PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Mark Gonsalves, Co-President of Citywide Council on Special Education
5:18:49
ยท
3 min
Mark Gonsalves, Co-President of the Citywide Council on Special Education and father of two children with IEPs, testified about the need for expanded special education services and programs in New York City schools. He thanked the council for previous funding and urged for further financial support to improve access to specialized programs across all school districts.
- Advocated for expanding specialized autism programs to all 29 school districts
- Called for increased literacy academies and dyslexia programs in every district
- Praised the DOE's weekend and weekday academies while highlighting the need for more in-school related services
- Requested legislation to improve contracts for related service providers, similar to the proposed legislation for paraprofessionals
Mark Gonsalves
5:18:49
Chair Joseph, thank you for holding this hearing.
5:18:52
My name is Mark Gonsalves.
5:18:53
I'm co president of the citywide council on special education.
5:18:56
I'm also a father of 2 sons who have IAPs.
5:19:00
First of all, thank you for you and your counts and the council for funding the 55,000,000 last year for pre k three and pre k special education seats.
5:19:08
Your actions helped hundreds of students and their families to receive the appropriate education they needed to excel in school and in life.
5:19:16
I'm here again because we need, again, your financial support.
5:19:20
Last year, the DOE piloted the 3 school districts with the specialized autism programs.
5:19:25
All kindergarten students in those were guaranteed seats.
5:19:28
You heard from, Foti that it was really a game changer for these students.
5:19:32
Right?
5:19:33
They didn't have to, like, bus.
5:19:34
It was 2.7 miles versus about a mile and a half.
5:19:37
They weren't excluded from their community.
5:19:39
They weren't bussed to another borough.
5:19:41
They'd gotten education in their district, and that is critical.
5:19:46
So we need to get rid of the games.
5:19:47
We need to get it in all 29 districts for the new school year.
5:19:51
We can't wait.
5:19:52
These kids can't afford it.
5:19:53
We heard the numbers.
5:19:54
It's over 10,000 kids.
5:19:56
Let's build the damn schools.
5:19:58
We need to stop the BS.
5:20:02
Along with that, we also need to look at the literacy academies and dyslexia programs.
5:20:07
We heard again that there are reading difficulties.
5:20:10
We heard from, John Hammer talking about that that was one of the key, disability classifications where students need to leave the DOE school district and go to non public education.
5:20:22
We need to build them in every district.
5:20:24
It can't be in every borough because we're celebrating 1 school in Brooklyn.
5:20:29
Give me a break.
5:20:29
We are 5 boroughs.
5:20:31
We are 32 districts.
5:20:32
We need to build out not tomorrow, but today.
5:20:35
We cannot wait.
5:20:36
Our kids cannot afford another day of not having the appropriate education where they are.
5:20:41
Let me tell you something that the DOE is doing a phenomenal job on.
5:20:45
Along with those programs, you just need to roll them out.
5:20:47
But let's talk about seeds.
5:20:48
Let's talk about weekend academy.
5:20:50
My son has been in weekend academy for 3 years now.
5:20:53
It is a phenomenal program.
5:20:55
It has been a game changer.
5:20:56
Now he is there 2 and a half hours every Saturday, and, you know, would he rather be doing something else?
5:21:02
Of course, he would.
5:21:02
But he has gained a high quality program at those schools.
5:21:06
The teachers have been phenomenal.
5:21:07
They've been working with him over the years, and it is a game changer for him and for all the thousands of kids who are attending those weekend academies and now weekday academies.
5:21:17
I mean, 7 days of DOE is I'll I'll give him credit.
5:21:19
Props to them.
5:21:20
It's a big deal.
5:21:21
But why is my son there?
5:21:23
Because he hasn't had the providers to provide the appropriate related services during the school day in school.
5:21:29
It was OT, it was peach, it was PT not available, and so he had to go the last 3 years for that.
5:21:36
We need to work on the appropriate contracts for our related service providers.
5:21:41
We need full time related service providers in the classrooms, in the schools.
5:21:46
Chair Joseph, you did a big deal today with the PARAS.
5:21:49
Your proposed legislation is a game changer.
5:21:52
We also need to do that for the related service providers.
5:21:55
The PTs and the OTs both need enhanced contracts.
5:22:01
And I ask you, chair Joseph, to please look at adding legislation for that as well.
5:22:06
Thank you, chair.