News & Media

11.20.2014 | SchoolBook | Bernard Dufresne, a staff attorney at Advocates for Children, said he thought the school missed an opportunity to encourage a conversation between the parties in a much more constructive setting. "Principals in many ways see a suspension as the first option," he said, adding that suspensions were "not an investment in the student's academic outcomes" and that students often returned more disengaged from school. While the current discipline code allows for other interventions, including mediation and restorative justice, there are not strong incentives to encourage many principals to change their ways. Read article

11.06.2014 | Chalkbeat New York | The matter is especially delicate at Boys and Girls, which was the subject of a class action lawsuit a decade ago alleging that the school warehoused troublesome students in the auditorium as a way to push them out. Brown’s claim—that he was pressured to transfer to another school—differs from the 2005 lawsuit, which alleged that the school’s actions drove students to drop out of school completely, said Rebecca Shore, director of litigation at Advocates for Children, the nonprofit that helped file the lawsuit. (As part of a 2008 settlement, the city agreed to put Boys and Girls under the oversight of a monitor for several years and make sure the school got approval before transferring students.) Still, Brown’s situation highlights a common problem, Shore said. Students have the right to remain in school until the end of the year they turn 21, and administrators must follow strict protocols to make students switch schools against their will. But administrators sometimes work around those rules by convincing students that they will not graduate from their current school, and so should transfer to an alternative school, Shore said. “It comes off in theory as the student wanting this and consenting,” she said. “But really, it’s more of the school pushing the student out.” Read article

10.30.2014 | Huffington Post | Bernard Dufresne, a staff attorney for the nonprofit group Advocates for Children, called for more transparency when it comes to restraining students, pointing to the success of the 2010 Student Safety Act in reducing superfluous suspensions. “Thanks in part to the Student Safety Act, which requires the [DOE] to report on the number of suspensions every school year, suspensions have slowly started to drop,” said Dufresne. “Similarly, the DOE should have to report on the use of handcuffs on students, along with the number of arrests and summonses.” Read article

10.28.2014 | Capital New York | Other parents criticized the D.O.E. for not providing appropriate services for their children who struggled with reading. Representatives from Advocates for Children, a leading organization for special education students in New York, called on the D.O.E. Tuesday to improve literacy training in pre-K and up, provide additional screening for disabilities, and provide more information for parents on how to help their special needs students at home, particularly with boosting literacy. Read article