Governor Cuomo's Steath Charter Cap Expansion

 
Governor Andrew Cuomo has buried in his proposed budget an expansion of the charter cap in New York City. This shows that the Governor is still beholden to the Chharter industry and their education reform supporters despite his claims that he supports public education in the State..

Buried in budget documents released late Tuesday was a proposal to make room for more charter schools in New York City. In 2015, the state set a limit on how many charter schools could open in New York City in the years ahead: 50. Authorizers hit that cap last year. But the total number of charters available has actually been slightly higher, since a 2017 deal allowed authorizers to reissue 22 charters originally issued to charter schools that closed before July 2015.

This week, Cuomo proposed expanding that number, offering a new pathway to open charters as state lawmakers show no signs of wanting to increase the charter cap. His plan would allow authorizers to re-issue as many abandoned or leftover charters as they have available, though it wasn’t immediately clear how many that amounted to.  Is it 10, 25, 50?

In addition, the Governor's budget once again short-changes the schools by only increasing funding less than what the State Board of of Regents proposed.  His proposed spending increase is less than half of what the state’s education policymakers and advocacy groups have called for. It also fell $175 million short of the year-over-year increase the governor suggested last year. 

Chalkbeat has an article about the Governor's proposed budget Here.

Charter Schools Lose Again On Teacher Certification

The New York State Appellate Division, Third Department upheld  a lower court ruling that the SUNY alternate teacher certification scheme for charter schools was not allowed under State education law.  The Appellate Court unanimously rejected SUNY's argument that they had the authority to have an alternative teacher certification for charter schools.

It's no secret that charter schools are having trouble in recruiting and retaining certified teachers and by State law are only allowed to have no more than 15% uncertified teachers on their staff.  My guess is if the State scrutinize the charter schools they would find that most violate that limitation.  Take Eva Moskowitz's Success Academy High School in Manhattan that saw an astonishing 70% teacher turnover in one year.

  I know of a Science teacher that was unfairly terminated by the DOE but every year charter schools compete with each other to hire the teacher since most of them lack a certified Science teacher.  The Science teacher tells me that every charter school she teaches in, the next year most  teachers are either not invited back due to money, incompetent administration, lack of certification, or because many teachers quit during or after the school year.

The State and local teacher unions as well as the NAACP, the Board of Regents, and The NYSED oppose the alternate teacher certification scheme and the unions called the SUNY teacher certification scheme as "Fake certification".  The alternate certification scheme only consists of 160 hours of classroom instruction and 40 hours of practice teaching and allows the charter school to self-certify to get around the 15% uncertified teacher limitation.

Will SUNY appeal to the NYS Court of Appeals?  Probably since they are supported by deep pockets charter school supporters but with a unanimous decision at the Appellate Court, it does not look promising for the charter schools.

Time For Charter Schools To Dump Unwanted Students

On October 31st, school funding for the year is based on student enrollment as of that date.  Once November sets in, the school funding is set.  Its in November that charter schools will start to expel unwanted students and dump them into the public school system since the money is already allocated to the school..

Because of a quirk in how schools are funded, charter schools will do everything possible to retain all their students up to October 31st to get their funding.  However, after that date, charter schools will start to push out misbehaving and or academically challenged students to the public schools.  That also includes Special Education and English Language Learners who need extra services.

Obviously, New York State's school funding must be changed so as to discourage student dumping that the charter school get away with and still retain the funding as if that student is still in the charter school.. 

Charter Schools Cause Cutbacks In Hempstead Public Schools

One of the poorest school districts on Long Island is Hempstead in Nassau County.  The heavily minority community is plagued with gangs, (MS-13) illegal immigrants, and a relatively high crime rate when compared to the County as a whole.  The result is that the schools have one of the lowest academic achievement results on Long Island.

Because of the poor academic results in the traditional public schools in Hempstead, many parents, who care about their child's education, decided to put their children into charter schools.  The result is that the three charter schools were able to cherry pick their students and since many immigrant families had no clue how to apply to these charter schools.  The charter schools have a low percentage of both English Language Learners and Special Education students.

