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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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05.13.2020 | Chalkbeat NY | “We are gravely concerned about preschoolers with disabilities who have a legal right to a preschool special education class but do not have one,” Kim Sweet, executive director of Advocates for Children of New York, said in an emailed statement. “Hundreds of preschoolers...
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General School RightsReturning visitors to our resource library: If you have downloaded a publication before, we recommend clearing your browsing history before clicking the links below, to ensure you are viewing the most up-to-date versions. Note: Unless otherwise noted, all...
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05.13.2020 | Today, Kim Sweet, Executive Director of Advocates for Children of New York (AFC), issued the following statement in response to Mayor de Blasio’s announcement about offers to New York City Pre-K programs:While we are pleased that a record number of families received an offer to their...
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05.12.2020 | Spectrum News | More than 100 education and advocacy groups wrote a letter to the New York State Education Department asking that students that would normally age out of high school, be allowed to return in the fall.“There are students throughout the state who are living in homeless...
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04.28.2020 | Today, Kim Sweet, Executive Director of Advocates for Children of New York (AFC), issued the following statement in response to the New York City Department of Education (DOE)’s announced grading policy for the 2019-20 school year: While there is no perfect way to document the...
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04.28.2020 | NY Daily News | Advocates for Children took the opposite view, saying the new policy punishes students who haven’t been able to participate in remote learning through no fault of their own.“The students whose academic records will reflect that they ‘Need Improvement’ and who will be...
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04.28.2020 | Courthouse News Service | “Thousands of students have had to wait weeks to receive a remote learning device from the DOE; they should not be punished for falling behind simply because their family cannot afford a computer, high-speed internet access, or the other resources necessary to...
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04.29.2020 | NY Post | Dawn Yuster, with the nonprofit Advocates for Children of NY, urged the first lady and chancellor to consult with experts before finalizing their plans.“As the city charts out a plan to address student mental health, it is more dire than ever that the administration launch a...
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04.30.2020 | Chalkbeat NY | Matamoros, working with the group Advocates for Children, eventually won the right to send her son to a state-approved private school. But none of the schools she toured had bilingual services.Rita Rodriguez-Engberg, director of the Immigrant Students Rights Project...
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04.24.2020 | Today, Advocates for Children joined more than 30 other signatories, providing feedback and recommendations on the DOE's proposed grading policy for teh 2019-20 school year. In light of the unprecedented challenges of COVID-19-related school closures, the letter urges the DOE to give...
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04.16.2020 | Today, Kim Sweet, Executive Director of Advocates for Children of New York (AFC), issued the following statement in response to the release of the Fiscal Year 2021 Executive Budget:Even in our darkest days, we have to continue to invest in the future, and our schools are our best hope...
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04.27.2020 | The 74 | Low-income families, in particular, are “severely impacted” by complaint delays like those in New York City because they “have to wait for the hearing … in order to get the services” rather than paying out of pocket and requesting reimbursement, as more well-off families...
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04.28.2020 | Chalkbeat NY | Advocates for Children, which provides legal and other services to families navigating the school system, said it’s most likely that the students marked as needing improvement are those who are already struggling and are lacking the same level of support, such as...
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04.24.2020 | Chalkbeat NY | But parent leaders and other advocates are already pushing back, saying the policy under consideration, which continues with letter grades in high school, does not go far enough to address the challenges posed by an unprecedented public health crisis.“To adhere to...
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04.25.2020 | NY Post | All high school seniors should graduate, all middle school students should receive full credit, elementary schoolers should get no grades and everyone should be promoted, demand 37 education advocates led by City Councilman Mark Treyger.“The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the...
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Page: Special EventsSpecial Events2020 Spring BenefitIf you have any questions about special events, please contact Ivette Greenblatt at igreenblatt@advocatesforchildren.org or (212) 822-9529.
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Page: Relief and Recovery FundTo protect the health of our supporters, advocacy partners, and staff, AFC has canceled our Spring Benefit, but we still need your support so we can fight for New York’s families now and in the difficult year ahead. That is why our annual Fund-a-Need initiative, typically introduced at our Spring...
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Blog: NYC educators brace for student mental health challenges after coronavirus lockdown on classes ends04.20.2020 | NY Daily News | “We have to do things differently," said Dawn Yuster, the director of the School Justice Project at Advocates for Children, one of dozens of organizations that sent a letter Friday to the city Education Department sounding the alarm on mental health services.“The...
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04.03.2020 | Advocates for Children of New York wrote to U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos indicating our strong opposition to any waivers to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) or the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 pursuant to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security...
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Blog: AFC Calls for Funding a Mental Health Continuum for Students with Significant Mental Health Needs04.17.2020 | 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...