PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Rima Izquierdo, Parent of Students with Disabilities
4:34:57
ยท
3 min
Rima Izquierdo, a parent of three NYC school students including two with disabilities, shares her challenging experience with her son Darius's transition out of the school system. She highlights the lack of support, inadequate information, and the personal toll of ensuring her son with profound autism receives proper care and education.
- Izquierdo had to quit her job to navigate the complex special education system and recently resigned again due to stress from the DOE not providing mandated IEP services.
- She emphasizes the lack of learning standards and accountability for District 75 students like her son who participate in New York State Alternate Assessment (NYSA).
- Izquierdo calls for better support for families during transitions, especially regarding guardianship and preparation for life after school for students with severe disabilities.
Rima Izquierdo
4:34:57
Good afternoon.
4:34:58
My name is Rima Isquierdo, and I am the proud parent of 3 current New York City school students, 2 of which have disabilities.
4:35:05
I am also decently connected with Central, and I'm also a parent that still has difficulty with their own student.
4:35:14
Today and usually, I'm here to talk about everybody, but today, I'm here to talk to you about my experience with my son, Darius, who's 18 years old and attending high school at a District 75 program.
4:35:25
Darius has profound autism and requires supervision at all times.
4:35:29
He participates in New York State Alternate Assessment, also known as NYSA.
4:35:33
If you don't know what that is, I'm not really sure either.
4:35:36
He doesn't take tests and requires a special small class, a paraprofessional, and a lot of modified and differentiated instruction.
4:35:43
There are no learning standards for Darius and his peers, and therefore, state accountability for district 75 students like him is quite minimal.
4:35:52
I'm here to talk to you about my experience with transition and how honestly terrible it has been.
4:35:56
I've had to fight for every transition for Darius, and I have had to self teach college level learning to support my son.
4:36:04
I have dreaded this transition, and I'm sure every other parent with a child like Darius understands why.
4:36:10
This is the final transition.
4:36:11
This is the last hurrah.
4:36:13
This is get it right or pay the price.
4:36:16
There are so many pieces that go into transition that parents don't know or understand and are not explained by anyone at the DOE and are actually seen as not their job.
4:36:25
For example, preparing parents for guardianship before their child turns 17.
4:36:30
Every day since my son's diagnosis, I have been worried, really terrified of what happens to him when I die.
4:36:38
The beginning of that plan starts with the transition out of school.
4:36:42
I had to quit my job when Darius was 5 so I could figure out, turning 5, what I was supposed to do because support was so inadequate from doctors, from agencies, from the DOE, from everywhere that you would expect to find support.
4:36:57
I went back to school, changed my major to psychology, and I finally returned to the workforce, to an agency, to train families on special education last year.
4:37:08
And, actually, my 1 year anniversary would have been today.
4:37:12
But I had to resign from my job last month because the DOE is not providing the basic mandates required in my child's IEP.
4:37:20
And the level of stress and anxiety and depression that this has caused has made it impossible to sustain a job while also fulfilling my role as a mother, which regularly includes the responsibilities of others who get paid lots of money to do what I'm doing for my son to guarantee that he gets what he needs.
4:37:38
I still don't know what transition is going to look like for my son, and this is the norm in District 75 for students like my Darius.
4:37:46
I'm grateful to have met people within the system that have been the most supportive to me, who I would love to name.
4:37:53
Some are here, but I'm sure don't wanna be named, and I am forever grateful for them.
4:37:58
But they are not within the standard continuum of support for families.
4:38:03
We have a moral obligation to do better for our students with disabilities.
4:38:07
We have to stop forgetting about our older students, and start getting them ready for the real world, because that's the world we live in.
4:38:14
And we all must be included, every stakeholder in this process, because nothing about us without us.
4:38:21
Let's turn our pain into purpose.
4:38:22
Thank you.