Press Room

Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams released the following statement today calling for the closure of New York City schools, among other measures, in order to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

"It has become clear that in order to mitigate the dangers posed by the spread of COVID-19, strategies must shift when it comes to our educational system. For the safety of students, of faculty and staff, and of the most vulnerable New Yorkers who they may come in contact with, it is time to close New York City's public schools, while implementing a summer school-style model like the one proposed by my colleague in government, Council Member Mark Treyger- one that ensures critical services still reach students, that no one falls through the cracks. Under this model, we must also allow schools that close to be used for needed resources, such as testing sites, to relieve pressure from hospitals. Parents and students should be able to go to schools near them to receive these resources. "I believe we also have to go further, and have more restrictive measures in place today to slow the spread of the virus. All non-essential operations and business must be temporarily closed if they can not put substantial telecommuting policies in place, re-evaluated on a weekly basis. I know that this will put strain on many, and the city and state need to prepare to provide financial relief to all affected. We in the city have an obligation to take all needed action, both individual and systemic, to protect the 10-20% of people at greatest risk from the virus. Responsible leadership means we also have an additional obligation to provide aid to people such as small business owners who are hurt not by the virus itself but by the economic impact of this outbreak. "No solution is perfect or all-encompassing, and no action will please or protect everyone. I know that as we confront this outbreak, we will all have to make sacrifices. But I also know that inaction and inadequate action are not options. New Yorkers can and will adapt, uplift, and aid each other through this time of crisis. Through it all, our goal must remain the same - harm reduction, particularly for the most vulnerable among us. "Personal and policy decisions cannot be made from a position of privilege, or from fear, but from a fact-driven approach that centers on protecting the people who are at greatest risk. My office will continue to work with city leaders to make sure that our most vulnerable populations are receiving the care and resources they need."

Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams released the following statement today announcing new workforce safety measures being implemented in the office of the Public Advocate to limit congestion and prevent the spread of COVID-19.

"As our city adapts to the spread of the coronavirus, it is important for us to put facts over fear. We should not panic, but rather adapt, and act preventatively. In an effort to limit congestion and exposure among our city's workforce, the vast majority of employees at the Office of the Public Advocate will be telecommuting effective immediately, and we will be re-assessing on a continual basis over subsequent weeks. When possible, both the public and private sector should adopt similar telecommuting policies and employ staggered schedules to mitigate contact by employees with New Yorkers at the greatest risk. The city must also support businesses and nonprofits directly impacted by the outbreak with additional aid to help them adapt to the evolving economic and workforce implications. "It is incumbent on our office to protect the most vulnerable, often marginalized people in our city. We know that in the days and weeks ahead, we will see an increase of positive tests, but 80-90% of individuals who contract the virus will not experience the most serious symptoms. The city must work to ensure the safety of the 10-20% of individuals who may experience more severe symptoms.  Our office is committed to uplifting and protecting the most vulnerable people around our city in the coming weeks and months, addressing the needs of New Yorkers while putting into practice our own strategies to mitigate the spread of this virus."

Due to the office's new workplace policies, the Public Advocate's Department of Constituent Services has temporarily restricted in-person access. New Yorkers seeking help can continue to contact the office through its website, advocate.nyc.gov, email at gethelp@advocate.nyc.gov, or by calling our Constituent Services hotline at (212) 669-7250.

New legislation would expand communication between childcare services and parents

Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams introduced legislation today aimed at protecting the safety of young children by preventing them from falling through potential gaps between parents or guardians and childcare centers through improved communication. Under this bill, childcare centers would not only be required to quickly contact the primary caretaker such as a parent or legal guardian if a child is absent without advance notice. Rather, if they are unable to reach that primary caretaker, they would need to reach out to two additional emergency contacts.

"Right now, there is an information and safety gap between childcare providers and parents in confirming that young children are unaccounted for," said Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams. "While this is thankfully usually harmless, we have also seen tragedy in these accidents and oversights. By simply expanding outreach to include two additional contacts, we increase the opportunity for a child's whereabouts to be confirmed and their safety protected. This is a measure that would provide peace of mind and prevent tragedy for parents and childcare providers alike."

