Here, in an article that is not behind a paywall, is an account of Eva Moskowitz’s first defeat in her battle with Mayor de Blasio.
Success Academy has officially canceled its pre-kindergarten program for next year, after losing consecutive fights with City Hall and the State Education Department over a contract dispute.
Success CEO Eva Moskowitz and the network’s lawyers have argued that a pre-K contract the state requires all providers to sign is overly restrictive and therefore illegal. State education department commissioner MaryEllen Elia ruled in February that Success needed to sign the contract granting the city oversight over its pre-K program in order to receive public dollars.
Success had been seeking $720,000 from the city in order to run its pre-K program, which is currently in three Success schools. Moskowitz has been clear that the issue is one of one of principle, not cash. POLITICO New York reported last month that the charter network spent $734,000 on a political rally in Albany last year, $14,000 more than it is asking for from the city.
The cancellation was a foregone conclusion after an upstate judge declined to expedite Success’s appeal of the state’s decision in the dispute, forcing Moskowitz to hew to a self-imposed, end of May deadline to cancel the pre-K program.
When Moskowitz called a press conference to announce her decision, no one showed up to cover it other than Politico.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2016/06/success-academy-officially-cancels-pre-k-programs-after-unsuccessful-fight-102355#ixzz4ARfx63EN
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When Moskowitz called a press conference to announce her decision, no one showed up to cover it other than Politico.
For her, the ultimate insult?
I wish. Reporters only inform the public of news favorable to Wall Street billionaires, though.
Interesting – why didn’t a “reporter” from Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post show up?
Eva’s cancelling it “for the kids”.
Had she already enrolled kids for pre-k? If so, those families may have a hard time finding an alternative for September. Places are filled. Yeah, it’s for the kids.
Agreed. She really has no shame. I hope many parents will take note of how callously she treats families. Sadly, I’m sure this won’t deter many from applying to Success Academy for kindergarten anyway.
Eva Moskowitz is an egotistical, self-important, spoiled brat who cannot deal with anybody telling her “no.”
Hmmmm. Somehow, in many ways, she reminds me of a certain “presumptive nominee” in the Republican Presidential nomination race.
Imagine Eva as head of Department of Education if Trump wins…
Pardon me, mathcs, while I set my hair on fire and run screaming out of here at the very thought. Aaaarrrggghhh!
Thank goodness she won’t be able to suspend 4 year olds for unclasping their hands or (gasp!) talking in the lunchroom!
“You don’t play nice. I’m taking my ball and going home!!!” Harumphed Eva.
Eva has no balls to take home. Only ego.
Norwegian Filmmaker –
. . . except perhaps brass ones . . .
https://www.the74million.org/article/cat-greenleaf-for-my-childs-sake-please-save-pre-k-at-new-yorks-success-academy
Let’s not forget the true victims of this cancellation. Kids like Truman.
His older brother had an experience at Success Academy very different than the one that some of the at-risk kids in Success Academy schools where suspension rates of 5 and 6 year olds are sky high. As his television star mom explains:
“we’ve been blown away by the exhaustive consideration he gets from the entire staff to reach him, and teach him, where he is. Once they figured out his optimal learning style, they swiftly adapted so he could progress along with his peers.
I’ve been especially moved to see how his teachers handle adjustments with minimal disruption to the class, which keeps Primo from feeling like the “bad kid” when he needs some extra support.”
It seems there is no need to worry about struggling 4 year olds being punished as long as Success Academy can educate the 4 year olds who are worthy. They are treated with kindness and the Success Academy administrators are happy to adapt to whatever learning style he wants. I’m sure that this describes exactly how the at-risk kids who struggle learn are treated as well. Success Academy always meets them on their own terms and makes sure never to make them feel like the “bad kid”.
It’s a shame that the kids of affluent middle class parents like this won’t be able to enjoy the free pre-k that they had hoped to enjoy with no oversight to make sure that ALL the students in their child’s school — including the ones whose parents aren’t affluent tv personalities — get treated the the accommodating manner that Primo does.
Cat Greenleaf could well afford to send Truman (and Primo, for that matter) to nice private schools.
Given her position as a TV journalist/hostess, there is no way in hell that Success Academy would not have bent over backward to make sure that Primo did well at Success Academy.
It’s just too damned bad that Success doesn’t give “the exhaustive consideration he gets from the entire staff to reach him, and teach him, where he is” to children of poor, not-famous parents.
Oh my gosh, rarely is Eva shown in a flattering photo. I think I’ve seen one; this one wasn’t it.
Good riddance Eva. Don’t go away angry, just go away.
Poor little Eva;(
Score one for the Mayor!
The problem with the reform movement, or perhaps just the problem with Eva Moskowitz, is that this is not a game. You don’t score points. You don’t win by making someone else lose.