The problem is that the charter schools require funding from the school district for tuition, food, and transportation costs for the 2,000 students enrolled.  This is 27% of the 7,300 students enrolled in the Hempstead public schools and that takes a significant chunk out of the school district budget.  This school year that is 44 million dollars and next year's projected budget it will rise to 55 million.

The result is that this school year Hempstead had to fire school staff, including teachers and next year the school district envisions more teacher layoffs as the charter schools expect an 11 million dollar increase in their budgets abd if the State does not issue a special grant for Hempstead, the school district will have to cut many programs.  Newsday has a nice article about Hempstead schools.

Poor Areas Losing Public And Catholic School Students To Charters

In the poorer sections of New York City many public schools are losing students to charter schools.  In fact, many private Catholic schools, that cater to low income families have closed or in danger of closing as charter schools have siphoned many of those student away.

As for the traditional public schools, while they also lose students to charter schools they tend to receive an influx of Special Education and English Language Learners as charter school tend to discourage their application due to resource issues and academic problems.

Bushwick Brooklyn is a prime example of this.    From 2010 to 2019, School Construction Authority data show the share of District 32 residents attending charters more than quadrupled—from 6 percent to 27 percent   While the Catholic schools in the area are closed or closing.  Father James Kelly, who was pastor of St. Brigid’s for nearly 40 years and still does immigration advocacy in the neighborhood, sees it too. “St. Martin of Tours is closed. St. Joseph’s. St. Barbara’s is gone. The Catholic schools are gone,” .

As for the traditional public schools.  Bushwick is expected to lose over 45% of their students in the next decade as rapidly rising rents chase out families with children and increased charter school enrollment reduce the amount of children available to the traditional public schools..

Comparing An Apple To An Orange

District 9 of the Bronx, a high poverty and minority neighborhood, saw over 50% of the students fail the Algebra I Regents.  Moreover, only 2% reached the top tier scores   By contrast  Success Academy 2 in the Bronx had a 100% pissing rate and all were in the top tier.  However, on further inspection its like comparing apples to oranges.

If you read only the New York Post you would think that the above paragraph is all there is,  Sure, District 9 has academically struggling schools but that's due to high percentages of Special Education, English Language Learners, homeless, and family dysfunction, both financially and the lack of a two parent household.  By contrast, Success Academy 2 of the Bronx have few Special Education students or English Language Learners, and homeless students.  Furthermore, the family situation is much more stable than in District 9.

A closer look at Success Academy 2 of the Bronx show what the New York Post failed to include.  the 30% of students who dropped out (pushed out?)  of the school since 6th grade when there were 72 students.  That left only 53 students to take the Algebra 1 test.  I strongly suggest that you read Gary Rubenstein's blog who did a deep study of the data and showed how poorly Success Academy students did on the Geometry and Algebra II Regents..

Charter Schools Drain Resources From Traditional Public Schools

Charter advocates are trying to pressure the New York State legislature to expand the charter school cap in New York City and has the support of the Governor.  However, charter friendly Chalkbeat has an article on whether charter schools drain resources from traditional public schools and the answer is yes!.

The article looked at various studies and concluded that charter school expansion added to the financial stress of traditional public schools.  Moreover, an analysis of the Los Angeles and San Diego school districts found similar results.

Charter schools drain students and resources from traditional public schools and try to claim that they alleviate overcrowding  in school districts that see a population influx of students.   That might be true to some degree in Florida and Arizona but overall it causes financial stress for the school district.  These school districts must either raise taxes, increase class sizes, or reduce staff, usually a combination of all three.

The bottom line is that charter schools are a negative factor when it comes to funding traditional public schools in a school district as every student who leaves the traditional public school takes the funding with the student to the charter school.

Brooklyn Charter High School Forgot To Pick Up The Global Regents

On Monday sophomores and a few juniors and seniors showed up at their Brooklyn charter high school, only to find out that the school's administration failed to pick up the Regents and now these students must wait to August to take the Global Regents and some of the seniors will not graduate in June.

