01.08.2013 | New York Post | "I felt very fortunate in the educational opportunities I got," says Matthew Lenaghan, the son of two college professors. Graduating from Yale, he wanted to do something “meaningful” — so he joined Teach for America and went to teach ninth-grade social studies in a poor Houston neighborhood. He stayed for three years (TFA only requires a two-year commitment), then left for law school at NYU. Today, he’s the deputy director of Advocates for Children of New York, which helps ensure that at-risk kids get the education that they deserve. Read article
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Micaela’s Story
Micaela is a dual-language learner who is on the autism spectrum and needed an appropriate school placement for kindergarten.
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AFC in the News
12.18.2012 | Insideschools.org | All 5th graders will turn in applications for middle school this Friday, Dec. 21. That includes students with special education needs who will fill out the same application as other children. There is often some confusion about the process, even after the roll-out of the special education reform this year. Now all schools are expected to accept students with special needs, which wasn't the case in the past. Parents say that outreach was poor at some schools last year, with special needs students unaware that they could apply. To help families of children with special needs better understand their rights when applying to middle school, Advocates for Children put together a list of recommendations and tips. Read article
12.14.2012 | Public News Service | "Punish the crooks, not the kids." That's the rallying cry of parents and advocates worried about New York's preschool special education programs that are under an investigative microscope. The state comptroller is pursuing operators of special education providers who are accused of wasting, misspending or pocketing money. Advocates of preschool special education say finding fraud is fine. But, Kim Sweet, executive director of the group Advocates for Children of New York, says some new and proposed changes in the wake of the investigations could hinder the funding for services. "We are concerned about throwing the baby out with the bathwater. The opportunity to reach children when they're three and four is really very fleeting and if we squander it we're not going to be able to get it back." Read article
12.13.2012 | Rochester Democrat and Chronicle | Education advocates and parents implored the state Thursday to expand and reform its policies for preschool special-education programs. Several school groups, including the Alliance for Quality Education and Advocates for Children of New York, opposed the state’s decision in November to suspend approval of new special-education service providers or the expansion of existing programs. The state Education Department plans to revise criteria for approving such programs after various instances of fraud were uncovered in recent audits. It is unclear how long the review will take. “The state should punish crooks and should revisit some of its funding practices, but should not make young children with delayed development pay lifelong consequences for the actions of a small group of adults,” according to the groups’ recommendations, which were unveiled Thursday at a news conference near the state Capitol. Read article
12.13.2012 | Wall Street Journal | Some education advocates in New York are out with recommendations to protect preschool special education programs. The groups Advocates for Children of New York and the Alliance for Quality Education are worried that recent reports of costly fraud by some providers could jeopardize the programs. At a news conference in Albany Thursday, they encouraged the state to vigorously audit programs and improve financing procedures. Read article
12.06.2012 | Insideschools.org | Although this change does not exactly make kindergarten mandatory for all five-year-olds, advocates say it sends a message to schools that they can no longer refuse to admit five-year-olds. "We have seen families turned away from schools with the explanation that kindergarten is not mandatory," said Randi Levine, project director for early childhood education at Advocates for Children. "Although children currently have the right to attend to attend kindergarten this change would make it very clear that schools are required to serve kindergarten students and are not permitted to turn them away." Read article
11.29.2012 | Gotham Schools | A+NYC, a new coalition formed earlier this year to shape policy in time for the 2013 mayoral election, launched an online “policy hub” today that includes research briefs on 20 education issues that the group wants to be the focus of debates in months to come.
The special education brief, authored by staff at Advocates for Children, found research that supports the city’s special education reforms to integrate special needs students into general education classroom settings. But it also suggested that the city was still not doing enough to support students with Individualized Education Plans. Read article
11.28.2012 | Timesunion.com| AFC's Randi Levine illustrates, in this published letter to the editor, that although there is a need for the state to work vigorously to identify and punish anyone who is stealing from the preschool special education program, the state must not lose sight of the enormous benefits of this program for New York's young children. By intervening early, when brains have the most elasticity, preschool special education services help young children with developmental delays prepare for school, reducing long-term costs. Read article
11.08.2012 | Insideschools.org | "A lot of schools are getting an overflow of kids," said Jennifer Pringle, director of NYS TEACHS, which runs a statewide hotline for schools and families about the educational rights of homeless children. And as some shelters close and families are relocated to other living situations, she said, "You’re looking at kids who are going to transition through several schools."
Elementary and middle school students may enroll directly at the neighborhood schools closest to where they are staying and high school students should go to an enrollment center to enroll in a school closer to where they are living.
Displaced students also have the right to keep attending school in their home neighborhoods, said Pringle. "You can always keep your kids in the same school," she said. "Being connected to the same teachers and school can be supportive when everything else is chaotic in their lives. But the biggest issue for parents is transportation. Sometimes it's not a viable option for them -- parents can take four to six hours a day to get their children to school."
"There are so many unanswered questions – the city has yet to articulate what its longterm strategy is going to be for these families," Pringle said. Read article
10.25.2012 | SchoolBook | A City Council hearing on the nitty-gritty issue of how the Education Department organizes its 1,750 schools erupted into accusations that the Bloomberg administration is withholding information that could help parents navigate the immense bureaucracy...The group Advocates for Children of New York submitted testimony saying networks create further confusion for parents when they’re looking for help. Read article