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News & Media

AFC in the News

02.18.2016 | WNYC Schoolbook | The ARISE Coalition (coordinated by AFC) and Parents for Inclusive Education (PIE) respond to the DOE's official response to U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's report on barrier-free schools, which found that 83 percent of the city's elementary schools are not fully accessible to people with disabilities. Read the op-ed 

02.10.2016 | DNAInfo | Advocates hailed the DOE's first step as a positive sign. The fact that special education FAQ clearly states that budget, staff and space can’t limit services is “big,” said Maggie Moroff, of Advocates for Children. “They’re trying to send a real message to the schools,” she said, noting how her group “used to fight all the time to get kids into district schools” and now “we fight all the time to get kids out” because the reform resulted in students being unable to get what they needed. But Moroff said more needs to be done. For starters, the DOE needs to take the "next step" and tell schools how to meet students' needs when their budgets, staff and space can’t meet them beyond simply working with their Borough Field Support Centers, she said. Read article

01.26.2016 | Chalkbeat New York | Others say the repeated battles over the specifics of mayoral control have become a distraction. “This is another issue that takes away from the issues that we want to focus on if we have to go back to the table each year and debate mayoral control,” said Randi Levine, a project director at Advocates for Children. Read article

01.14.2016 | Public News Service | New Education Department data show the rate inched up just under 2 percent to 78.1 percent for the class that entered in 2011 and graduated in 2015. This comes as state education officials consider new pathways to graduation other than standardized tests, which Abja Midha, project director at Advocates for Children of New York, says could help close the state's achievement gap. "It's our position that there needs to be more flexibility and that the current one-size-fits-all approach that the state uses unfairly disadvantages more vulnerable student populations," she states. Despite the increase, white students are far more likely to receive a high school diploma than black or Hispanic students and graduation remains out of reach for many students with disabilities. Read article

01.10.2016 | Chalkbeat New York | The state created the CDOS credential in 2013 as a way to signal students’ readiness for entry-level employment. But the credential is not accepted in place of a diploma, keeping students from attending college, entering the military or finding a job in most cases, advocates said. “The CDOS commencement credential is in many ways a road to nowhere,” said Abja Midha, a project director at Advocates for Children who works to establish alternative pathways to graduation for students with disabilities. “Panera Bread asks if you have a high school diploma. What are the options for these kids?” Allowing both project-based assessments and the CDOS credential could help more students with disabilities earn a diploma. In 2014, only 53 percent of students with disabilities graduated on time statewide. Read article

12.24.2015 | NBC 4 New York | Jennifer Pringle, who works with the group Advocates for Children, said the new bus routes will make a huge impact. “I can’t emphasize enough what a game changer this is for so many families,” Pringle said. View segment

12.21.2015 | New York Post | The Manhattan US Attorney fired off a letter to the Education Department’s general counsel Monday, calling out the city’s school system for still failing — some 25 years after passage of the American With Disabilities Act — to make most elementary school buildings fully accessible to disabled children. Kim Sweet, executive director of Advocates for Children, said the access-problem for the disabled at the city’s elementary schools has been around for too long. “It’s exciting to see the US Attorney take action,” Sweet said. “It’s been an issue for a long time.” Read article

12.21.2015 | Chalkbeat New York | New York City provides “inexcusable” accommodations for its young students with disabilities and has failed to address the problem for years, according to a U.S. Department of Justice investigation released Monday. “The language in this is really sharp,” said Maggie Moroff, the special education policy coordinator at the nonprofit Advocates for Children. “They’re not messing around at all.” The letter itself won’t immediately change facilities for students, Moroff said, but it provides validation to many advocates, families and lawyers who have been concerned about this problem for years. “The fact that the DOJ is going to be looking at New York City and requiring New York City to answer to it is pretty tremendous,” Moroff said. Read article

11.30.2015 | Politico New York | A group of dozens of pre-K providers and advocacy organizations sent de Blasio a letter last week asking him to address the pay disparity. "We urge you to take immediate action to achieve salary parity for the early childhood workforce," their letter reads. "Disparities between similarly qualified teachers in EarlyLearn [day care] and pre-K programs have grown." The coalition includes many of de Blasio's closest allies in the early education world, raising the stakes for the mayor — among them the Bank Street College of Education, the special education advocacy group Advocates for Children, the Children's Aid Society and large pre-K providers including the Henry Street Settlement and United Neighborhood Houses. Read article

11.24.2015 | NBC 4 New York | Under federal law, children living in shelters and temporary housing are entitled to free transportation due to their vulnerable state. But in many cases in New York City, the free transportation they get is not a big yellow school bus, but a small yellow MetroCard for long, exhausting subway trips...Kim Sweet of the nonprofit Advocates for Children said she sees too many families who have to battle for busing. "So if the difference between a MetroCard and a bus is being able to get a child to school in the morning, then the city needs to really provide busing where it’s needed," she said. "There is nothing more frustrating than seeing a family that is working so hard to sustain their child’s education. They are climbing up such a mountain."