Daniel Katz, professor at Seton Hall University and extraordinary blogger, writes here about the charter lobbyists’ unethical use of students, parents, and teachers to advance its political agenda of more funding for privately managed charters. No charter operator in the nation has been more audacious in deploying this tactic than Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy.
On the heels of her big political rally last week, Eva now plans to close all her schools for half a day for yet another one.
Katz believes this is an outrage, and I agree. The rally, like the millions of dollars spent on TV commercials in support of more funding for privatization, is supported by “Families” for Excellent Schools, a front group for hedge fund managers and other billionaires for privatization.
Katz rightly asks, what would happen if Chancellor Farina were to close the public schools for half a day so that one million children and hundreds of thousands–or millions of parents and teachers–could rally to demand that the state fully fund the public schools. One benchmark would be the billions owed to the city schools by the state, in accordance with a court victory (never complied with) called the Campaign for Fiscal Equity. A different benchmark would be a demand to have facilities and resources equal to those in Eva’s schools.
Something other than money is at issue. The question is the legality and ethics of using children and teachers as foot-soldiers in Eva’s political campaign for more money, more schools, more power. When is enough enough?
Katz writes:
Fresh off their rally with charter school parents and students on October 7th, “Families” For Excellent Schools has announced that they will hold another rally on Wednesday the 21st of October. This rally, which will be held in Manhattan’s Foley Square, will reportedly feature nearly 1,000 charter school teachers predominantly from Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy network. While some teachers from Achievement First, Uncommon Schools, and KIPP are expected to be present, Ms. Moskowitz’s workforce will be the primary participants, and the network just so happens to have a scheduled half school day so that teachers can show up to the rally for the purpose of pressuring law makers into allowing more charter schools in the city. Chew on that for a moment: a scheduled half day of school. A political rally. The teachers in attendance.
I don’t know about you, but when my children’s unionized public school teachers take a half day, it is because they are in professional development workshops and related activities. They certainly are not being taken from their schools to a rally organized by a lobbying group funded specifically to increase their influence with lawmakers in City Hall and in Albany….
It would be one thing for “Families” For Excellent Schools to organize political rallies for parents and supporters of charter schools to attend and to use that platform to advocate for more such schools. That is indisputably their right. It becomes much more questionable when those rallies are organized in such a way that Eva Moskowitz closes her schools during multiple rallies, leaving parents with no place to send their children and essentially forcing them to take a day from work to attend so that they and their children add to event’s optics. That is within their rights, but frankly, it is cheap and coercive….
And it is monstrously unethical: our fully public schools would spark legitimate outrage if they organized a school day around sending their employees to a political rally organized by a lobbyist organization. How can it be tolerable for Eva Moskowitz to use her employees, and students, and parents as window dressing for campaigns to funnel more and more public school funding and public school facilities into her organization that she has repeatedly refused to allow “outsiders” to hold her accountable? What Superintendent of schools has such authority?….
Is Eva Moskowitz running a chain of schools or is she running the lobbying arm for her billionaire backers who see the expansion of the charter school sector as a means for profit and as a means to break public sector unions? Public school advocates certainly hold rallies to support public education, but we have to do so on weekends and after school hours for reasons that should similarly prohibit Success Academy and other charter schools from providing school hour props for “Families” For Excellent Schools. Our appallingly lax rules for tax exempt organizations may allow for this, but there is no reason why our charter school authorizing bodies and the legislators who write school law should tolerate this. We need our representatives in Albany to change charter school rules so that orchestrating the participation of students and teachers in obviously political events during what should be school hours is expressly prohibited.
I would go further and call it a criminal act. She is using taxpayer funds and children to lobby lawmakers. She is fraudulently promising parents something she can not achieve.
My question.. why is the local media turning a blind eye?
To me this rally, as constituted, should be challenged as an act of unlawful assembly. Action should be taken by NYC corporation counsel to enjoin this malfeasance from happening. The grotesque slogan “Don’t Steal Possible” should be thrown back at Eva Moskowitz and her backers as: “Don’t Steal!”