It appears that the school's administration are set to resign at the end of the school year due to their lack of an administration license, as the City is cracking down on both uncertified teachers as well as administrators.  Therefore, its possible the school administrators were either too lazy or simply incompetent for their failure to pick up the Global Regents in time to give it to the students.

This is the same charter high school where a 18 year old male student give brownies to a bunch of freshman girls that was laced with synthetic Marijuana   Most of the girls got sick and were throwing up and many of them ended up in the hospital.

Like most charter high schools most of the teaching staff will not be returning next school year as wel as the administrators.  This is due to a few factors like not being asked back, are not certified, or decided to go on to other schools or professions.The news media may love charter schools bu the truth is that the charter high schools are a very unstable educational facility with a transit teaching staff, unqualified administrators, and a student population that usually had trouble in their previous public schools before ending up at the charter high schools..

With A Democratic State Senate, This Should Freeze The Charter School Cap.

The blue wave hit the NYS Senate and the Democrats will control the Senate in January.  One of the changes will be that the Senate Republicans cannot demand an increase in the charter school cap.   Moreover, with many Democrats agreeing with Mayor Bill de Blasio on keeping a freeze on the charter school cap, there are few available openings for new charter schools in New York City.   Finally, even our charter school Governor, Andrew Cuomo, will be hesitant to push for an expansion of the charter school cap since he has presidential ambitions and will not risk alienating the teachers unions and their traditional allies.

Presently, in New York City there is only 8 open spots available for new charter schools and the Democrat controlled legislature is unwilling to expand the cap.  Further, its highly unlikely the charter friendly Governor will waste political capitol to actively push to expand the charter cap.  Finally, the linking of Wall Street hedge fund billionaires with the charter movement  as well as President Donald Trumps support has alienated the general public in New York City and makes it extremely difficult to support expanding the charter school cap.

Read the New York Times article Here.  The New York City Charter School Center has the statistics on the charter school cap.

Goodbye Bloomberg and Klein.  So long the Republican controlled Senate.  No more charter school supporters getting their way.  The heyday for education reformers and their charter school allies are over.

Success Academy's Manhattan High School Has 70% Of It's Staff Leave.

Add caption

Teacher turnover is a vexing problem in charter schools when it comes to retaining teachers.   On the average, charter schools lose 33% of their teaching staff yearly.  However, Success Academy's Manhattan high school has an even higher turnover rate.  The school admitted that 70% of its professional staff has left.  According to the Wall Street Journal article the breakdown is as follows:

• 25 quit
• 9 were dismissed
• 13 took jobs elsewhere in the network.
• Only 20 (30%) remain.

\Most of the teachers that left cited a punitive culture that focused on discipline and testing.

That left only 20 teachers who will return to the high school. No wonder Eva Moskowitz had SUNY 's  Charter Board try to weaken the teacher certification system for charter schools since her network experiences extremely high teacher turnover and eventually the influx of freshly minted "newbie" teachers will dry up as fewer college students are going into teaching, especially as the economy is on an upswing and teaching salaries and lack of respect cannot compete with other professions.

Under existing rules, only 13% of the teaching staff do not need to be certified and Eva Moskowitz's Success Academy will have a difficult time getting down to that percentage.  Look for the network to either get a waiver or manipulate the statistics to meet the 13% threshold.

Too bad her pals, Michael Bloomberg and Joel Klein cannot come to her rescue this time.

Courts Throw Out Charter Schools Weakened Teacher Certifiction Plan.

A New York State court ruled that the Success Academy Teacher Certification requirements would result in inexperienced and unqualified teachers to be in the classroom and enjoined the charter network to proceed with their teacher evaluation plan for next year.

The reason that the carter network wanted the weakened teacher certification plan was their inability to recruit and retain state certified teachers.  High teacher turnover is a major problem for charter schools as long hours, lack of "due process" and inferior benefits make teachers leave for the public schools.  Moreover, the charter schools have a difficult job in recruiting certified teachers in the first place.

