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Micaela is a dual-language learner who is on the autism spectrum and needed an appropriate school placement for kindergarten.

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News & Media

AFC in the News

New York City promised free preschool to every family, so why do some students with disabilities struggle to find seats?

09.30.2016 | Chalkbeat New York | “The city has expanded Pre-K For All and sought to ensure there is a prekindergarten seat for every child in the city,” said Randi Levine, an early childhood expert at Advocates for Children, which worked on Mikel’s case. “Parents, advocates, and providers are concerned that we have not done enough to ensure there is a preschool seat available for every preschooler with a disability who needs one.”...

Providers across the city have reported increasing demand for special ed preschool, and there appear to be shortages affecting entire boroughs. In one case, the city told a parent there were no seats available for a six-student special education class anywhere in Queens, Levine said, even though that is the type of program listed on the child’s individualized education plan. In the meantime, that child is at home and receiving no services. Read article

School safety data say Black students face more arrests, summonses than white peers

09.29.2016 | New York Amsterdam News | Director of the School Justice Project for AFC, Dawn Yuster, urges the city to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline and invest in restorative practices. “There were 93 children in emotional crisis that were handcuffed, all of those students were students of color,” Yuster said. “We hope the city will adopt a pilot program that would invest in comprehensive mental health services in high-need schools, including hospital-based clinics.” Yuster said the arrests and summonses are “terribly traumatic” for students and families. Last year, Yuster recalled that a 9-year-old student with disabilities was held by the NYPD in Velcro handcuffs. “It was devastating to the family to see their child in this situation,” Yuster said. “It traumatizes the child for life.” Yuster advises schools to provide crisis de-escalation training to public safety officers and faculty. Read article

New York City schools expand career and technical education, while City Council members look to track progress

09.22.2016 | Chalkbeat New York | In New York City, as of 2013, students enrolled in CTE schools were more likely to graduate than those who were not, a finding that’s especially true for students with disabilities or who are learning English. But Sam Streed, a policy analyst with Advocates for Children, said steps need to be taken to make sure those students get into CTE programs in the first place. “We cannot tell from public data whether they have equitable access to the full range of available programs,” he said, in prepared remarks. Read article

NYPD Data Shows Schools Safer, but Racial Disparities Persist

09.19.2016 | Public News Service | School crime hit a record low in the second quarter of 2016, and fewer students were arrested overall. But Dawn Yuster, school justice project director at Advocates for Children of New York, said the vast majority of those involved with police while in school were students of color. "New York City needs to develop and implement a long-overdue strategy plan to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline, in which black and Hispanic students are disproportionately arrested, handcuffed, issued summonses and suspended from school,” Yuster said. Advocates for Children is asking the city to revise the Memorandum of Understanding between the NYPD and the Department of Education to decriminalize student misbehavior by clearly delineating the roles of school administrators and police. According to Yuster, students as young as 16 are issued summonses to appear in court for minor misbehavior that isn't criminal. Read article

Crime Drops in NYC Schools

09.15.2016 | Wall Street Journal | Several advocacy groups applauded the declines but said the school system must do more to stop the disproportionate arrests of black and Latino students. Advocates for Children of New York, an antidiscrimination organization, said more staff must be trained to defuse crises, and the city needs a more comprehensive plan to address racial disparities in discipline. Read article

NYPD handcuffed 20 students under 12 years old last spring — and other revelations from newly released school safety data

09.15.2016 | Chalkbeat New York | Several other advocacy organizations, including Advocates for Children and the New York Civil Liberties Union, also independently called on the city to come up with a comprehensive plan to significantly reduce racial disparities in student interactions with police...Roughly 250 summonses were issued to students, many of them for minor offenses such as disorderly conduct or marijuana possession. Some of the students were as young as 16, and more than half of them were black. Students issued summonses at school can become ensnared in the criminal justice system, explained Advocates for Children, for “minor misbehavior that does not rise the level of a crime.” Read article

'Limited Access Letters' Used Unfairly to Ban Parents From Schools

09.09.2016 | DNA Info | Charter schools, however, also give out limited access letters, according to Randi Levine, of Advocates for Children, whose organization gets occasional complaints about the process from parents at traditional public schools and charters. Advocates for Children recently worked with a family from an Upper Manhattan public school given a limited access letter after the father sought the nonprofit's legal assistance because the school wasn’t providing his child mandated special needs services. “We think the letter was used in retaliation,” Levine said. "We think parent involvement is critical for a school’s success and schools should make every effort to work with them and not ban them," she added. Read article

AG: City not telling truth on bullying; Advocates call for better reporting

09.08.2016 | Queens Chronicle | Dawn Yuster, director of the School Justice Project at Advocates for Children, was not entirely shocked by the number of schools reporting zero incidents, saying DASA is a law educators have struggled with since it went into effect in 2012. “There is a critical need for better training and better implementation of DASA in New York City,” Yuster said. “The report shows a lot of work needs to be done.” Read article

7 Big Changes Coming to City Schools This Year

09.07.2016 | DNA Info | Over the next decade, all students will be expected to be reading on grade level by the end of second grade thanks to help from reading coaches — which will be put in place at approximately 100 elementary schools this year. The initiative is part of the DOE's “Equity and Excellence” plan, which is expected to be phased in over the coming decade. The first new reading coaches will go into the high needs areas of the South Bronx’s District 9, District 10 (which includes Fordham and Kingsbridge), Central Brooklyn’s District 17 and Bushwick’s District 32. Many education watchdogs are excited that the DOE is focusing on literacy instruction, but believe parents must be included in the process for the program to be successful. “Students whose families are involved learn to read sooner than their peers whose families are less so,” said Maggie Moroff, from Advocates for Children. “We've been talking to anyone at the DOE who will listen to us on this point, and we want to see how they communicate with, engage, and really partner with families as they roll out their literacy initiative.” Read article

What do New York City’s youngest students get suspended for, anyway?

08.23.2016 | Chalkbeat New York | Dawn Yuster, who directs Advocates for Children’s School Justice Project, largely echoed those arguments. She said the most serious infractions, including using force against a school safety agent, are often the result of student behavior that is misidentified or mismanaged from the start. “This charge doesn’t happen in isolation,” said Yuster, whose organization has handled numerous complaints about school discipline from parents. It “signals that further training [is] needed for school staff to be able to better support students.” Read article