This bill, Intro 1880, would help reduce incidents where a child's whereabouts are unaccounted for and any potential tragedy resulting from such errors. In July of 2019, a Rockland County father was charged with manslaughter after inadvertently leaving his one-year old twins in the car for eight hours. This was not an isolated incident - in the last two decades, over 400 children have been killed in similar situations. When a child is unaccounted for, it increases the possibility of these and similar dangers, but current law only requires that a childcare center make a single attempt to reach a primary caretaker.

The New York City Health Code mandates childcare providers reach out to their primary contact within an hour of the child's unanticipated absence by call, text, or email. This bill, which is co-sponsored by Council Members Farah N. Louis and Fernando Cabrera, would expand upon that requirement, providing that there must be confirmation of receipt through one of the approved methods within 30 minutes of the first attempt to reach out. If there is no confirmation of receipt within the designated time window, the childcare provider would have to reach out to two other emergency contacts listed at least three more times.

"Last July an unthinkable tragedy occurred in my district, in which a father mistakenly left his year-old twins in a car while he went to work," said Council Member Fernando Cabrera. "The extreme heat that built up in the vehicle led to the children's deaths leaving a family and a community heartbroken. We learned that a number of factors contributed to this devastating event.  One of these was the daycare provider's inability to obtain a response from emergency contacts regarding the children's unexplained absence. I'm joining Public Advocate Jumaane Williams in strengthening the City's health code by requiring parents or guardians to provide two additional emergency contacts, and child care providers to reach out at least three more times after the initial call.  Nothing is more precious than our children and we are taking all necessary steps to prevent any more such tragedies."

"As adults - parents, guardians, and childcare providers - we are the first line of defense when it comes to the well-being of our children, said Council Member Farah N. Louis. "Raising a child is a wonderful responsibility that we share collectively and therefore the onus is on us to do all that we can to account for their whereabouts around-the-clock. Intro 1880 is a critical step forward in expanding the lines of communication to save lives and prevent tragedies that no family should ever have to experience."

Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams delivered a live response to Mayor Bill de Blasio's State of the City address today, where he discussed several areas in which he feels the city is not adequately responding to the needs of New Yorkers.

Full text of the address as prepared is below, and a video stream is available here.

