(Long Island, NY) In response to the “petition” backed by the Alliance for Quality Education and other special-interest groups, Success Academy educators released the following statements and a video from last week’s press conference:
http://www.successacademies.org/education-blog-post/stop-playing-racial-politics-with-our-kids/
Khari Shabazz, principal of Success Academy Harlem West Middle School:
“Where were Hazel Dukes and Bertha Lewis when the UFT charter school failed to educate black and brown children for a full decade?
“This is a miserable failure of black leadership and an affront to all those who struggled for decades to secure rights for people of color in this country. Where are all the black and brown politicians? Where is the outrage? Success Academy serves 11,000 scholars across your communities. These schools are the only ones in your neighborhoods that are among the highest-performing schools in the State of New York. How can you be silent when you have visited Success Academy schools and know firsthand that the mischaracterization of our schools as a pipeline to prison is a grotesque injustice purposely aimed at achieving political revenge?
“As the first dean of students in our network and now a principal, I deeply believe in the importance of our discipline policies. Our code of conduct keeps our children emotionally, physically, and academically safe. Without it, Success Academy children would be exposed to the chaotic environments that define New York City public schools and low-performing schools throughout the country.”
Eva Moskowitz, Founder and CEO of Success Academy Charter Schools:
“Instead of addressing the city’s massive educational failure perpetuated by union-run schools, AQE is spending resources on a bogus petition that aims to deny children of color access to some of the best schools in New York.”
Tragically, civil rights leaders have deviated from their mission in order to strengthen their alliances with organized labor at the expense of children. Bertha Lewis’ The Black Institute received $30,000 from the UFT. When her former organization, ACORN, disbanded, its New York spinoff (New York Communities for Change) took on the job of lobbying against parent choice — and received more than $236,000 from the UFT last year alone to do so. Perhaps this explains her pivot from real advocacy against real crises — such as a study she released in 1998 called “Secret Apartheid III: Follow Up to Failure,” which “presents evidence that both accountability and standards — of pedagogy and decency — have been abandoned in the treatment of students of color in the New York City Public Schools.” Today, she works to undermine schools that seek to enshrine those very standards for the benefit of all kids.
ABOUT SUCCESS ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOLS
Founded in 2006, Success Academy Charter Schools are free public pre-K through 12 schools open to all children in the state through a random lottery. With 34 schools across Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan, and Queens, Success Academy enrolls 11,000 students, primarily low-income children of color in disadvantaged neighborhoods: 77% of students receive free or reduced-price lunch, 95% are children of color, 12% are children with disabilities, and 8.5% are English language learners. Ranked in the top 1% in math and the top 3% in English on 2015 state proficiency tests, Success Academy schools received more than 22,000 applications for fewer than 2,300 open seats this year. This year, Success Academy Harlem 3 was named a National Blue Ribbon School for academic excellence by the U.S. Department of Education; Success Academy Harlem 1 was a National Blue Ribbon award winner in 2012, making Success Academies the only schools in Harlem in the last 25 years to receive this prestigious award.
For more information about Success Academy, go to Successacademies.org and virtualtour.successacademies.org.