Presently, only 15% of the teaching staff in charter schools can be uncertified, and the charter schools have a difficult time attracing certified teachers and that's why the charter schools wanted the weakened teacher certification system.

The court decision can be found Here.

Only 22% Of First Grade Students Survived Success Academy To Graduate With A High School Diploma.

 If you relied only on the New York City newspapers one would think that Eva Moskiwitz's Success Academy Charter Schools are a success.   The truth is that for every student that started in first grade eleven years ago, over three left the school due to various reasons.  In the first graduating class 16 students graduated out of 73 first graders.  That is a measly 22% graduation rate.  What happened to the 78% that left Success Academy?

I venture to guess that the majority of students left, as the school counseled them out. Many students who academically struggled were probably threatened to repeat the grade and behaviorally challenged students were simply kicked out of the school.   Others wearied of the intense academic pressure, including summer homework and having few, if any extracurricular activities that makes school a pleasant experience.

Regardless, the "drill and kill" culture of Success Academy Charter School is not for most students and if your child is an English Language Learner or self contained Special Education student, then Eva Moskowitz's Success Academy would counsel  you that the public school is a more appropriate environment for your child.

SUNY Charter Board Approves The Use Of Inferior Instructors For Their Children.

Yesterday, SUNY's Charter Institute has approved a vastly inferior teacher certification process because their charter schools are having serious trouble hiring and retaining teachers.  Therefore, to rectify the teacher shortage issue, they have approved the use of non-certified instructors in their schools.  The SUNY certification process was criticized by the State Education Department's Commissioner and the Chancellor of the Board of Regents, also the UFT promised to file a lawsuit to stop the new regulations.  Read the entire New York Times article Here.  A slightly different take of the SUNY certification process can be found in Chalkbeat.

For people who are hired under the new SUNY charter school regulations, they are only allowed to teach in the SUNY charter schools and still must be State certified to teach elsewhere in New York State.  Therefore, these SUNY approved charter school teachers will be stuck working for these charter schools until they become State certified, if ever.

The new SUNY teacher certification regulations will allow their charter schools to hire cheap, unqualified, and inferior instructors to teach their charter school students and that's not what's best for their students but is apparently best for the SUNY charter school operators who want an endless supply of cheap and replaceable instructors.

Please read my article about this Here.

Charter Schools Hoping That SUNY's Proposed Rules Will Allow Them To Hire More Unqualified Teachers.

Because of the increasing difficulty that charter schools are having in hiring certified teachers and the high teacher turnover, SUNY has proposed to lower teacher standards for their charter schools.  There rationale for lowering teacher hiring standards is the looming teacher shortage and the almost 50% reduction in college teacher training program applicants.  While these reasons are true, its really that charter schools cannot retain teachers for more than two or three years due to the increased school time, lower salaries, and inferior benefits.

Presently, only a maximum of 15% of the teachers in a charter school can be uncertified.  Some schools have had difficulty meeting that goal and some charter schools have a majority of teachers uncertified in the subject that they are teaching in.  Moreover, its not uncommon for charter school classes to have two or more teachers during the school year.  Finally, once teachers get fully certified, they usually leave to the higher paying and better benefits, such as a pension, of the public school system.

SUNY's proposal would mean that these uncertified charter school teachers will never need to pass State certification tests or obtain a master's degree.  Therefore, limiting the charter school teachers to teach in charter schools.  While both the Board of Regents and the NYED Commissioner has objected to SUNT's proposed teacher hiring regulations , Under the draft rules, some would-be teachers wouldn’t have to earn a master’s degree or pass the state certification exam. Instead, you’d need 30 hours of instruction and 100 hours working in-class under the supervision of an experienced teacher, as well to finish state workshops on bullying, violence prevention and child abuse.

