Public Advocate de Blasio and ARISE Coalition Kick Off "Students with Disabilities Month"
Partnership launches survey and “speak-outs” for parents of students with disabilities
Contact: Matt Wing (Public Advocate’s office) 212-669-4193
Maggie Moroff (ARISE) 212-822-9523
NEW YORK –Today, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and the ARISE Coalition launch “Students with Disabilities Month.” To mark the occasion, Public Advocate de Blasio announced a comprehensive new survey intended to give voice to the thousands of parents who fight on a daily basis for the needs of their children with disabilities. The ARISE Coalition will host a series of “speak-outs” for students with disabilities and their parents and guardians.
Following the outreach, the Public Advocate will release a full report highlighting the issues facing parents of children with disabilities, as well as parent-approved recommendations on how to improve special education in New York City. There are 210,000 students with disabilities in New York City public schools.
“Parents of children with disabilities see the best and the worst of our school system. They have to fight day-in and day-out for every aspect of their child’s education. As a public school parent, I know there is no one better suited to reforming our special education system than the parents who struggle with it every day,” said Public Advocate Bill de Blasio.
“We held a similar series of speak-outs in 2009, hearing from over 200 parents about their experiences in the system and detailing their fights to get appropriate supports and services for their children,” said Maggie Moroff, Coordinator of ARISE. “While the DOE has made a number of organizational changes since then and begun to roll out a reform of the special education system, there are still too many parents with stories to share about their children not receiving the special education supports they need to assure positive day-to-day experiences and successful educational outcomes.”
Throughout April, the Public Advocate, with the help of ARISE, will administer a 17-question survey to 500 parents both in person and online, with the goal of grading the quality of school programs, parental engagement and transportation from the perspective of parents with children with disabilities. The survey asks parents to express their views on:
Level of confidence in their child’s ability to graduate with a Regents diploma
Agreement with educational goals set by their child’s Individualized Education Plan team
Overall impact of the DOE’s special education reforms enacted thus far
Willingness of school staff to listen and respond to specific concerns about a child’s education
Ability of school transportation to meet the needs of students with disabilities
ARISE’s speak-outs in every borough will allow students with disabilities and their parents to share their experiences in their schools and put forward ideas for reform. The full listing of events is detailed below. The feedback from the surveys, supplemented with stories shared at the speak-out will culminate in an official report by the Public Advocate giving voice to parents struggling to give their children a decent education.
The survey can be found at: http://advocate.nyc.gov/2011parentsurvey
More information about the speak-outs is available at: http://www.arisecoalition.org
Speak-Out Events:
Bronx, Co-sponsored by Bronx Independent Living Services
April 7, 6-8pm, 4419 Third Avenue, Suite 2C
Queens: Co-sponsored by Parents for Inclusive Education and Advocates for Children of New York
April, 11, 9-11am, 25-09 Broadway
Manhattan, Co-sponsored by Sinergia
April 12, 10am-noon, 2082 Lexington Avenue, 4th Floor
Staten Island, Co-sponsored by Staten Island Parent-to-Parent
April 27, 6-8pm, 1050 Forest Hill Road
Brooklyn, Co-sponsored by United We Stand and Brooklyn Center for the Independence of the Disabled
April 28, 6-8pm, Brooklyn Public Library, Grand Army Plaza
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