Despite Mayor de Blasio’s obvious dislike for Eva Moskowitz, I have never seen him implement policies designed to make her lose. He was looking out for the interests of ALL students (I realize that is an anathema to her) when he took his first action, which was to stop 3 out of 8 of her schools from opening in locations that were obviously granted by Mayor Bloomberg in a rushed process designed to reward his friends on her board instead of looking for what was the best action. Despite her rhetoric, he never tried to “shut her down”. She got to open 5 new schools and still could have opened the additional 3 by renting her own space or negotiating for other space. She chose to use her money to mount a PR war instead that convinced people that the Mayor was actually closing schools and sending kids off to dangerous failing schools instead.
It is obvious that Eva Moskowitz could easily pay for that pre-k this year with some of the 30+ million she raises in one night. But if she pays for it herself, what good is it? If her “win” doesn’t come with the trophy of taking public funds from schools that need is far more, it is not worth it to her. Because her ultimate goal is not to educate kids — if it was she could run a charter school like Brooklyn Prospect does and do it without fighting and demanding special privileges. Her goal seems to be how much can she take FROM public school budgets for her own schools. And how many kids can she push out of her schools when they turn out to be more costly so that the public school budgets now have to pay for what they need.
Mayor de Blasio is not anti-charter. He is anti a movement to intentionally undermine public education by demanding resources, and pushing out expensive kids in order to “beat” the public schools. And when charter schools are run in a way that all about “winning”, then the kids they teach are nothing but pawns in that game and it is not surprising that the ones who help you “win” are treated like gold and the ones who might make you “lose” are treated like criminals.
How much better would it be if people did not see this as a game. de Blasio does not. But had he allowed her to run a pre-k program with the same oversight she has been given to rid her schools of so many unwanted children over the years, it would have been about de Blasio abandoned his civic duty. And just because the SUNY Charter Institute has abandoned their civic duty is no reason for the NYC DOE to abandon it if they have any ability not to.
It is NOT a game. Only the reformers think it is because winning is everything and the kids who are damaged along the way are just the price that winning costs.
Nearly three quarters of a million dollars, taxpayers’ dollars for a political rally? How does one justify that?
I wonder if they were having trouble filling those spots. Interesting take on things: The young single mom who cuts my hair told me that she was paying to put her little one in a play-based preschool. She planned to enroll him in a charter, but not until 1st grade. She was fully aware of the discipline policies at the charter chains she mentioned to me and felt they were her child’s best options for getting a good education. But at the same time, she wanted him to have a couple of years longer to be a child–before the start of what is, in effect, boot camp.
And no, I didn’t express an opinion about her plans, beyond asking about her district school. She felt it was both poor quality and dangerous. She is doing what she feels is the best thing for her child–but it made me sad.
And, reading the Politico article, I wonder if some parents who approve of Success still feel it’s not an option for their 4-year-olds. Just a thought.
The extent to which the district school is of “poor quality” and “dangerous,” this is exactly what the Eva’s of the world hope for every night. In fact, it’s a short term goal.
The Politico article didn’t explain that aside from one location in Harlem, the 4 other pre-k locations were in quite affluent neighborhoods, and 3 of the schools have a majority of educated, middle class students. (The 4th, in very trendy Williamsburg, has a large cohort of new hipster babies coming up).
I have no doubt that most of the parents who Success Academy hoped to accommodate in pre-ks intentionally located in some of their more affluent elementary schools had no worries that their kids would be treated like they were in boot camp. As the (white, educated, affluent) Success Academy parent explained in her op ed, her child gets “exhaustive consideration” to treat him where he is.
Will the child of the young single mom who cuts your hair get the same consideration if that child struggles academically or behaviorally at age 4 or 5? It would certainly be interesting to see if the at-risk kids disappear from Success Academy schools in far greater frequency than the kids who are affluent. Seems that anyone who cared about whether it was really working would want to know that. Of course, if you only care if it’s working for the “right” kind of kids, then of course, knowing that huge numbers of at-risk kids aren’t being treated with the “exhaustive consideration” to meet them where they are that the kids who are “worthy” get would be something you would have no interest at all in finding out.
God forbid Success Academy PreK should have to abide by the NYC contract requiring oversight in order to receive public $. Whom do we have to thank for this, state or city? Looks to me like it’s score 1 for ELIA (not DiBlasio)! At least she’s doing something right.
Eva Moskowitz finds Bill de Blasio a much easier target. If she was honest, she would be criticizing Elia and demanding her resignation. She would be explaining how Elia is in the tank for the unions and doesn’t care about kids and wants them to suffer in failing schools.
But then, having an honest discussion has never been the modus operandi of the people who run and support Success Academy.
Try sincerely though I may, I am unable to summon any sympathy for Eva Moskowitz. I would be grateful to her if she would stop whining and portraying herself as a victim. It’s simply distasteful.