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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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11.23.2020 | NY1 | Hours after the mayor's briefing, advocates filed a class action suit on behalf of the city's more than 200,000 students with disabilities, alleging they have not received mandated services like speech therapy or counseling, or proper teaching during remote learning. The suit...
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Blog: Parents Of Special Education Students Sue City For Not Addressing Learning Loss During Pandemic11.24.2020 | Gothamist | Advocates for Children filed the lawsuit on behalf of seven parents and one legal guardian of special education students in federal court on Monday, noting that learning loss began back in March, when the onset of the pandemic triggered a systemwide shutdown of public...
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11.23.2020 | Politico (Pro) | Parents of students with disabilities in New York City hit the Department of Education and the State Education Department with a class action lawsuit on Monday, citing a “pervasive failure” to provide mandated educational services as Covid-19 rages on. In the...
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11.20.20 | NY Post | “We are deeply concerned about the decision to close schools on such short notice,” said Randi Levine, policy director at Advocates for Children of New York, a group focused on providing resources for disabled children and low-income families. “Children who had been...
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11.23.2020 | Today, Advocates for Children of New York (“AFC”) and Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP filed a class action complaint in federal court against the New York City Department of Education (“DOE”) and New York State Education Department (“NYSED”) on behalf of students with...
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11.18.2020 | The 74 | The students who have lost contact with their schools also remain a matter of concern for Randi Levine, policy director at Advocates for Children, a nonprofit fighting on behalf of the city’s underserved youth. On Tuesday, her group published a statement saying, “Educating...
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Blog: Stuck on Mute: Kids in Juvenile Lockups Can’t Be Seen or Heard by Teachers During Remote Learning11.19.2020 | The CITY | “It’s clear that the Department of Education is working with ACS to make improvements in access and quality of education,” said Dawn Yuster, director of the School Justice Project at the nonprofit Advocates for Children of New York. But she worries about what another...
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11.19.2020 | Politico | The coalition, New Yorkers for Racially Just Public Schools, is unveiling “A People’s Agenda for Education and Racial Justice,” centered on issues such as police-free schools, culturally responsive education and getting rid of school admissions policies they say fuel school...
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11.20.2020 | Today, AFC is testifying before the New York City Council Committee on Education’s hearing about the critical need for social-emotional and mental health support for students, and the City's commitment to remove police from schools and craft a new vision of school safety that ensures...
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Page: Policy & InitiativesPolicyAdvocates for Children of New York (AFC) works to change education policy so that the public school system serves ALL children of New York City effectively. AFC’s attorneys and education specialists help thousands of families each year to resolve obstacles to their success in school....
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Page: Teacher EvaluationTeacher EvaluationAt Advocates for Children of New York (AFC), we believe that a robust and fair teacher evaluation system will improve access to high-quality instruction for all students and increase teacher, principal, and school accountability to students and their parents. As New York...
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Page: Relief and Recovery FundTo protect the health of our supporters, advocacy partners, and staff, AFC has canceled our Spring Benefit, but we still need your support so we can fight for New York’s families now and in the difficult year ahead. That is why our annual Fund-a-Need initiative, typically introduced at our Spring...
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08.18.2020 | Today, Advocates for Children of New York released a set of essential recommendations for New York City’s school reopening plan, urging the Department of Education (DOE) to ensure that students with disabilities have the support they need when schools reopen, whether they are learning...
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11.17.2020 | Today, Kim Sweet, Executive Director of Advocates for Children of New York (AFC), issued the following statement in response to the possibility of a systemwide shutdown of New York City’s schools:Educating children is one of the most essential services the City provides, and the Mayor...
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11.12.2020 | WBAI | Dawn Yuster, director of Advocates for Children of New York's School Justice Project, joins Bob Gangi on "Justice Matters" to talk about police-free schools and sending mental health professionals, not cops, to New Yorkers experiencing mental crisis. Listen to the...
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11.10.20 | The 74 | Advocates for special education students are especially interested in the class size numbers for those learners. At an Oct. 23 City Council hearing, Advocates for Children testified that the DOE had violated state limits on class sizes for special needs students in self-...
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11.07.2020 | NY Post | The news was welcomed by Advocates for Children, a nonprofit organization that has highlighted the Wi-Fi problem for needy kids. “We should explore all options because the alternative is children missing out on school this year, and that is not acceptable,” said Randi...
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11.06.2020 | Qns.com | “A student who lost weeks of instructional time because they lacked needed technology for remote learning would still be considered ‘fully’ served for the purposes of this report if they had been in a special education class prior to the closure of school buildings, as...
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11.06.2020 | Univision Neuva York | El reporte anual del Departamento de Educación indica que los pequeños con discapacidades no pudieron recibir los recursos que necesitan debido a la pandemia, lo que ha afectado su aprendizaje. La organización Advocates for Children pide a las autoridades...
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Page: Taskforces & CoalitionsTaskforces & CoalitionsAFC’s staff are members of many coalitions, advisory committees, and taskforces that focus on improving education and pushing for reform, including:Administration for Children’s Services (ACS)/Advocates Education Work GroupThe ARISE CoalitionCampaign for ChildrenCampaign...