Abogados de Inmigracion

Robert Jackson, the Chair of the Education Committee, asked me to tell the audience which institution I represent. I told that people that I do not represent an institution, but I recently contacted Governor Eliot Spitzer about the drying up of funds for the free GED test and he placed $3.9 million in the budget that passed. I am also mobilizing non-for-profits and community leaders to obtain a free GED teacher from the adult education division of the schools of New York City and Miami with reimbursable funds. Dr. Rudy Crew sent someone from the adult education office to my conference in Coral Gables, Florida and I got the okay to help Miami. I thank Dr. Crew again for his actions in helping the people of Miami. I want the City Council to know that my work with government actually started in 2001 with the Budget and Policy Director of Florida who reported to Governor Jeb Bush. My access to that office helped shape the regulations of the State of Florida, helping thousands more people pass the GED. The institution that I feel I represent is the people.

A little known fact to the City Council is that I plan to bring the Spanish GED to Latin America soon. My work in this area has led to support from President Leonel Fernandez, who I see at receptions and meetings, and President Antonio Saca of El Salvador, who has spoken about the GED on the show of Don Francisco.

Here is what is wrong with the restructuring. We must double and triple the number of GED’s in the worst neighborhoods. New York State leads the nation in the desertion of African Americans from school and it is about 15th from the bottom in GED. This is not a pretty picture for African Americans and Hispanics. The new plan of the DOE may bring a ten percent improvement, if it does improve things, and a hundred percent improvement is, obviously, ten times that figure. We can do it!

The DOE must tell us that students will no longer be required to pass the Official Practice Test (which turns many of them off, forcing them to leave class-the DOE is not really as student friendly as they say) in class with a score that is too high and does not make sense (Robert Jackson told me this last year). That score, I have been informed, is now 2,450. The passing score is only 2,250. What they have done is like raising the rim on the basketball court to eleven feet instead of ten feet and waiting to see who dunks. Very few would be able to dunk and very few go to take the GED. This is one of the great scandals of education in New York City. Students who want to study to get into certain colleges with scores of 2,500 or 3,500 (Queens College) should be encouraged to meet those goals, but most students need that GED for jobs. Latino apprentices for skilled jobs often do not get the job because the GED is required and this hurts Latinos. In addition that are not enough Latinos in Civil Service in New York State and this is one of the contributing factors.

The DOE must assure us that all students are given a Complete GED book to study from at home. Home study is critical to many students, especially when the attendance is from forty to sixty percent. The DOE should give the City Council a report on what the instructional improvements were and I will be happy to evaluate it.

The TABE test has been used for decades to hold students back in GED. The rights of students and parents have been violated. Seventeen and eighteen year olds who have been out of regular school for a year really do not have to go to GED class like others their age (state law). A separate alternative program is needed for them, students who are nineteen to twenty one (also state law permits them to take the GED without going to class and all other adults too), and all adults. MIAMI-DADE has a one week program that includes the taking of the Official Practice Test (which I have been urging for 7 years). This program can be taken in place of regular GED class. So students need this important option. A sixteen year old can take the GED the day after dropping out of school in Florida. One of my students in the Consulate of El Salvador was in class for only four hours and I sent him to get his GED and he passed. This can be done for thousands of people in New York City each year that do not belong in class. The students mentioned here should not give up their rights to the DOE.

The infrastructure for GED is not strong and I suggested opening up GED Testing in the Public Libraries of New York City. All New Yorkers outside of the class can take the Official Practice Test in the library one day, pass it, and get their date to take the real GED a week later in the library near their home or job. The days of waiting six months to take the test will be over and New York City will be able to compete with the rest of the state where the GED numbers are much better. Dr. Pat Mooney, the Administrator of GED in New York State actually told me I would cry if I saw the numbers for the city.

I also had the chance to explain the option that Tom Suozzi wrote in his run for Governor of New York. We could hire college students at $25 an hour to teach GED my way across New York State. I am sure that I could compete with the DOE and BOCES and save the taxpayer tens of millions of dollars, but we would have to increase that state funding to $8-10 million so people could take the test for free all over the state. The savings to the taxpayer in New York could be in the billions in social service costs since the estimate nationally is about $46 billion and New York State probably could absorb about ten percent based on GED figures.

MY FRIENDS ON THE CITY COUNCIL CAN HELP THE CITY MORE EFFECTIVELY THAN THE DOE. I SUGGEST WE HAVE A GED ROUNDTABLE FOR THE CITY COUNCIL AS SOON AS POSSIBLE SO THAT I CAN FINALLY ANSWER THE QUESTIONS YOU HAVE AND SHOW YOU HOW TO ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS.

Maria del Carmen Arroyo told about her passion for GED (she earned a GED). Her comments about the stipend program she was in are not true for all GED programs with stipends, but we do know that incarcerated youth and adults do much better on the GED because they do not have the freedom to stay away from class in a free society. I would suggest that we mobilize communities with a GED poster campaign and other methods first. This will be cost effective.

The Community Service Society gave testimony about using stipends to bring students into GED. The GED administrator of Puerto Rico recently signed up 250 students by going to a mall for a week. I do not encourage stipends for recruitment when it can be done without it. I can show the city other ways to achieve this through the schools. Puerto Rico is following up on getting Felix “Tito” Trinidad for a poster campaign that I gave them called “LUCHE POR SU TITULO” or “FIGHT FOR YOUR TITLE.”

MARTIN N. DANENBERG
7 BLAZER DRIVE
ISLANDIA, NY 11749
GEDHOTLINE@AOL.COM
631-348-1341
www.ahorre.com/ged
www.geocities.com/gedhotline

I WILL BE PARTICIPATING IN AN EDUCATIONAL EXHIBITION ON DECEMBER 2, 2007 IN THE PENNSYLVANIA HOTEL. THIS EXHIBITION WILL TAKE PLACE FROM DECEMBER 2-4. I ENCOURAGE ALL OF MY HISPANIC FRIENDS ON THE CITY COUNCIL AND IN THE ASSEMBLY TO COME OUT AND SEE WHAT IS GOING ON. CONTACT ME FOR MORE INFORMATION.