I want to call to your attention to the plight of the Nest program.
The Nest Program places autistic children in mainstream classrooms, and expanded to more than 20 schools citywide. MS 447 Math and Science Exploratory School is being threatened by city plans to embed a charter school in a building we already share with another school, reducing our space and individual attention. If a charter school is brought into our building, the entire student body and the Nest program’s effectiveness will suffer. Every autistic student in Brooklyn will have major concerns with MS 447 the day they finish the fifth grade. Education official’s formula for student populations in schools clearly aren’t appropriate for Nest program schools.
Autistic children and their parents have been well served by MS 447, and they deserve and need support to hold onto this program. Join MS 447 in our fight against the establishment of another school in the building, and ensure meeting our students’ needs.
Michelle Ifill-Williams is co-president of the MS 447 PTA.