I just finished watching Mayor de Blasio's State of the City Address, and first, I want to thank the Mayor for taking a real, direct approach to the real, pressing issues that New Yorkers are confronting every day and concerned about each night.  In his address, he announced a number of strong actions that are deserving of commendation and aligned with the progressive vision promised for New York City-- like the expansion of 3K and other early childhood efforts, and supporting those same youth as they grow up, with a community-driven approach. I want to reiterate something he said - that our children should not be over policed, they should be reached, and to emphasize that from the top down, our policies need to align with that mission statement.  I also want to commend the efforts announced to support small businesses, including through subsidies, free legal services, and investing city pensions in the people who drive our economic growth.  As we continue to uplift working people and expand rights like paid time off, it's critical that we make these kinds of investments in the small businesses which should be the backbone of our city.  I hope to work with the administration on a number of these initiatives - and to ensure that the reality of change meets the promise of progress. The Mayor spoke of the need to save our city, and he may be right - but in many cases, at critical points, past opportunities to take on issues have been met with policies that were either insufficient to address the scale of need, or further deepening it.  So I want to take a moment to talk about a few things I think deserve greater discussion and bolder solutions. As I said in my own address a few weeks ago, the state of our city is found in its people and in the real, personal impact they feel every day, what they're facing and bringing to government leaders, asking what we can do. The number one thing I'm asked about continues to be housing. I'm glad that today, the Mayor announced several important steps to expand housing affordability, both in availability and in cost, setting new goals and supporting vital tenant protections. But these new targets come after years of lost time- and in this case, time is units, both built and preserved. Those units are desperately needed, because the state of our city's housing and homelessness is a crisis. It's one that has been exacerbated over the last several years, and one that the plans of the past couldn't meet. That's unsurprising, given that the city is the worst landlord in New York, through its mismanagement and underfunding of NYCHA. In the last year, NYCHA has earned a new chair, a federal monitor, but not its tenants trust.  Fixing NYCHA will require real investment. The current city budget proposal cannot keep up with the trend of disrepair, much less reverse it, especially as the state continues to deny critical funding. There is a moral responsibility to meet the same basic standards we would expect of any private landlord - but when I have visited the homes of NYCHA tenants, the standard has been an excess of mold and an absence of heat. Dangerous conditions include lead contaminations, rodent infestations and long-delayed repairs as trash and work orders build up. And that responsibility, or irresponsibility, falls to issues of management. In public housing and among private landlords, the city needs to renew a focus on repairing declining and dangerous conditions - that means funding NYCHA, but it also means expanding the city's inspection capability to hold the worst landlords accountable. It's critical that we build and preserve affordable housing with a focus on the people who most need it - when city vouchers are required, and even then aren't enough to cover rent, it's not affordable. When we focus on acute solutions and not sustainable, supportive housing, it's not affordable. And when rezonings lead to displacement of families, to acutely rising rents and falling neighborhoods, it's not affordable to those who need it most. That's why we need a new and aggressive approach to income-targeted affordability, and it's why we need to mandate  a racial impact study ahead of each new rezoning to prevent communities of more color from disappearing. I invite the Mayor to support my bill that would do just that.   But housing is just one area where we need to realign our priorities to long-term solutions. The state of our city's mental health crisis response is one of misplaced money and priorities. For New Yorkers experiencing a mental health crisis, this administration has continued to resist a full transition away from a law enforcement response and toward a public health response.  Law enforcement should not be responding to mental health crises- that approach has led to tragedy, and it's neither appropriate for those in need who are making the call, nor fair to the officers answering it. We can't expect police to do everything, and I don't expect nine-one-one dispatchers to make the decisions trained mental and behavioral health professionals should be. Whether encounters are fatal- as they were for Dwayne Jeune and Deborah Danner, whose families needed aid and were met with force, - or otherwise traumatic and damaging, as for the sons of Peggy Herrera, Tanya Thompson, or all those whose names and stories we don't know. That's why I've proposed legislation to create an emergency number specifically for mental health crises, for emergency response aimed at de-escalation, intervention, prevention, and post-crisis management. We need to support that plan through substantive funding, both to respond to crises and to prevent them. We have been a part of shifting the conversation - and now we need to shift the money, toward mobile crisis teams with more rapid response times, toward respite centers for people experiencing imminent crisis, and diversion centers as an alternative to incarceration. Again, complex problems can rarely be met with acute solutions, and our office has put forth a plan to address mental health crises on multiple fronts. Unfortunately, the administration has not supported our comprehensive plan, but I know that the longer we wait to implement it, the worse the state of this crisis will become. And I know that those with power and privilege need to use it to help those without.  The state of our city's utilities is one of power in the wrong hands. In the last year New Yorkers have seen widespread blackouts and limited accountability, with affected neighborhoods being left in the dark. With no electricity and no warning, communities like Central Brooklyn and people like my uncle were cut off from critical resources in a moment of need, confusion, and fear. For months following,  New Yorkers were held hostage, used as a bargaining chip in a political debate over pipelines while seeing their homes lose heat and their businesses lose money.  And through it all, there have been rate hikes - major corporations demanding more money but not providing adequate power - so it's time to take it back. That means providing oversight, and accountability, for the major corporations where we've misplaced trust for too long.  It also means the creation of newly democratized energy sources, expanding the public's role on both a city and state level. We need to rethink how we power New York, and empower New Yorkers through a system that is more directly and clearly accountable and transparent. I want to commend the Mayor for setting new targets and making new commitments to support green construction, green energy production and transmission, but we need to be more bold. Democratizing energy will help to bring down costs, consolidate billing, and move forward a just transition away from fossil fuels. In our city, we cannot let the scope of the problems outweigh the urgency of the solutions. Nor can we be confined by what's been done before, or by small adjustments to systemic failings. We need the courage to push back against political winds, not to go with them just because it's easier. And we need the people of New York City to stand united in the effort to move all of us forward together.  I implore the administration to be a partner in this progress, to take the words from today's speech, many of which I've waited a long time to hear, and to deliver with action. I haven't seen this Mayor in many years, but I'm glad he's here, and I hope to work with him on behalf of the people to deliver the transformational change that this moment demands. Thank you

