During the 2011-2012 school year, we are working with the DOE to restructure the project to be more of a student leadership-building initiative for selected students with and without disabilities throughout the City.

During the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 school years, PIE co-sponsored with the NYC Department of Education an Inclusion Celebration, which provided all students in the City the opportunity to express their ideas about what it means to be a part of an inclusive school community through a creative and artistic medium. Both years, the project culminated with approximately 200 students coming together to celebrate inclusion and share their artwork with one another.

PIE worked with another special education coalition within NYC to host a series of Speak Outs for parents of students with disabilities. The events provided parents a chance to share stories about their children’s educational experience and to meet other parents with similar issues and concerns.

PIE issued “Small Schools, Few Choices: How New York City’s High School Reform Effort Left Students with Disabilities Behind,” in October 2006. The report detailed how New York City’s small high school reform effort left students with disabilities behind. It also influenced significant policy changes within the Department of Education that resulted in more schools admitting students with special needs and the creation of a Frequently-Asked-Questions Guide for students transitioning to high school.

Increased access to information for parents of children with special needs entering Kindergarten – specifically advocating for and assisting in the creation of the Turning Five Transition Fairs and Orientation

As detailed in prior blog posts, PIE has been collaborating with the Department of Education on a contest for all students throughout the system to celebrate inclusion. The contest asked students to answer the following question: “How can your school help to make sure all students with disabilities are welcomed and valued members of the school community?” in any artistic form.

Today, all the students who participated in the contest (over one hundred) were invited to Scholastic Inc. in Soho to celebrate their work. We had a terrific celebration which included  listening to a student string ensemble and choral group perform, and NYS Assemblymember Micah Kellner, himself a person with a disability, speak about how vital inclusion is for students with disabilities and their non-disabled peers alike.

Additionally, a  PIE parent, Diana Mendez, and her son who is in inclusion spoke, along with another student whose parents are also members of PIE. Both students spoke about their experiences in inclusive classrooms and their goals for the future. One student shared that he is  a high school senior about to graduate with a regent’s diploma and enroll in college to study art.

It was truly a wonderful celebration today that honored all students and reminded all those who participated that everyone has differences and by working together we can all succeed.

As part of today’s celebration, a booklet was created portraying many of the student’s artwork and writings that were submitted as part of the contest.  Click here to view the  Inclusion Celebration Art Catalog.

View the Inclusion Contest Flyer for more details about the contest. And, please feel free to print and pass it along to students.

The contest is open to all New York City students — all grades — all boroughs!!

Let’s get students to participate and let’s get students talking about the importance of inclusion!

Please share your resources and help us build PIE’s Resource Page.  We have already started a resource list but help us expand it. Leave a comment here and share a good resource! We’ll make sure it gets added to the Resource Page. Thanks!!

As you may know, PIE is a group of parents, advocates and professionals in New York City who are working to advocate for more inclusive opportunities for students with disabilities in the City’s public school system. To learn more about our work, check out the other sections of this blog.

We hope to use PIE’s  blog as a way for parents to communicate with one another about what is happening with students with disabilities in schools. We also hope to use it as a way to discuss different topics.

To start the conversation, we are asking parents to share their stories about working effectively with teachers. Knowing that you have a unique perspective about  your child, but a teacher might know him/her differently, how have you developed a mutually respectful relationship with the teacher? What strategies have you found helpful? What strategies would you not recommend? What are some things that teachers have done that are extremely helpful or hurtful?

Please share your thoughts. Read the thoughts of fellow parents.  Let’s communicate!!!

Remember, please DO NOT use any specific names!!!