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Newsletters 2007
Betsy Gotbaum This Week
March 26, 2007
Public Advocate Gotbaum Calls for New Student Safety Reforms
The city Department of Education is failing to ensure the safety and well-being of the children in its care. It's abundantly clear that the DOE has neither the policy nor the personnel to protect kids from adults who want to do them harm.
In a letter to the schools chancellor, I have pointed out that DOE safety failures are tied to the practice of policing rather than protecting students. The DOE treats students as potential criminals rather than potential victims of crime.
Parents expect better. Students deserve better. You can read more about the reforms I have in mind here.
And if you know of any child who is being abused at school, call the school principal or police right away.
City Unresponsive to Parents of Students with Disabilities
It’s a mess: Calls go unreturned, voicemail systems are full, staffers rarely answer phones. And parents tell us that even when information is given out, it’s often wrong or out of date.
Such are the frustrations faced by parents of students with disabilities as they try to navigate the DOE special education system, according to a study my office conducted.
This needs to stop. Read a press release about my new report, "Waiting for Help," here.
Honoring Local Authors and Leaders During Women's History Month
To mark National Women’s History Month, the New York Women’s Foundation and Jenner and Block joined me in presenting “A Room of Our Own,” a program that honored authors Tonya Bolden, Gail Buckley and Linda Fairstein as well as community leaders Ana Maria Archila and Margaret Fung on Monday night.
Reminder: Child Welfare Forum on Tuesday
The Hunter College School of Social Work joins me in co-hosting a forum on Tuesday, March 27, 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. John Mattingly, commissioner of the Administration for Children's Services, and I, along with others, will discuss how ACS has changed in the year since the death of Nixzmary Brown as well as what still needs to be done. The forum takes place at the college's Harold Lewis Auditorium, 1st Floor, 129 East 79th Street and Lexington Avenue. Take the #6 train to 77th Street. RSVPs are appreciated: rsvp@pubadvocate.nyc.gov.
Betsy Gotbaum This Week
March 19, 2007
DOE Planning for Graduation Failure
The city Department of Education says it wants a 70 percent high school graduation rate for the 2009-2010 school year, but it's failing to plan for what would be tens of thousands of extra graduates.
The current DOE school construction plan tells the story: It assumes that only 46 percent of students -- not 70 percent -- will stay in school from 9th grade to 12th grade: 36 percent in the Bronx, 42 percent in Brooklyn, 50 percent in Manhattan, 51 percent in Queens and 64 percent in Staten Island.
In an analysis my office conducted, we found that the DOE's five-year capital program calls for about 26,000 additional high school seats. That's only about half of what's needed if the 70 percent target is to be met. We can't achieve a 70 percent graduation rate if we only provide enough seats for 46 percent of the students.
This should be about students: Give them seats, and give our schools the resources they need to succeed. If the DOE intends to increase the graduation rate, it should make room for the greater numbers of graduates-to-be.
Failing to plan is planning to fail.
Guide Aims to Help New Yorkers Save Money
In Harlem last week I released my annual tax guide, which can help many New Yorkers save money at 184 free tax preparation sites.
My guide may save taxpayer dollars in other ways as well. It explains why New Yorkers should steer clear of tax preparers who offer “instant refunds” or “rapid refunds.” As the guide makes clear, these aren't refunds at all. They’re high-fee, high-interest loans, formally known as Refund Anticipation Loans . They’re a bad deal, any way you cut it. They may cost unwary New Yorkers hundreds of dollars in fees and may carry staggering interest rates of up to 700 percent – and they may save the taxpayer only a week or so of wait time.
Read about these unscrupulous loans and more in my guide.
Assistance for Families of Auxillary Police Officers
The tragic deaths of auxiliary police officers Nicholas Pekearo and Yevgeniy Marshalik, following the shooting and stabbing of three other officers earlier last week, is a stark reminder that the brave officers of the New York City Police Department put their lives on the line every day. As a mother and a grandmother, my heart breaks for their families.
