SUSSMAN & ASSOCIATES - Attorneys at Law - MICHAEL H. SUSSMAN, 1 Railroad Ave. - Suite 3 LEGAL ASSISTANCE JONATHAN R. GOLDMAN P.O. Box 1005 SARAH OSHORNE Goshen, New York 10924 CcrinsTOnHTER D. WATKINS — of Counsel (845) 294-3991 January 18, 2021 susemunt@fontemet net Honorable Michael Spano Mayor, City of Yonkers Yonkers City Hall Yonkers, NY 10701 Honorable Edward Quezada Superintendent of Schools Yonkers Public Schools 1 Larkin Place Yonkers, Ny 10701 Re: Ongoing Educational Disparities in Yonkers Public Schools Gentlemen: I write again on behalf of concerned City of Yonkers residents and parents to protest the ongoing disparities in educational opportunities for students in Yonkers Public Schools (YPS) and to respectfully request that you both urgently address the issues enumerated below. While Covid-19 has had a devastating impact on educational opportunities for countless students around the country, none of us can ignore the disproportionately adverse impacts it continues to cause minority and low-income communities and the lasting impacts it will have on the educational achievements of students from these communities. There is no doubt that Covid-19 continues to exacerbate systemic educational issues already in place in the City of Yonkers. As usual, the brunt of this falls on the most oppressed communities: undocumented, Black, Latinx, POC, indigenous, poor, LBGTQ, and people with disabilities. Consequently, students from oppressed communities are losing out on the proper education they deserve. Students from these communities are well into this academic year without the proper support and resources they need, denying them an equal access to education, A. The District has failed to provide and ensure a smooth transition to online learning for students. In response to the pandemic, the District chose to implement a hybrid program incorporating both remote and in-person learning to maintain social distancing for its more than 27,000 students. Even students who choose to attend school in-person only do so twodays per week and must work remotely the other three days. This means that every student in YPS needs access to reliable, appropriate technology to join their classes and complete their assigned work. Despite this reality and the fact that many families have more than one child in school, YPS has distributed only one laptop per family. Since 75% of the district’s families live below the poverty and many are likely unable to purchase their own technology, this policy has left thousands of students unable to access the free and appropriate education to which they are entitled. I understand that Mayor Spano has promised that each student would receive a laptop so as to properly access education, But this has not happened with serious consequences, also question how many working laptops the district has distributed to this date. Members of the Yonkers Parents Seeking Solutions (YPSS) have advised that their effort to obtain precise information has been thwarted, but the district has represented that 8,000 laptops have been distributed. Some of these were locked and, therefore, useless. In this context, some families have resorted to their cellular devices to participate in remote learning. The absence of sufficient computers remains unacceptable and must be remedied. Laptops need to be distributed as fast as possible to every student who needs one. ‘And, due to the delays in distribution, compensatory education should be provided to any student who has fallen behind during the first five months of this school year. This is the YP" responsibility. B, Students in Special Education are falling through the cracks. Special education students are also facing worsening conditions. About 5,000 or 16% of the district’s students are currently in Special Education. This is a significant proportion of students who require specialized staff and resources. Even before Covid-19, the identification and evaluation timeline for the district’s SPED program was one and a half years behind. During the pandemic, this situation has. only gotten worse. Failure to revise policies and procedures to address this issue will lead to unidentified and unclassified students falling further behind their peers in educational opportunity and achievement. Like the first issue, this systemic deficiency continues to adversely affect children from minority groups, including immigrant and undocumented communities. Furthermore, the district has also been failing to provide related services for its ‘many students with IEPs. While the district has aligned itself with St. Joseph’s with respect to conducting some special services, its resources are inadequate. The district needs to implement policies and procedures to provide related and compensatory services to SPED students in-person as much as possible, and when it cannot, remotely. Students with disabilities in particular need consistent access to their teachers and providers. C. Teachers’ technology needs are not being met.While virtual learning has now been in place for months, many teachers in YPS are still unable to teach appropriately using district-assigned technology. YPSS has stated teachers have are to use their personal laptops to teach remotely to ensure that their students have access to relevant lessons and content. The District must provide working equipment to teachers so that they may perform their teaching duties properly. D. The District has failed to involve communities in student learning. Throughout the pandemic, the district has failed to communicate key information to parents and families. Instead of finding ways of personally connecting with the communities in which its students live, the district has sent a series of noncommittal and nonresponsive emails to families in the middle of this crisis. YPSS reports that many of these communications have been unhelpful and are inaccessible to families who may not have access to reliable technology or are not fluent in English. The district needs to be proaetive, transparent, and timely with communications to parents and families and, to the extent its representatives can, needs to send individuals to communicate with these individuals directly. Al! District communication should be in both English and Spanish. Additionally, the district has failed to work with community stakeholders to find spaces for students to learn. Many families’ living situations are much less conducive to learning than a classroom. As my last letter suggested, this could be remedied by using community centers, places of worship, recreation centers, and similar open spaces where social distancing can be maintained for student use. Community members who have been vaccinated or are otherwise willing to supervise and organize such efforts should do so, E. Disparities based on qualified teachers vs. substitutes. Lam also apprised that a substantial number of qualified and certified teachers are not providing services to children, replaced by less qualified substitute teachers. To the extent underlying medical conditions have caused veteran teachers to the sidelines, every effort should be made to employ their skills virtually and not disqualify them from contributing their knowledge, skills, and abilities in this crisis because they cannot come into school. ‘We all know that the last year has been a difficult and trying time for our country. ‘The pandemic has decimated our healthcare, economy, and educational system and has left us all in a state of anxiety as we watch the case numbers rise, But we also know that we have several more months ahead of us in which things are unlikely to change quickly. The students of Yonkers cannot wait that long to receive access to an appropriate education. Indeed, the longer we wait to act; the further behind they fall. Finally, Yonkers has powerful allies in Albany and, to the extent the current situation reflects a historic pattern of underfunding, this needs to be rectified now. Provision of equal education opportunity remains the legal responsibility of both the State and City.implore you to provide a detailed plan to address these highlighted disparities, including the distribution of laptops, the provision of alternative learning centers, compliance with federal and state regulations governing the identification and evaluation of children who may require special education services, the proper provision of such services to classified children, the provision of proper laptops to teachers and the use of all available teachers, whether in school or virtually, as well as a means of providing compensatory educational services for those deprived to date of the equipment necessary access education. Yours sincerely, bat ce: Hon. Andrea Stewart-Cousins