The Office of Public Guardian has been hard at work since March 2020 to develop the online guardianship and conservatorship education course in Spanish. Thanks to the previous establishment of an online course in English, the development timeframe shortened considerably, and efforts have focused heavily on the translation and narration elements. The course also reflects the new court rules that went into effect on April 1, 2020.

Launching the Spanish class this fall will provide greater access to guardianship and conservatorship education in Nebraska. According to The Public Guardian, Michelle Chaffee, “The COVID19 pandemic has resulted in the cancellation of face-to-face guardianship and conservatorship classes. Telephonic Spanish interpretation of the OPG guardianship class has been extremely cumbersome and very difficult. Accordingly, the OPG made the Spanish online course a very high priority. This course is essential for providing education to Spanish speaking individuals who serve their loved ones as guardian and conservator. We are very pleased to be so very close to providing this opportunity.”

The OPG would especially like to recognize Mr. Greg Sunderman of Judicial Branch Education for his work on developing the course, and Ms. Kelly Varguez of Language Access for her work on translating the materials and narration. Both Greg and Kelly have been instrumental in moving the process along swiftly. Course development is reaching its final stages, and will launch later this fall.