil Rights . They say that in the cases of three students and their Spanish-speaking parents , the Wake County Public School System failed to provide documents about the students ' suspensions in Spanish . That meant the parents , who speak limited English , were unable to ask questions or even appeal the suspensions , which discriminated against them on the basis of national origin and violated their civil rights , the groups say . The school district responded by saying it has many programs in place to support and inform Latino and Spanish-speaking families . It also provided forms in Spanish , including notification of suspension , a form for parents to request information on disciplinary actions , and confirmation that a parent has made an appeal . The school district has had the Spanish-language forms since the mid-1990s , said Samiha Khanna , spokeswoman for the district 's Office of Family and Community Engagement . After media inquiries about the groups ' complaints , Superintendent Tony Tata said last month , `` We have been proactively engaging all students and families in the Wake County Public School System , including those in the Latino community . '' North Carolina 's capital , Raleigh , is in Wake County . He added that `` as a district , WCPSS has developed relationships with key community groups , leaders and media partners to support the needs of our Spanish-speaking families . '' The district has several measures to help Spanish-speaking families understand school policies , including Spanish-language parental training , explanation of policies through Spanish-language media and bilingual customer service representatives . The advocacy groups said the Spanish-language forms did not help the three families in these cases . `` Whether they gave these parents the blank forms themselves in Spanish , in no instances in these cases did they provide the form in writing with individualized information about their students in Spanish , '' said Sean Driscoll , spokesman for Legal Aid of North Carolina . `` They may have given them the form , but the form did n't include the individualized information about their students in Spanish . '' Jerri Katzerman , the deputy legal director for the Southern Poverty Law Center , also said the Spanish-language forms are often filled in using English , with descriptive information about students left out . `` It 's inadequate , and it certainly does n't benefit the family who 's trying to participate in the child 's education , '' she said . `` These are the absolute core and key responsibilities of a school system , '' she added , especially because of the number of Latino and Spanish-speaking families in the Wake County district . Latino students comprise 15 % of the district 's student population , the advocacy groups said , and students with parents who speak limited English are 7.5 % . As part of the same complaint , the Southern Poverty Law Center is also representing an unidentified class of students and their families with the same allegation of discrimination , Katzerman said . The three students specifically represented by the advocacy groups , who are identified only by their initials , were all recommended for long-term suspensions and have mothers who speak limited English , the groups said . The first case is that of a 12-year-old with a learning disability . The school 's information about his suspension was in English , so the student 's mother did n't know she could appeal , the groups said . The second student was a ninth-grader , also with a learning disability . After she was accused of smoking marijuana on campus , the school recommended she be suspended for the rest of the school year . The girl 's mother could not understand the assistant principal when he called to discuss her daughter 's suspension , and the mother was unable to ask questions , the groups said . Letters about her daughter 's disciplinary actions were also in English , they said . In the third case , the student was suspended after being accused of marijuana possession , and the notice of his suspension was sent to the student 's mother in English only . The mother wanted to appeal but was n't given information in Spanish about her son 's alleged offense . The mother also requested her son be tested for special education services , but all of the written information about his eligibility was in English , they said . By the time the mother managed to appeal her son 's suspension , he had been out of school for more than three weeks because the mother had missed the deadline because of her limited English , the groups said .
Complaint filed against school district in Wake County , North Carolina . They say the district gave English forms to Spanish-speaking families . They filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education . The district says it has Spanish forms and outreach programs .