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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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09.04.2019 | NY1 | Advocates are accusing the city of violating a 12-year-old legal settlement requiring that all students with disabilities receive the services they need, and they want a federal judge to appoint an independent special master to find out why. "We’d like an independent person to go...
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09.04.2019 | Brooklyn Daily Eagle | “It’s important to include students with disabilities in conversations about diversity,” Maggie Moroff, special education policy coordinator at Advocates for Children of New York, told the Brooklyn Eagle. “In New York City, students with disabilities make up...
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09.04.2019 | Chalkbeat New York / THE CITY | Reading experts and special education advocates acknowledge a host of obstacles preclude a fast and simple solution in a school system as vast as the city’s — including cost, an entrenched way of doing business and lack of political will. But advocates...
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09.03.2019 | Chalkbeat New York / THE CITY | City education officials have allowed more than a thousand students with disabilities to languish without services for months — despite orders from administrative hearing officers, according to a motion filed in federal court Tuesday. The filing charges...
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09.03.2019 | New York Daily News | The city’s Department of Education is dragging its feet on providing legally required services for kids with disabilities, a motion filed in federal court Tuesday charges. Thirty percent of students who get a court order for crucial support like physical and...
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08.28.2019 | THE CITY | Dawn Yuster, director of Advocates for Children’s School Justice Project, called the data “alarming” but “not surprising” because of a shortage of mental health and emotional supports for students in schools. She accused the Department of Education of not prioritizing...
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08.15.2019 | Every student in New York City has the right to attend public school, regardless of immigration status. Following recent immigration-related activities by the federal government, the New York City Department of Education (DOE) issued a letter [PDF] and flyer [PDF] to families...
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Resource: Preguntas y Respuestas Sobre el Comienzo de Clases para Familias de Alumnos con DiscapacidadesThis fact sheet for families of students with disabilities covers issues that typically come up at the start of the school year, such as what to do if a child does not yet have a school assignment or the school assigned says they cannot serve the child’s needs.
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08.22.2019 | Wall Street Journal | Kim Sweet, executive director of Advocates for Children of New York, which seeks to protect the rights of at-risk students, lamented enormous disparities for children with disabilities: Roughly 16% of them passed in English. “Teaching all children how to read is...
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08.15.2019 | WBAI Justice Matters | AFC School Justice Project Director Dawn Yuster was a guest on Justice Matters with Bob Gangi on WBAI, where she discussed police presence in schools, the impact on students, and alternatives for creating safe and supportive learning environments. This track...
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08.22.2019 | In response to the release of the grades 3–8 English Language Arts (ELA) and Math test scores, Kim Sweet, Executive Director, issued the following statement: We are pleased that test scores for third through eighth graders continue to trend in the right direction. In particular,...
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08.22.2019 | Brooklyn Daily Eagle | Today, New York is one of just 11 states that requires a high school exit exam, according to Ashley Grant, supervising staff attorney at Advocates for Children of New York. Grant, who also serves as coordinator of the organization Coalition for Multiple Pathways...
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Blog: To get a high school equivalency diploma, NYC forces students to give up special education services08.21.2019 | Chalkbeat New York | City officials have asked the state to drop its request to provide a full range of services in the Pathways program, arguing it is not required by law and would pose big logistical challenges. But advocates contend that the city is shortchanging students who...
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08.19.2019 | The 74 | “Every step along the way brings its own questions and confusion, forms to be filled out, meetings to attend and rights to be aware of,” explained Maggie Moroff, special education coordinator at Advocates for Children of New York. She described special ed as “a crazy,...
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08.20.2019 | New York Daily News | The city currently places foster care students on buses only if a route already exists. It also buses students whose special education plans require it — a substantial chunk of students in foster care. But for the remaining students, the Education Department...