While we must make sure that these men and women have every tool they need to do their job effectively and safely, we also need to make sure that their families have support in time of loss. The city is stepping in to help the families of these officers, but the sad fact is that this could happen again. The city should commit to providing mandatory coverage of full, reasonable funeral costs for all auxiliary police officers who die in the line of duty.
Join me for a Women's History Month Event
To mark National Women’s History Month, the New York Women’s Foundation and Jenner and Block join me in presenting “A Room of Our Own,” a program that honors authors Tonya Bolden, Gail Buckley and Linda Fairstein as well as community leaders Ana Maria Archila and Margaret Fung. It takes place Monday, March 26, 6 to 8 p.m. at Jenner and Block, 919 Third Avenue, 37th Floor. Enter on 55th Street. RSVP required at rsvp@pubadvocate.nyc.gov.
Reminder: Child Welfare Forum
The Hunter College School of Social Work joins me in co-hosting a forum on Tuesday, March 27, 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. John Mattingly, commissioner of the Administration for Children's Services, and I, along with others, will discuss how ACS has changed in the year since the death of Nixzmary Brown as well as what still needs to be done. The forum takes place at the college's Harold Lewis Auditorium, 1st Floor, 129 East 79th Street and Lexington Avenue. Take the #6 train to 77th Street. RSVPs are appreciated: rsvp@pubadvocate.nyc.gov.
Besty Gotbaum This Week
March 12, 2007
HPV Vaccine
New York City runs 11 Sexually Transmitted Disease clinics and five immunization centers, one in each borough. Yet a study I just completed shows that none of them offers the vaccine that protects women from human papillomavirus, or HPV.
Because the vaccine saves lives, every clinic should make it available.
HPV is the nation’s most common sexually transmitted disease, and it’s responsible for 70 percent of cervical cancer cases. In one recent five-year period, New York City logged 489 annual cases of cervical cancer, on average, and 155 annual deaths from cervical cancer, also on average.
Given these numbers, it’s clear that the city must do more to lower women’s risk of HPV. Every woman should have affordable access to the vaccine. But my study showed that neither the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene website nor 311 provided guidance on where to obtain it. And when we called STD and immunization clinics directly, we were told that none offered it.
At other city-run health centers, the story is somewhat different: My study found that the vaccine is available at 35 of the city's 67 child and teen health clinics run by the Health and Hospitals Corp. Even so, only 17 of the 35 said there would be no out-of-pocket costs for the vaccine. At one clinic, the cost topped out at $510.
I recommend that all relevant city-run health clinics offer the HPV vaccine. Further, 311 and the city’s health-related websites should provide clear guidance on where to obtain it. I also suggest that city physicians and nurses advise girls’ parents and legal guardians about it, since the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that all girls, starting at age 11, receive an HPV vaccine called Gardasil.
Housing Preservation & Development Budget
In budget hearings last week, I urged the City Council to give the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) additional funds to hire more lawyers.
As of last June, HPD had fewer than 40 lawyers in its Housing Litigation Division to deal with the 12,662 cases it initiated in Fiscal 2005 alone.
HPD is overwhelmed by its mandate to enforce the housing maintenance code and protect tenants who rely on the city to take unscrupulous landlords to court. My office is aware of numerous families forced to live in unsanitary, even dangerous conditions, with leaky ceilings, broken doors and rats scrabbling from room to room.
The numbers tell the story: HPD collected only $2.7 million from code-enforcement violations in Fiscal 2004 compared with $7 million in Fiscal 1990, according to the Budget for a Livable NYC Coalition. In part, this is the legacy of fewer housing litigation lawyers. Collections were up in Fiscal 2005 to about $3.6 million, but that’s still only roughly half of the 1990 figure.
We must remind the minority of unprincipled landlords that they are not above the law. In a 2003 report, my office and the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development contended that HPD lawyers provided teeth to an otherwise weak enforcement process. At that time we asked that the litigation division receive more resources.
