07.28.2014 | New York Times | Most of the 190,000 special-education students in the city — and roughly 12,000 being educated privately at public expense — are not as severely disabled. Told of Dylan’s case, supporters of special-needs families and others said they could not understand why the city would fight it, because Dylan’s family had wanted to place him in one of a handful of private schools where the state picks up most of the tab. (Those schools serve about two-thirds of the 12,000 students.) But some said it was an example of how litigious the city had become. “Unfortunately, every day, our office hears from parents who have to fight with the D.O.E.,” said Randi Levine, policy coordinator at Advocates for Children of New York. “Too often we see a level of antagonism and resistance to helping children that can have harmful consequences.” Read article
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Micaela’s Story
Micaela is a dual-language learner who is on the autism spectrum and needed an appropriate school placement for kindergarten.
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AFC in the News
07.02.2014 | Student Press Law Center | Advocates for Children of New York, which signed the amicus brief alongside SPLC, is pleased with the ruling, said Dawn Yuster, the group’s School Justice Project director. “Advocates for Children strongly supports positive approaches to discipline, such as ones that improve the school climate and keep kids out of jail,” Yuster said. “Both laws like this one and zero tolerance policies that push kids out of the classroom do nothing to respond to what causes bullying.” Read article
07.02.2014 | Capital New York | The Department of Education faces a daunting challenge in accommodating a large and growing population of special needs students, statistics in an Independent Budget Office report released Tuesday revealed...“These numbers remind us that students with special needs are not a minor sub-population,” said Kim Sweet, the executive director of Advocates For Children. “In fact, they’re a significant segment of the student body in New York City that we need to focus on educating well.” Read article
07.01.2014 | Chalkbeat New York | The percentage of English language learners with a disability is similar to the overall share of city students with a disability. But advocates said it was still alarming to see the numbers. “These students are often among the most poorly served in the system,” said Kim Sweet, executive director of Advocates for Children. “With such significant numbers, this group really merits more attention from policy makers.” Read article
06.27.2014 | Chalkbeat New York | According to Nick Sheehan, who works on the School Justice Project at Advocates for Children, safety transfers are “really challenging to get.” The biggest stumbling block, he said, is the required police report, which the city’s regulations list among the required documents for a safety transfer. Parents might not have time to file a report, he said, and “historic distrust” between the police and students’ communities might also discourage families. An even bigger problem, he said, is that students might feel unsafe at school even before a crime has been committed against them. “Sometimes the safety concern doesn’t rise to a level of criminal activity [that would be filed in a police report], it’s just ongoing bullying and harassment,” Sheehan said. Read article
06.24.2014 | New York Times | “This is a good initial step towards reducing the unnecessary frustration that parents of students with special needs face as they struggle to find an appropriate education for their children,” Kim Sweet, the executive director of Advocates for Children of New York, said in a statement. “Now we have to make sure they follow through.” Read article
06.24.2014 | Chalkbeat New York | While some advocates commended the announcement as a step in the right direction, they pointed out that it is not a new law, but a policy change that must be enacted. The education department has not yet created any new regulations to codify the new policies, officials said. “I’m eager to see how this will all be implemented,” said Rebecca Shore, litigation director at Advocates for Children. “I hope this announcement will result in less litigation and a less frustrating process for parents.” Read article
06.24.2014 | Capital New York | As the de Blasio administration rolls out its ambitious expansion of pre-kindergarten, it will be hard-pressed to accommodate children with special needs, special education advocates say...Groups like Advocates For Children, Parent to Parent and the Interagency Council say they’ve been in communication with the DOE over the last several months to outline their most pressing special needs demands; AFC has a meeting with DOE officials later this week....“Children have such a brief window to get prepared for kindergarten,” said [Randi] Levine [director of AFC’s Early Childhood Education Project]. “Especially for kids with delays, these are the children who are starting out the most behind and who have potentially the most to gain from the extra year of pre-K, but only if they have the services they need.” Read article
06.23.2014 | NY1 | The state data also reveals another alarming trend: over the past four years, the graduation rate for English Language Learners has been steadily declining. "It was really depressing to see the graduation rates for English Language Learners to actually go down," says Kim Sweet. In 2010, 41.5% of students learning English graduated. By 2013, just 32.3% did..."By concentrating on strengthening pre-k through 12 education, that's a really good start. But importantly, the city and the state both have to look at the needs of students who enter high school very, very far behind and create pathways and options for them," Sweet says. Read article
06.13.2014 | Capital New York | Deputy chancellor for special education Corrine Rello-Anselmi attends meetings with the citywide council on special education monthly, but Fariña's presence brought out parents in droves. The meeting was standing-room only. "It was a greatest-hits conversation of special-education needs," said Maggie Moroff, an attorney and policy coordinator at Advocates for Children, an advocacy organization for high-risk and special-needs children who attended the meeting. Read article