That phrase “Don’t Steal Possible” is driving me crazy. It’s SO grammatically incorrect from a person who supposedly believes in education. I wonder if these idiots even realize that.
Threatened Out West,
I understand how annoying “Don’t Steal Possible” is. I’m sure it came from a marketing firm and was thoroughly poll-tested. Frankly, I am even more offended by calling children in elementary school “scholars.” No one should be called that unless they have produced a serious body of research. Calling a 5-year-old a “scholar” demeans the work required to be called a scholar. Why not address each child as “Dr.”?
For goodness sake, Dr. Ravitch, don’t give them ideas!
Diane,
If “scholars” bugs you, why not call them geniuses or extremely gifted. I wonder if these mini-Mozarts are allowed to do the magic stuff of childhood–like collect autumn leaves and press them into scrapbooks. Too fluffy-headed, I guess. Not intellectually rigorous and non-fictional enough to make it in the real world.
Fred Smith, “genius” doesn’t work as a title. They could be “Dr.,” or “General,” or why not “President.”
And many wonder why Eva won’t run for mayor? She might just be called to task for this behavior.
“Reform out of Control”
Control of teachers
Control of schools
Control of features
Control of rules
Control of scholars
Control of thoughts
Control of dollars
Control of lots
Why is de Blasio silent on this? How about public school teachers take their students (1 million) on a civics lesson “field trip” on the same half day and location as Eva’s demonstration. I wonder if de Blasio would still be silent.
What is saddest about all of this is the amount of money spent on these rallies (and advertising) that are really just an unnecessary PR event.
The charter sector already owns Andrew Cuomo. They already own the state legislature. They don’t yet own Bill de Blasio and they are spending all this money on what is in essence a bullying tactic. “We will continue to attack you as someone who doesn’t care about those kids trapped in failing schools unless you do our bidding. And we have the money to do this as much as we want.”
If they spend half that money at Success Academy figuring out a way to TEACH all the at-risk kids they suspend or make “miserable” until they leave, they might do some good with it. What a crying shame that the media doesn’t seem to care. See how her incredibly newsworthy performance on the PBS interview was picked up by no media outlets. (Perhaps that explains her sudden — out of the blue — announcement that she was not a candidate for Mayor. I guess then news organizations would not be able to get away with ignoring what was a glaring unethical practice by her schools that she was obviously giving very dishonest answers to.
Major media, including PBS support charter schools, vouchers, etc. PBS in its promotion videos shows Eva Moskovits, not public school principals or teachers.
Give PBS credit for airing John Merrow’s interview with Eva, who turned beet red on screen
Diane, I find it odd that this has been ignored by the rest of the media — that interview should have been the precursor of other media and politicians calling for an investigation. Instead….silence.
If Success Academy’s attrition rate is really 2x as high as KIPPs, that is pretty newsworthy. Especially because they have desperately marketed to middle class parents — who they are happy to accommodate in what I am sure is a much more lenient Success Academy culture than the low-income kids are subject to. Do you think her abrupt withdrawal from the Mayoral race is because she knew that interview was about to air? I wonder if there was pressure on John Merrow not to run it (or at least edit it more kindly toward her).
It’s about $$$$$ and perks.
How about calling them “Dr. Scholars?” (& I re-named Eva “Evil,” or call her “Evita”).
Honestly, I’m speechless. How does she live with herself?
$500,000 p/year salary, that’s how.
See, for me, that wouldn’t do it….
As the economist John Maynard Keynes is said to have remarked, “capitalism is the astonishing belief that the nastiest motives of the nastiest men somehow or other work for the best results in the best of all possible worlds”.
I have forwarded the link to this post and my objections to Moskowitz’s propaganda rallies to my NYS Assemblyman, who is also the Minority Leader of the Assembly. Brian Kolb bravely voted No on the bad state budget deal for education and continues to be a strong support of true public schools.
