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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Aliya Thomas on Homeschooling Support
8:04:22
·
107 sec
Aliya Thomas testified on behalf of homeschooling students and parents, highlighting the significant increase in homeschooling since the pandemic and the lack of support from the current office of homeschooling. She called for redesigning and improving accessibility of the homeschooling office to better support families choosing this educational path.
- Homeschooling has increased by 324% since the pandemic, but these students are often unaccounted for
- Thomas proposed creating accessible points of contact for homeschooling families in different boroughs, similar to family welcome centers
- She emphasized the need for more support for homeschooling families to ensure their children become healthy, productive, and successful members of society
Aliya Thomas
8:04:22
Oh, good afternoon.
8:04:24
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to testify today.
8:04:29
I am testifying today on behalf of homeschooling students and parents.
8:04:35
I have been with you all since 10:00 this morning, and I was fortunate enough to hear the testimony from, all the different panelists regarding every class of students, but no one has mentioned, homeschooling students, which has been up by 324% since the pandemic.
8:04:59
These students are going unaccounted for.
8:05:04
The parents don't receive any support from the office of homeschooling right now, which is in place.
8:05:11
So I'm calling for the city council or rather to bring that to the council's attention and see if we can get this office of homeschooling redesigned and recreated so that it's more accessible to members of the community.
8:05:29
As we know that homeschooling now is becoming a popular trend, since the pandemic.
8:05:35
So I feel like we need just like we have family welcome centers throughout the different boroughs, we need to have a point of access for families, with children who are not enrolled in traditional public school settings.
8:05:48
Because at the end of the day, every parent has the same desire to have healthy, productive, successful members of society as well.
8:05:58
So I think we need to put more supports in place for these families and those students.
8:06:05
I'm just bringing that to your attention, and I thank you for your time.