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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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10.16.2020 | Today, AFC is testifying before the New York City Council Committee on Education and Committee on Health regarding the reopening of City schools. As the City continues working on the health and safety measures needed to protect school communities from COVID-19 this year, the City must...
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10.07.2020 | LoHud | “Inequities pre-dated the pandemic, but we are very worried that these inequities have only grown,” says Randi Levine, policy director at New York City nonprofit Advocates for Children. Six families whose children attend public school in urban districts across the...
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10.13.2020 | The Imprint | New York City is flagged in the education report as an example of progress. Its Close to Home program has virtually eliminated problems with transferring credits from lockups to home schools that other parts of the country still experience. High- and low-security pretrial...
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10.14.2020 | VICE | Randi Levine, policy director at Advocates for Children of New York, said it’s unclear how many of New York City’s roughly 114,000 homeless kids just stopped regularly showing up for school due to the COVID-19 pandemic... “The dropout rate was already high, and there’s a...
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Page: Past EventsPast Events2019 Spring BenefitLeft: Anne M. Finucane, 2019 recipient of the Jill Chaifetz Award, and Tayloni Mazyck, 2019 recipient of the Education Champion Award, with AFC Board President Eric Grossman and Executive Director Kim Sweet. Right: Tayloni with her family. Photos...
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09.24.2020 | NY1 | Many shelters don't get good enough cell service for the DOE's devices to get online, advocates said."We now need the city to charge someone with looking at why the iPads are not working in certain city shelters and identifying the problem and fixing it because we don’t want...
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09.25.2020 | The 74 | Bus drivers are generally notified in advance about the needs of the children riding in their vehicles, explains Maggie Moroff, special education policy director at Advocates for Children of New York. If a bus driver finds a student alone at the curb, without the...
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09.22.2020 | The CITY | Randi Levine, policy director at Advocates For Children, said her organization has spoken to families who are “doing their best” using cell phones with limited data plans. One child goes to a grandmother’s home for internet connection but cannot travel there every day....
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Suspensions and School DisciplineReturning visitors to our resource library: If you have downloaded a publication before, we recommend clearing your browsing history before clicking the links below, to ensure you are viewing the most up-to-date versions. Note: Unless otherwise noted...
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09.18.2020 | NBC Today Show | Kim Sweet, Executive Director of Advocates for Children of New York speaks with the Today Show about the delay of the start of in-person classes for New York City public schools, and what this means for families and students. "Parents and families are...
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09.17.2020 | Bloomberg News | Advocates for students with disabilities raised similar concerns. “Remote learning was disastrous for many students this spring,” Randi Levine, policy director of Advocates for Children of New York, said in an emailed statement. The city must “start paying more...
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09.13.2020 | The Daily | At the end of August, Randi Levine, the policy director of Advocates for Children of New York, expressed disbelief about the lack of planning for homeless students. “It’s shocking how little is in place for students in shelter,” she wrote in an email. “Many are...
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09.16.2020 | WCBS 880 | “The city has distributed hundreds of thousands of iPads with data to students who need them, but at some city shelters the iPads don't work because there's no WiFi and isn't sufficient cellular reception,” says Randi Levine, the police director and Advocates for...
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09.16.2020 | Gothamist | There were problems with the remote-learning devices issued by the Department of Education as well, said Randi Levine, the policy director at Advocates for Children of New York, a nonprofit focused on low-income students. “We heard from some parents today who were not able...
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09.15.2020 | Center for NYC Affairs | At a time when teachers and principals are debating Covid-19 safety guidelines, scrambling to fulfil staffing mandates, planning hybrid in-class and remote learning schedules, and contesting the DOE's assessments of windows that won't open and HVAC systems that...
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09.16.2020 | WNYC | "Even before the pandemic, significant disparities existed between New York City students who are homeless and their permanently housed peers, and the pandemic has only magnified these inequities," said Randi Levine, policy director at Advocates for Children of New York....
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09.16.2020 | Today, Advocates for Children of New York joins 30 organizations in calling on Mayor de Blasio to address the urgent educational needs of students who are homeless as the school year begins. We are urging the City to develop a coordinated interagency plan and designate a point...
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Blog: Talk Out of School09.02.2020 | WBAI | Randi Levine, Policy Director at Advocates for Children of New York, spoke with Leonie Hamison on the latest episode of "Talk out of School" about whether the DOE's reopening plan does enough for the more than 114,000 NYC students experiencing homelessness, and the more than 200...
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09.02.2020 | CBS New York | “There are some shelters, for example, in New York City that don’t have sufficient cellular reception to get the iPads to work,” said Randi Levine of the group Advocates for Children.The nonprofit is helping to bridge the digital divide for city students.The DOE has...
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09.02.2020 | The Imprint | “We’re very concerned about what this will mean for all students eager to return to school even part-time, especially for students in foster care,” said Erika Palmer, supervising attorney for Advocates For Children. “Arranging transportation for such a large number...