Public school leaders would be sanctioned and removed from their jobs if they pulled these same stunts. Our teachers’ associations can’t even use a school-owned copier to make flyers. Expressly prohibiting charter school operators from using instructional time and rsources for political rallies could and should be enacted into law.
These excursion are no more than exploitative advertisements for her private, profit network. Soon she’ll be on Shark Tank, with infomercials to follow. Makes me wonder if she ever got any of her educational insights from that illustrious NY media personality, Elliot Spitzer!
These excursions are no more than exploitative advertisements for her private, profit network. Soon she’ll be on Shark Tank, with infomercials to follow. Makes me wonder if she ever got any of her educational insights from that illustrious NY media personality, Elliot Spitzer!
Do NY taxpayers have legal standing to sue, to get back what they agreed to spend for education but, which was, instead diverted, to fund propaganda for a failed reformy product?
I am a teacher in the Success network (let the flames begin). The students in our schools did not and will not miss any instructional time for either rally. EVERY Wednesday is a half day for students in our network. Teachers spend the rest of the day in professional development. For the last Rally, the times of the school day were swapped (children attended for 1/2 a day in the afternoon instead of in the morning) but no instructional time was lost. For the upcoming rally, the schedule for students will be the same as it is every Wednesday throughout the school year. The only difference is that teachers won’t have PD that day. Considering we get many more hours of PD throughout the year than most teachers, this is not anything that should be causing outrage….. You certainly have the right to feel however you wish about the rallies themselves, but please don’t misrepresent facts to try to prove your point. We aren’t “closing for half a day” because of the Rally. We are ALWAYS closed for half a day once a week.
Smith,
I am not outraged that students at Success Academy are missing a half day of instruction.
I am outraged that they are cynically used by SA as pawns to lobby for more charters and more money. They are not rallying for themselves. They already attend a charter school. They are being used for political purposes.
Students and parents aren’t required to go to any of the rallies. We, as teachers, are required to ask all families, but there are no consequences for those who don’t come. In addition, if students didn’t come to school in the afternoon (because logistically some families couldn’t get them there at that time) they were excused, no questions asked. The parents who came wanted to be there.
I know that you disagree with the rallies entirely, but families aren’t being forced to attend and the children aren’t missing any instructional time.
What about the parents? By the way, teachers in public schools usually have some type of PD when students are out. This is nothing but blatant expoitation of students and parents by Eva Moskowitz to enlarge her empire. What about the cost to the city for extra police protection? How about the inconvenience created for the other residents of the city?
As I said above, parents are asked but not required to come. There are no consequences for not attending. And since every Wednesday is always a half day for students, parents have childcare in place already.
As far as the police cost and inconvenience, this could be said about any large event/concert, parade or protest that takes place in the city.
Except the cost is caused by Moskowitz who gets public dollars to run her organization. By the way I doubt VERY much that parents and students aren’t pressured to attend. In fact if every Wednesday is a half day why aren’t students at home playing? I know I would be. I guess Moskowitz isn’t satisfied with $500,000 p/year salary. She needs to expand!
There have been plenty of protests by teachers unions around the country and their schools are publically funded as well.
I’m sorry you find it hard to believe that families aren’t obligated to come. We ask, but as I’ve said, there is no consequence if they don’t.
As for Wednesdays, it’s a public fact that every one is a half day. Look at the website, ask a current parent or call the network yourself. Why weren’t kids home playing instead? Some were (and were excused in terms of attendance). As for the others, you’d have to ask their parents why they came.
Why would students have to be excused for attendance if they are off? Not buying any of your statements. My guess is you are probably an administrator or seeking to become one.
Haha. I actually NEVER want to be an administrator in any capacity. I don’t ever want to be in charge of adults. Children and the classroom are my passion.
I can’t help that you don’t “buy” anything I’ve said. Any parent or success employee would say the same thing.
