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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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06.29.2021 | Chalkbeat NY | For weeks, Advocates for Children demanded that city officials provide round-trip yellow bus service at the day’s end to students who typically receive it during the school year. Without it, they said, some of the city’s most vulnerable students, including those who use...
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06.30.2021 | Today, Kim Sweet, Executive Director of Advocates for Children of New York (AFC), issued the following statement in response to the announcement of the Fiscal Year 2022 city budget agreement:Following 15 months of unprecedented disruption in public education, we are pleased that the...
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Page: Junior BoardJunior BoardThe mission of Advocates for Children of New York (AFC)’s Junior Board is to support and promote the critical issues and efforts of Advocates for Children in a variety of ways, including:Serving as an advocate for quality and equitable public education;Providing input on AFC’s positions...
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06.29.2021 | NY1 | “The special education teachers, who serve some of the city’s most vulnerable children, students with the most intensive needs, are going to be some of the lowest paid teachers in the city. And what’s likely is that they’re going to leave their jobs at the preschools special...
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06.28.2021 | amNY | Just under 100 education advocacy groups sent a joint letter [PDF] last week asking Mayor Bill de Blasio to fix the city’s shortage of preschool special education seats by boosting the salaries of Department of Education-contracted pre-k special education teachers to...
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Page: Leadership & StaffLeadership & StaffKim SweetExecutive Director Matthew LenaghanDeputy DirectorShivani AlamoStaff Attorney, School Justice ProjectKaren AlvesSenior Education Specialist, HelplineDiana AragundiStaff Attorney, Immigrant Students' Rights ProjectMichael AthyStaff Attorney, Charter Schools...
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06.26.2021 | NY Post | Randi Levine, policy director at Advocates for Children of New York, told The Post: “We have heard from some families who were placed on the waitlist at their preferred program, and certainly want to ensure that every family has access to a Summer Rising seat that works for...
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06.25.2021 | Today, Advocates for Children of New York joined 25 organizations to urge the DOE to hire 150 shelter-based Community Coordinators to help students living in shelter reconnect with school and participate in supplemental programming offered by the DOE. With the DOE poised to...
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Page: Policy ReportsPolicy ReportsThis page features all of Advocates for Children of New York’s most recent policy reports on education issues in New York. Please see our archive for policy reports issued prior to 2010.Note: All policy reports are in PDF format and will open in a new window. To view PDF files,...
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06.23.2021 | Chalkbeat NY | “We are encouraged that the [education department] expanded the number of students who are eligible for bus service for the instructional part of the day,” said Randi Levine, policy director at Advocates for Children, which has raised concerns about the busing policies....
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06.16.2021 | NPR | "It's not fair," says Chrystal Bell, a mother in New York City whose son, Caleb, is deaf, blind and nonverbal. "He requires a lot extra just to achieve a little bit of the same." A class action complaint filed in late 2020 against the New York City and State Departments of...
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06.17.2021 | Univision | Este jueves, un grupo de padres de familia llegó hasta las instalaciones del Departamento de Educación en Nueva York (NYCDOE) para pedir mejoras en el sistema de enseñanza, particularmente para menores con necesidades especiales y aquellos que estudian inglés, unos de los...
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06.09.2021 | amNY | “The City and State continue to expand prekindergarten while preschoolers with the most significant needs are stuck waiting for seats in violation of their legal rights,” said Kim Sweet, Executive Director of Advocates for Children of New York. “Parents of students...
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06.09.2021 | Today, Advocates for Children of New York (AFC) issued the following response to the NYC Department of Education’s first release of preschool special education data required pursuant to Local Law 21 of 2020:Data released by the DOE show that at the end of the 2019-2020 school year, 1,...
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Blog: Police Intervention in student mental health crises and how to make schools more healing-centered06.09.2021 | WBAI | Dawn Yuster, director of AFC's School Justice Project, joined Leonie Haimson on her show 'Talk out of School' to discuss our new report on police interventions in New York City Department of Education schools, and the comprehensive mental health supports we need to invest in....
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06.07.2021 | Chalkbeat NY | “The [education department] claims that ‘All New York City students will have an opportunity to participate in the program,’” Rebecca Shore, the litigation director at Advocates for Children, wrote in a Friday letter to a top education department lawyer. “In practice,...
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06.05.2021 | Business Insider | "Five-, six-, seven-year-olds getting handcuffed in school. Very, very troubling," Dawn Yuster, director of the School Justice Project at Advocates for Children, told Spectrum News NY1. "I, personally, professionally have represented clients as young as eight years...
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06.04.2021 | Univision | Una investigación realizada por Advocates Children of New York señala que los problemas de salud mental en estudiantes eran una realidad creciente antes de la pandemia y que el manejo que oficiales en instituciones estaban dando a estos casos criminalizaba a los...
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06.03.2021 | NY1 | “The students who are impacted are largely black students, students with disabilities, in District 75 Special Education schools in particular, as well as low income students,” said Dawn Yuster, director of the School Justice Project at Advocates for Children. Around 10...
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06.03.2021 | Today, Advocates for Children of New York (AFC) released a new data brief, Police Response to Students in Emotional Crisis: A Call for Comprehensive Mental Health and Social-Emotional Support for Students in Police-Free Schools [PDF], exploring data on police response to more than...