This is as true today as it was four years ago. I look forward to working with the City Council to ensure that this year’s budget reflects the need to protect the rights of tenants.
Tragic Fire
The African Services Committee is accepting donations earmarked directly to the two families tragically affected by the Highbridge Fire. Those wishing to donate can go to www.africanservices.org, or they can call 212-222-3883.
The African Services Committee is a nonprofit organization based in Harlem and dedicated to improving the health and self-sufficiency of the African Community in New York City.
Reminder: Child Welfare Forum
The Hunter College School of Social Work is joining me in co-hosting a forum at the college on March 27, 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. John Mattingly, commissioner of the Administration for Children's Services, and I, along with others, will discuss what ACS has done in the year since the death of Nixzmary Brown as well as what needs to be done. The forum will take place at the Harold Lewis Auditorium, 1st floor, 129 East 79th Street at Lexington Avenue. Take the #6 train to 77th Street. RSVPs are appreciated. Please e-mail my office at rsvp@pubadvocate.nyc.gov
Betsy Gotbaum This Week
March 5, 2007
Family Court Judges
As part of a “Judge for a Day” program, I spent several illuminating hours in Brooklyn last week at the side of Judge Susan Danoff, which gave me a close-up view of the workings of Family Court.
In my talks with judges, lawyers and staff, one theme predominated: Family Court is in crisis and needs more judges.
Simply stated, more judges are needed to help protect battered children from further abuse and to move foster children more quickly into permanent homes. More judges also should lead to smaller caseloads, freeing time and attention for the more sensitive and complex cases.
The number of abuse and neglect proceedings has shot up in the year since the horrific death of Nixzmary Brown, the 7-year-old Brooklyn girl whose mother and stepfather are accused of murdering her. State law also changed, mandating more frequent court proceedings. And State Supreme Court judges assigned to Family Court on an emergency basis are returning to their own benches.
Frankly, I'd like to see this last program extended until more Family Court judges can be hired. Despite the great and growing need, the number of permanent Family Court judges has not exceeded 47 since 1991.
Apart from more judges, I’d like to see Family Court hours extended. Where appropriate, working around school hours would enable older kids in the system to have their say before a judge. Four of the city’s five Family Courts already offer limited evening hours, which accommodate working adults and school-age youth. Hiring more judges should enable family courts in all five boroughs to offer evening hours five nights a week.
I became a "Family Court Judge for a Day" through a program sponsored by Legal Information for Families Today (LIFT), a non-profit advocacy group, but I've been aware of the pressing needs of Family Court for some time.
In a report my office released last September, I found that overworked lawyers for the Administration for Children's Services (ACS) often go to Family Court poorly prepared, having had too little time to review files that in some cases had been handed to them only minutes before. The lawyers had little choice but to ask that such cases be continued, which led to even longer stays in foster care. (The city’s average length of stay in foster care is 43.6 months, more than a year longer than the national average.)
One child welfare lawyer had a caseload of 150, though the American Bar Association recommends that such caseloads be capped at 50.
Caseworkers may get most of the attention when things go wrong, but it’s clear that the fragile lives of some of our most vulnerable children depend as well on how attorneys and judges perform in Family Court.
Much needs to be done, but I’m pleased to say that we’re making progress. For one thing, after I issued my September report, the city committed to adding $3.4 million to the ACS budget, allowing for an additional 25 lawyers.
Child Welfare Forum
I’ve made child welfare a cornerstone of my tenure as Public Advocate. In line with this, the Hunter College School of Social Work is joining me in co-hosting a forum at the college on March 27, 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. ACS Commissioner John Mattingly will join me to discuss what ACS has done in the year since Nixzmary Brown's death and what needs to be done. The forum will take place at the Harold Lewis Auditorium, 1st floor, 129 East 79th Street at Lexington Avenue. Take the #6 train to 77th Street. RSVPs are appreciated. Please e-mail my office at rsvp@pubadvocate.nyc.gov.
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