If  these draft rules are implemented, the charter schools will simply hire any Tom, Dick, or Harry with a college degree and dump them into a classroom, unprepared in the art of teaching and that's not good for the students in any setting.

 http://www.newyorkcharters.org/wp-content/uploads/SUNY-Charter-School-Regulations_June2017.pdf

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow - Teacher Turnover At Charter Schools, The Fatal Flaw.

One of the fatal flaws the charter schools and their media allies try to hide is the extremely high teacher turnover they experience.  The charter schools average a 41% teacher turnover rate from one year to the next and the Eva Moskowitz's Success Academy it's even higher with a 60% teacher turnover rate annually, compared to a 18% turnover rate in the City public schools.  It is common for students to have two or more teachers during the school year and many of them are uncertified as well.

Most of the teachers that charter schools recruit come from Teach for America and only received a seven week training session in pedagogy.  These recent college graduates usually have no teaching certification or experience and last two years or less in the profession, some never getting their teaching license.  Moreover, the few experienced teachers the charter schools hires are teachers that had either been discontinued or  had 3020-a charges and lost their right to teach in DOE schools. For these teachers its usually jumping from one charter school to another and yet another as they are not rehired for the next school year or they are wary of the working conditions, such as an extended day, inferior benefits, and a longer year.  Not to mention overbearing parents.

Having friends who work in charter schools they tell me that the charter school administrators don't appreciate their teachers and think of them as transient replaceable parts.  Teachers that aren't available 24 hours a day during the extended school year, including weekends, can expect to be replaced by an uncertified "newbie" and it matters little that the replacement can't teach. In charter schools, the term professional educator is replaced by the revolving door of adults who use the position as a stepping stone to a better future. Therefore, the charter school reliance on hiring from Teach for America.

The New York Daily News published an opinion piece from a charter school parent who removed her daughter from the charter school because of the school's high teacher turnover.  According to the parent she was tired of seeing good teachers leave for the suburbs or the City public schools because of better working conditions, union benefits, and a right to tenure and she can't blame them one bit.  Furthermore, the wave of "baby boomer" retirements over the last few years at the City public schools and an improving economy opened up public school teaching positions for those inexperienced teachers who intend to make teaching a lifetime occupation.  They were snatched up by the public schools who, due to tight school budgets, and DOE policies that discriminate against veteran teachers, can hire the charter school teacher at a much the lower salary.

The bottom line is that with an looming teacher shortage and even less college graduates applying to Teach for America, where will the charter schools get qualified teachers?  The answer is that they won't be able to and that will result in the hiring of more uncertified people and  a continued decline in these schools of their students failure to achieve their academic potential and that is the fatal flaw charter schools suffer from.

Note:  This Bronx charter school is firing 11 of its 15 teachers, or 75% of the teaching staff.  You can read the story Here.

How Eva Moscowitz's Success Academy Charter School Pushes Out Difficult Children.

In the Daily News today we have another case of Eva Moscowitz's Success Academy Charter School giving a 7 year old boy a 45 day suspension and when it was reduced by a DOE hearing officer, he was again suspended two days later for acting up in class.  A lawyer for the family said the following.

Brooklyn Legal Services attorney Nancy Bedard, who represents the boy, said the case illustrates how the city’s largest charter chain wants to purge difficult kids from its system — a claim Success has long denied.

Remember, it was another Brooklyn Success Academy Charter School who had a "got to go" list of unwanted students. In Fact, a report found that the Charter Schools had a policy of widespread dumping of struggling and misbehaving students.  The Gothamist printed an excerpt of the report Here.

Last year a federal investigation was launched against Success Academy for discrimination against disabled children and co-signed by City Council education committee chairman Daniel Dromm and supported by Public Advocate, Letitia James.  The investigation is ongoing.

Juan Gonzalez has written many articles on how Eva Moscowitz's Success Academy Charter Schools suspemd and push out students that don't fit the school's academic and or behavioral standards.  Here, Here, and Here. 