As the Department of Education has approved P.S. 9's plan to move away from the traditional Gifted and Talent program model, am New York Metro has published an op-ed by Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams entitled 'It's time to learn a lesson on school diversity.'

In the piece, he argues for a new approach to enrichment opportunities in schools, saying "Categorizations and labels cannot be so simple, nor can educational systems. Enrichment cannot be about privilege," and that "The solution is not to eliminate the benefits of the gifted and talented program, but to remove barriers to them - to eliminate the entry test in favor of a multi-measure model and to integrate the benefits of the program into the classroom, not to remove them from it."

Text of the op-ed is available below and can be viewed online here.

'It's time to learn a lesson on school diversity'

By Jumaane D. Williams

It's time we all learned a lesson on school diversity. When the NYC School Diversity Advisory Group (SDAG) released its recommendations for addressing the nation's segregated school system, a 9,000 word report with a wide range of recommendations, most people read just three words - gifted and talented. When I met with the students teachers and parents who are members of the Advisory Group - it was a high school student who put it most succinctly. She said that reforms and reactions would always involve two components, data and experience. The data is clear- and along with many other students, I've had the experience. As a kid, I was in the Gifted and Talented program beginning in third grade, then at Philippa Schuyler Middle School. That experience helped prepare me for Brooklyn Tech, and ultimately where I am today. But right now, the barriers to that kind of enrichment are overwhelming, and the implementation unconstructive. The separation of 'gifted and talented' students is itself flawed- especially four year olds- as is the implicit idea that students outside the program lack certain abilities. As a student with Tourette Syndrome and ADHD-which went undiagnosed until high school- I could have been categorized 'special education' as needing additional support. Categorizations and labels cannot be so simple, nor can educational systems. Enrichment cannot be about privilege. Preparing for and passing an extensive verbal and nonverbal entry exam before a child can read and write is about privilege. This issue was exacerbated under Mayor Bloomberg, who set an early age and a rigid standard to a criteria which had previously been more district and individually based. Credit is due to this administration for helping to in some way equalize early education with universal pre-K and 3-K, but resource disparities still exist that will persist throughout a student's education if introduced in this early stage. Isolating one group of students as talented, and the inherent contrast and explicit separation it creates with their fellow students, is about privilege. We can't solve a diversity problem with segregation. Research shows that separating students by achievement levels at young ages hurts integration efforts, pulls down students in the "general population", and does not help students who qualify as Gifted and Talented. The solution is not to eliminate the benefits of the gifted and talented program, but to remove barriers to them - to eliminate the entry test in favor of a multi-measure model and to integrate the benefits of the program into the classroom, not to remove them from it. Without argument, there should be a path for highly achieving students to advance. But those opportunities should be available to all students, all classrooms, all communities. Our elementary educational system needs dynamic school-wide enrichment model where elementary aged students are placed in modules based on achievement level - all contained within the same classroom. Each student would have their educational needs and opportunities met within the context of the classroom - not removed from it. We can have a differentiated curriculum that encompasses multiple learning levels, all within one classroom- and those modules can be fluid based on changes in student performance. These ideas are not as radical as the reactions suggest - other districts, cities, states are employing similar models. New York City should be a model for progress, but we need a model that helps all students progress. The value of gifted and talented programs comes through providing students with opportunities to learn in more creative ways and at a more individualized pace, giving all young students the opportunity to experience the non-traditional curricula of gifted and talented programs, while also prioritizing students' unique skill-level. As students grow within the program and advance into secondary education, this diversity of skill can be recognized through a modified gifted and talented model, one that meets students where they're at with a collaborative learning model that empowers groups of students and engages their interests. Individualized education, specified schooling, can be accomplished without identifying an entirely separate track which only hurts the overall school and system. The highest quality education is not only individual-focused but community-fueled. New York has an imperative to provide local school districts with the levels of funding they need to implement diversity and enrichment plans which can cater to the students in the classrooms and the neighborhoods around them. This will require additional training, additional support, additional classroom aides - but it's long past time we gave our classrooms more aid. The backlash against proposed reforms to the gifted and talented program not only obscured the substance and the truth of the recommendations, it highlighted a problem that progressive-minded individuals often ignore - supporting reforms in principle but balking at any implementation that would impact them personally. In housing, the refrain is "Not In My Backyard;" in schools it may well be "Not In My Child's Classroom." But these reforms can help all children in New York City's public school system succeed- including your own. A welcome exception to that mentality is P.S. 9 in Brooklyn- who has finally received approval to move ahead with its plan to move from the traditional model to one which is more inclusive, fluid, and community-driven. More schools, more communities, and more government leaders should embrace this approach. With proposed revisions to the gifted and talented program, and with specialized high schools before that, knee-jerk reactions have drowned out common sense conversation and reform. It's time for everyone to come out of their corners and engage in a positive, constructive way - just as we hope our students are taught to do.

Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams submitted testimony to the Commission on Human Rights in opposition to a proposal to add exemptions to Local Law 91 - legislation passed by the Public Advocate in 2019 which banned pre-employment THC testing for most professions. The law is set to take effect in May of 2020.

In his testimony, he stated that "I stand firmly against any expansion of exemptions to Local Law 91. Creating more exemptions and loopholes to this law will unjustifiably deter qualified employees from obtaining gainful employment. Maintaining the original intent of the legislation, the City should be pushing to reduce the stigma around marijuana and working to restore justice for the millions of black and brown communities who have been the victims of marijuana criminalization and discrimination."

His full testimony is available here. TESTIMONY OF PUBLIC ADVOCATE JUMAANE D. WILLIAMS TO THE COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS

Good morning, my name is Jumaane D. Williams and I am the Public Advocate for the City of New York. I want to thank the Commission on Human Rights for holding this public hearing on expanding Local Law 91 exemptions.

In 2019, I introduced legislation that would form Local Law 91 which prohibits New York City employers from testing for tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, as a condition of employment. Within this legislation, exceptions are provided for certain safety and security sensitive jobs, and those tied to a federal or state contract or grant. I was hesitant to put any exemptions into the original bill language as I believe that no individual should be tested for THC, and I stand firmly against any expansion of exemptions to Local Law 91. Creating more exemptions and loopholes to this law will unjustifiably deter qualified employees from obtaining gainful employment. Maintaining the original intent of the legislation, the City should be pushing to reduce the stigma around marijuana and working to restore justice for the millions of black and brown communities who have been the victims of marijuana criminalization and discrimination.

Over half of Americans admit to trying marijuana, and 11 states have already allowed recreational use of it. A majority of New Yorkers support its full legalization including the Governor and myself. Additionally, studies have shown that some commonly used drug tests can't tell the difference between THC and CBD. Individuals should not be punished for a widely accepted practice or for using CBD, a product legal nationwide. Testing for marijuana only serves as a Reagan era obstacle, preventing talented applicants from applying and accepting positions. We need to be creating more opportunities and access to employment- not less.

Under the current law, individuals who show up at work under the influence are not justified. Rather, this law serves to protect the privacy and rights of those who might otherwise have their lives ruined by harmful marijuana enforcement policies before being employed. There are a number of safety and security sensitive jobs where alcohol consumption is not tested for, marijuana should be no different. I would charge the commission to explain why marijuana should be treated any different than alcohol. As a body that supports human rights, I urge the Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) to eliminate THC testing as a requirement for employment rather than expanding it towards a deleterious effect. I strongly recommend that the CCHR reconsider its effort to add further exemptions to Local Law 91.

Thank you for your time and consideration.