And why did they have to be excused? Because we still had a half day of school in the afternoon after the rally. The kids didn’t miss any instruction if thy came. If not, they were excused.
So they did miss instruction even if they were “excused”. By the way, as I stated before Moskowitz’ income is about $500,000 for about 10,000 students. The chancellor of NYC DOE has a salary of $250,000 for about 1,100,000 students. So let’s scale up Moskowitz income for 1,100,000 students. In that case the chancellor should receive a salary of about $55,000,000. I wonder what the public would do if they truly realized how much of the ED dollars were going into private hands. Which I guess is one reason Moskowitz is fighting so hard against public auditing .
Smith, there are many charter schools in NYC. Why was Success Academy the only charter school that told its families at the last minute that their school morning would be cancelled and if they wanted their child to get an education that day, they would have to bring them at an entirely different time?
If this was such a great idea, why did no other charter school close their school for it?
I think we both know that there is something wrong with the school where you teach and the choices they make. How many 5 year olds were suspended in your school, Smith? Or do you teach the older grades where they are already replaced with students who prove to Success Academy that they are competent to enter at the appropriate grade?
Yes, if their families didn’t bring them they missed instruction that afternoon. That was their choice just like any day. The point is that full instruction was offered. I personally had 23/29 students in attendance.
Your other point about salary has nothing to do with what I posted originally. It’s a completely different argument.
It sure is a different argument: Greed. Pure and simple. Again the public would not stand for it if it was aware of the real reason for the existence of charters such as “Success”. In fact when voters were allowed to vote they overwhelmingly voted against charters. Of course the billionaires seeking further enrichment weren’t about to let mere voters stop them. Losing her seat on the city council was great for Moskowitz!
Smith, what you just described above is a “public” school that decided to change the start and end time of a school day at the last minute to accommodate a political rally. The rally was changed at the last minute and so was the start time of the school. And parents were told, “tough luck”, you may have made other plans for your child but we unilaterally decided that we’d have this rally instead and now you have to accommodate Eva Moskowitz.
Smith, Eva Moskowitz could have had the SAME rally on Wednesday afternoon! You just proved it! So why didn’t she?
Is it because she could not put the same pressure on parents to come to an after school rally? I think we both know that no real public school simply changes the school day to the afternoon to accommodate their leader’s political aspirations or desire to increase her public exposure.
So Smith: Does Success Academy have half days on Thursdays in addition to Wednesdays????
The article linked and my own piece note that this is a scheduled half day on the Success Academy calendar.
That does not matter.
What matters is the USE of that half day to boost attendance at a fully political rally, in this case using the teachers as the window dressing.
NO public school superintendent has the ability to use a scheduled half day in this manner. Every half day my children’s unionized public school teachers take are for professional development and related activities only. If Chancellor Farina coordinated with the UFT to use a scheduled half day to bring NYC public school teachers to a political rally, there would be a massive outcry and for good reason.
Success Academy’s behavior in these matters is outrageous.
Smith, your explanation makes Success Academy look really bad.
If they could schedule the upcoming rally in the afternoon, they could have scheduled the last rally in the afternoon. That is what you do if you want the regular instructional day with the rally as the choice of parents and students who wanted to attend.
Of course, if you want to put pressure on parents to attend the rally, you do it the way that Eva Moskowitz did because you care far more about the public relations aspect that whether thousands of poor parents have to take a day off work with a week’s notice or find alternative child care. But if caring for those parents means that you can’t put the same pressure on them to attend your rally, then of course it is far more important to provide free public relations to Eva Moskowitz than anything else. Notice how no other charter school did what she did? Notice how Smith has just confirmed that the rally could have been scheduled in the afternoon just like this teacher rally is? But then, how many parents would have shown up? The ones who wanted to, but apparently it wasn’t worth the risk and better to make sure thousands of families had no choice. After all, they should be grateful to Eva Moskowitz and if she is the only one who benefits from her plan, of course they should do it!