The bottom line is that if a school is allowed to suspend and remove their weakest students then the test score results cannot be compared to other schools and are invalid since it only represents the top half of so of the cohort of the school..

Charter Sector High Schools Are The Stepchildren Of The NYC School System

One of the little known issues in the New York City schools is how terrible most of the charter sector high schools are when it comes to receiving a quality education. This post will discuss the many shortcomings that the New York City charter high schools suffer from.

Student Body:
Many of the students have previously struggled in public schools and see the charter high school as a "second chance" to continue their education.  In far too many cases these charter high schools are more like the "transfer schools" than a traditional public high school.  In talking to teachers who work or have worked in charter high schools, they tell me that the students have academic problems and many of them have some sort of disability. Academic achievement is simply a joke in many cases.

Teacher Turnover:
All the charter high schools suffer from extremely high teacher turnover.  It is not unusual for students to have had three or more teachers from the beginning to the end of the school year.  In one charter high school, I was told that five different teachers were used last school year for a Math class.  It's not unusual for many of the charter high schools to have uncertified teachers instructing students, especially in Math and Science.  In one school I was told that a 22 year old "newbie" English teacher, fresh out of Teach For America, was hired to teach a Regents Science course.

Unstable Administration:
Many of the charter high school administrators are new to their administrative role and hiring and firing is a common occurrence, even during the school year. At best, administrative quality is uneven and at worst incompetent. Is it little wonder that poor administration goes hand in hand with high teacher turnover and poor academic student achievement.

Funding Uncertainties:
Contrary to what many of us think, charter high schools suffer from tight budgets, lack of resources, and technology issues.  This is especially true for profit-making organizations that run the school.   These private charters must turn a profit for their hedge fund sponsors or risk being closed.  Therefore, the bottom line must be met and its not education.  Moreover, the people above the school administration are usually business people and have no experience in education so there is almost always a disconnect between the school academic goals and the profit obsessed board that oversees the school, usually with disastrous results.

Lack of Community Roots:
Almost all charter high schools have no roots in the community they reside in and many of the students do not live in the community.  Without the community support and a reason to embrace the school by the neighborhood, it makes it very difficult for the school to be able to survive long-term and almost impossible to thrive as an educational entity.

The bottom line is that the charter highs schools are the stepchild of not only the New York City charter schools but the entire educational system and the joke is on the students who end up at these schools looking for a quality education..

The Charter School Miracle Is Simply Smoke And Mirrors

If you read the Daily News and New York Post editorial boards and their education reporters like Ben Chapman and others they would have you believe that charter schools are superior to the neighborhood public schools.   They would cite the badly flawed State tests as evidence but ignore the many negative issues associated with the charter schools. Just read my post Here.

Removing the struggling student:  First and foremost the more successful charter schools will find ways to remove the academically struggling or badly behaved student from their school by the third grade when testing begins.This weeding out process continues throughout the years so by the time the cohort leaves the school, there is less than a third of the original group left.  Furthermore, the successful charter schools don't back-fill the open positions, this ensures that they keep the more successful students without diluting the cohort.

Emphasis on test preparation:  Its no secret that the successful charter schools concentrated on teaching to the State tests, especially English and Math.  Both subjects can make up almost 50% of the school day.  Interest6ingly, until this year none of the charter school students were selected to the specialized high schools since the entrance exam was based on mastery of all subjects, not just English and Math.

High teacher turnover: Few charter school teachers last three years ant there is a 50% turnover yearly.  In fact the State, realizing that the charter schools were finding it difficult to hire and keep certified teachers, allowed a third of the staff to be uncertified.

Lack of high needs students: The successful charter schools do not represent the neighborhood demographics and recruit potentially higher achieving students from outside the neighborhood.  This is especially true when it comes to English Language Learners and Special Education students. The few of these students the successful charter schools take usually get nothing more than a resource room.

When you look, in depth, at the so-called education miracle you find it's really all smoke and mirrors.  Just take a look at what blogger Gary Rubinstein did to show this and can be found in my blog Here..

