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Julian’s Story

Julian is a 3-year-old preschooler with delays in his language skills, but the DOE failed to provide recommended services.

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  • Blog: AFC Calls for Funding a Mental Health Continuum for Students with Significant Mental Health Needs
    04.17.2020 | Today, Advocates for Children joined 40 other organizations in calling on Mayor de Blasio to prioritize and fund necessary mental health services for all students. Along with our co-signers, AFC is concerned about the physical, mental, and economic toll COVID-19 is taking on our...
  • Page: Leadership & Staff
    Leadership & StaffKim SweetExecutive Director Matthew LenaghanDeputy DirectorShivani AlamoStaff Attorney, School Justice ProjectKaren AlvesSenior Education Specialist, HelplineDiana AragundiStaff Attorney, Immigrant Students' Rights ProjectMichael AthyStaff Attorney, Charter Schools...
  • Blog: NYC school budgets take a hit as de Blasio proposes $827 million in education cuts
    04.16.2020 | Chalkbeat NY | Kim Sweet, executive director of Advocates for Children of New York, said the proposed budget cuts would likely worsen existing inequities and exacerbate the challenges schools and students are now facing.“New York City students will need additional academic and social-...
  • Blog: Coronavirus Takes $6 Billion Bite Out Of NYC's Budget
    04.16.2020 | Gothamist | “Even in our darkest days, we have to continue to invest in the future, and our schools are our best hope,” Kim Sweet, executive director of Advocates for Children of New York, said in a statement on the executive budget. “That is absolutely key to full recovery.”Sweet...
  • Blog: Citing low enrollment, NYC will close 23 child care centers for ‘essential’ workers
    03.27.2020 | Chalkbeat NY | Advocates have called on the city to offer care to a broader range of students, especially those who are experiencing homelessness, and continued to do so Friday.“We continue to urge the city to deliver on its promise to support ‘our most vulnerable student populations’...
  • Blog: Los que no hablan inglés se llevan la peor parte por cierre de escuelas por coronavirus en NYC
    04.15.2020 | El Diario | Entre tanto, la activista Rita Rodríguez-Engberg, directora del Proyecto de Derechos de los Estudiantes Inmigrantes, indicó que el DOE debe darle prioridad a esos estudiantes que ya estaban en desventaja, y que tienen problemas de aprendizaje, incluyendo a los que están...
  • Blog: Education Advocates Disappointed By Cuts To Fair Student Funding
    04.08.2020 | Politico NY | Randi Levine, policy director for Advocates for Children of New York, called the cuts "devastating" and wants the city and the City Council to ensure the 3K expansion continues. “We know that high-quality early childhood education programs make a significant difference...
  • Blog: Advocacy groups urge NYC Education Dept. to include homeless students in childcare at ‘resource centers’
    03.20.20 | NY Daily News | “Families who are homeless may have multiple children of varying ages, grade levels, and learning needs confined to a single small room,” the groups wrote. “Every day that goes by where children are not receiving educational services is an opportunity missed,” said...
  • Blog: Will COVID-19 worsen inequality in New York City?
    03.20.2020 | News Decoder | With New York’s public schools shut down until at least late April, the pandemic risks exacerbating class disparities among the young. Students from wealthier families can learn via video conferencing technology and resort to private tutors, while such costly options are...
  • Blog: NYC foster care groups plead for school bus guarantee for kids who can’t get to class
    03.09.2020 | NY Daily News | “Last school year, more than one in four students in New York City had to change schools after entering foster care,” advocates said in a letter Friday to various city agencies, including the Administration for Children’s Services and the Education Department, noting...
  • Blog: As Special Ed Complaints Mount, NY Seeks More Presiding Officers
    03.03.2020 | The CITY | “While we agree that the extreme delays prohibiting the timely resolution of our clients’ claims must be addressed with urgency, we nevertheless fear that adopting an emergency regulation that would allow non-attorneys to serve as [hearing officers]—even as a stopgap...
  • Blog: Pre-K For Most, But Not For All: A Mom Battles for Her Special Needs Child
    03.10.2020 | NY City Lens | This year, more than 1,900 preschoolers with special needs were left behind, without a spot in a special needs classroom, according to a January 2020 report by Advocates for Children. More than 40 percent of those students live in the Bronx, a borough historically marked...
  • Blog: 22 Million Kids Rely on School for Meals. Here's What They're Doing During Closures.
    03.12.2020 | VICE News | “For hundreds of thousands of students, school may be the one place where they are guaranteed hot meals and medical care,” said Kim Sweet, the executive director of Advocates for Children of New York. “We know that as the city weighs the possible benefits of school...
  • Blog: Here’s The Latest On NYC’s Child Care Centers
    03.23.2020 | Bklyner | There are about 114,000 students in New York City’s public schools who live in shelters, are doubled-up in cramped apartments, or otherwise lack stable housing. About a dozen advocacy groups sent the chancellor a letter on Friday calling on the city to allow those children to...
  • Blog: DOE "Enrichment Centers" Open As City Scrambles To Care For Kids Of Emergency Workers
    03.23.2020 | Gothamist | “When the mayor and chancellor first announced they’d be closing schools, they announced there would be regional enrichment centers for the children of emergency workers and vulnerable students,” said Randi Levine, policy director at the nonprofit Advocates for Children. “...
  • Blog: Remote Learning Poses A Challenge to Children in Special Education
    03.26.2020 | NY1 | "It's a tough place to be if you have a child with a disability, and if you feel like they're not getting the supports and services in the best of times, in some of the harder times, like we are in right now, it must be terrifying," said Maggie Moroff, Special Education Policy...
  • Blog: Brooklyn Teachers, Parents Reflect on First Week of Remote Learning
    03.26.2020 | Brooklyn Paper | "Every day of education matters. We know that students who are homeless, and students in foster care have worse educational outcomes than their peers — they are already less likely to be proficient in reading, and more likely to drop out of school,” said Randi Levine,...
  • Blog: City Consolidates 'Enrichment Centers' for Children of Essential Workers
    03.30.2020 | NY1 | Meanwhile, advocates argue the schools ought to be open to another group: homeless students. Those who live in shelters often lack internet access, which is necessary for remote learning. But wifi is available at the centers. "They've lost their housing and now they've lost...
  • Blog: With schools closed, New York eases up on many education mandates
    04.06.2020 | Chalkbeat NY | “Many students with disabilities will likely fall behind during the period of school closure,” wrote Kim Sweet, executive director of Advocates for Children, in a letter Sunday to the Board of Regents. “Stopping the clock on special education service implementation for...
  • Blog: Regents exams canceled for N.Y. high schools due to coronavirus shutdown
    04.06.2020 | NY Daily News | New York schools currently have 60 school days to provide services from when a student’s family agrees to an evaluation. With the new amendment, days when schools are closed under executive order from Gov. Cuomo won’t count toward that 60-day limit.“Under that...