| Releases & Statements
For Immediate Release: May 10, 2006
Contact: Frank Sobrino, Press Secretary
O: (212) 669-4193
Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum today
re-introduced legislation requiring the Department of Education
to create and maintain detailed files for each student seeking
or receiving special education services and prepare an annual
report based on those files. Gotbaum first introduced the bill
after a survey of nearly 300 school psychologists and administrators
by her office revealed that the DOE was pressuring school superintendents
to keep down referral rates for special education placements.
Seventy-five percent of school psychologists
surveyed and 58 percent of administrators said they had a backlog
of students awaiting special education placements; 74 percent
of psychologists and 62 percent of administrators said they had
been given a direct order to keep referrals and evaluations down
or knew of someone who had been given such an order.
“The purpose of this legislation
is to hold the DOE accountable for its policies, and ultimately,
to ensure that all children get the services they need in order
to learn,” Gotbaum said.
The annual report would be submitted
to the Public Advocate’s Office, the City Council, and the
Citywide Council on Special Education. It would include 19 specific
statistics relating to the provision of special education services,
including the number of referrals made, the number of evaluations
conducted, and the number of placements made.
Gotbaum also re-introduced legislation
that would prohibit children younger than 14 from using tanning
beds. Minors younger than 18 would need parental consent.
“It is unquestionable that ultraviolet
rays pose a health risk,” Gotbaum said. “Studies have
found that people using tanning beds increase their risk of skin
cancer, including melanoma. Medical surveys have shown that a
third of teenage girls and more than ten percent of teenage boys
have used tanning beds at least once. I introduced this bill because
the City should be doing its part to protect our young people.”
The parental consent component of
Gotbaum’s bill requires parents to give consent in the presence
of an owner or employee of the tanning facility and state the
period of time, not exceeding one year, for which the individual
can use the facility. The bill would also require the owner of
the tanning facility to keep any consent written by a parent or
legal guardian for the entire duration specified in the statement
of consent.
Similar legislation has been introduced
in several other municipalities and states across the country.
Locally, Nassau and Suffolk Counties have enacted such legislation.
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