Why Hillary Clinton Is Untrustworthy When It Comes To Public Education.

I have been hearing how Hillary Clinton is the "lesser of the two evils" when it comes to whom I should vote for.  According to my fellow blogger nyc educator, he will be holding his nose and vote for Hillary Clinton simply because Donald Trump is worse.   If one looks at the education planks of the two parties, its obvious the Democratic party plank is pro public school while the Republican plank is pro charter and would allow vouchers which would dismantle the public school sector.  However, experience has shown that the elected President usually disregards their party's plank and imposes his or her own policies.  Just look at what President Obama did to the public schools during his eight years as President?  He bribed states in using hastily developed high-stakes Common Core based testing and teacher evaluations using "junk Science" that has resulted in massive teacher shortages nationwide.  Moreover, he is a charter school supporter and education reformer that has hurt the public schools by diverting scarce resources to the charter schools without the accountability demanded in the public school sector.

Now back to Hillary Clinton. after the Democratic National Committee unveiled their education plank, Eli Broad, one of the most powerful education reformers in the country was concerned.  However, according to the Wall Street Journal, Hillary Clinton s husband Bill Clinton quickly reassured Mr. Broad that the DNC's agenda was not Hillary's and she will continue to support the charter school sector.  Now it seems that the deep-pocketed Hedge Funds who support and fund charter schools and education reform organizations have contributed,  according to a Wall Street Journal article,  to Hillary Clinton's campaign $48.5 million dollars in Hedge Fund donations compared to $19,000 for Donald Trump.  Do you really think that Hillary Clinton will not support the charter schools given the massive amounts of money the hedge fund community has given to her campaign and their close relationship with Eli Broad?

If Hillary Clinton becomes President of the United States do you really believe that she will abandon the charter school sector?  The answer is a loud no and that means that for every dollar that goes to the charter school sector, that's a dollar taken away from public schools and with a charter friendly supporter as President, look for the non-accountable charter school sector to continue to bloom at the expense of the public school system.

If you really trust Hillary Clinton to safeguard public school education then I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

Eva Moscowitz Wants Special Treatment For Her Schools.

Last week was not a good week for Eva Moscowitz and her Harlem Success Academy Schools.  First. there was the PBS story about the student expulsions and then the New York Times wrote a damming article on the Success Academy discipline policy that pushes out misbehaving and academically struggling students.  In fact, one of her schools, the Fort Greene Success Academy had a "got to go" list of 16 students the school wanted to push out.  Was the Principal fired for having such a list?  Of course not since this is the standard operating procedure for the Success Academy Network.  The only difference was the Fort Greene Principal was stupid enough to write the "got to go" list and gave it to staff.

If that wasn't bad enough, Eva Moscowitz has refused to allow for the New York City vetting process for opening a pre-k program.  Of the 277 applications, including other charter operators, only the Success Academy Network has refused to be vetted and has threatened to file a lawsuit claiming they are exempt from New York City requirements and wants public money while not being held accountable.

Obviously, Eva Moscowitz thinks she still has Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein in charge who allowed her to ignore DOE and NYC regulations, requirements, and rules.and open up new schools with public funding but no oversight and do as she pleased.  Even when it meant pushing out traditional public schools or forcing special education services to be given in hallways or book rooms.  Yes, she has Governor Andrew Cuomo on her side but as his poll numbers slide and his disastrous and punitive education policy is proving to be a rock tied to a drowning man, he has decided to downplay his support of her.  Therefore, the newly empowered Bill de Blasio has flexed his muscles and put the screws to Eva Moscowitz and has refused to allow her space in existing public schools.

The miracle at Eva Moscowitz's Success Academy of high test scores hides the very dark side of these scores, that is the constant test prep, the pushing out of "high need students" and the increasingly smaller class sizes as the network refuses to backfill leaving students.  The lack of  scrutiny by t5he Bloomberg Administration is a thing of the past and its about time that the Success Charter School Network be subject to the same oversight that all New York City schools should be whether they are public or charter.