I just saw this press release:
**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, OCTOBER 19, 2015**
Contact:
Ann Powell, 646-894-6407
Ann.Powell@successacademies.org
EVA MOSKOWITZ DEMANDS APOLOGY FROM PBS NEWSHOUR FOR INACCURATE REPORTING
Veteran Reporter John Merrow Violates Journalism Ethics with Biased Report,
Denies Success Academy Fair Response to Allegations
New York, NY — Today, Eva Moskowitz, Success Academy CEO, released a copy of a letter sent via email to Judy Woodruff of PBS NewsHour, demanding a correction and apology for inaccurate and biased reporting by John Merrow in his segment, “Is Kindergarten Too Young to Suspend a Student.” The letter, sent on Friday, October 16, details Merrow’s willful disregard for journalistic ethics and refusal to allow Success Academy to respond to false allegations of a former parent and student, who represent that the student was suspended for not tucking in his shirt and wearing red shoes and “losing his temper.” Later in the report, Merrow alleges that Success Academy students were suspended for getting up to “go look at the bulletin board.”
The letter to Woodruff includes email exchanges between Moskowitz and Merrow, wherein she asserts her right to hear and rebut the parent’s allegations against Success Academy. Merrow refuses, responding that he “would not air unsubstantiated allegations” and “her role is limited and should not be cause for concern on your part,” an overt lie in view of the finished segment.
Merrow further misrepresents Success Academy as having high attrition rates when in fact the popular charter school network does a far better job of retaining students than the city’s district schools.
Full letter is posted here: http://bit.ly/1ODDmJ4
I don’t know though- this seems to back up everything Merrow said in that clip:
http://www.shankerinstitute.org/blog/student-discipline-race-and-eva-moskowitz%E2%80%99s-success-academy-charter-schools
Moskowitz’s own people admitted this back in 2010:
http://nymag.com/news/features/65614/index4.html
Make special note of their attitude towards children with IEPs.
Yeah, I think the real question is not what PBS does, but what the Obama Administration does.
If they’re going to enforce civil rights laws as to public schools, they have to enforce civil rights laws as to charter schools. They won’t have much credibility on the “school to prison pipeline” if they give these schools a pass based on political or ideological preference.
Chiara, the feds are barely enforcing IEP violations. Duncan stopped enforcing compliance in 2011. The Dept of Ed is essentially captured by industry. Obama’s tragic legacy is making the Dept of Ed irrelevant for kids with disabilities & their families who think someone is protecting their rights.
Just more evidence that charter schools are not public schools.
Indeed — and how odd that they go to such lengths today to deny what they happily admitted 5 years ago.
An email asked whether she had violated his FERPA rights by releasing his disciplinary record. What do you think?
The spirit of FERPA, yes. And the specific emails referencing the child should definitely be considered part of the record, but I suspect they have people who could aggressively argue otherwise.
The proper, grown up, fully legal response to that dispute would be “We cannot discuss in public any specifics, but suffice to say the student in question had numerous, much more serious, infractions than they revealed to you.”
I just read her letter and she uses the same manipulated statistics as I have seen before. Her use of the “gradingatlanta” study — which has never been peer reviewed as far as I can tell — is especially abhorrent. I hope a researcher like Andrea Gabor takes a look at it – he seems to ONLY compare the students who remain in Success Academy to get this conclusions while pretending the fact that so many at-risk kids and kids with disabilities leave.
Furthermore, she attacks ONE student who is suspended. If we take Eva Moskowitz at her word, she is telling us that 24% of the students at one of her schools with only K and first graders (not Prospect Heights, but the other one noted) are doing violent things. 24% of the 5 and 6 year olds doing violent things at Success Academy and no one asks what the heck is wrong with their system?
One out of every four children do violent things after entering Success Academy. And many of those kids do violent things over and over again, according to Eva Moskowitz. And she pretends that nothing is wrong?
….to continue — here is another shocking quote from Ms. Moskowitz’ letter:
“Success’s attrition rate is 10% ACCORDING TO DATA OBTAINED BY WNYC FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION…”
Say what???? Eva Moskowitz is one of the few people who knows exactly what the attrition rate for Success Academy is. Why is she quoting the data from a WNYC reporter from 2012?
Does she know that data isn’t accurate? Because when I look at the numbers of students who have disappeared from the Success Academy schools that have primarily low-income and minority students, it sure doesn’t look like they lose 10% of the students each year. More often there is a big surge of students disappearing one year, although because of backfill some of those spots are very likely filled with higher performing students. But Eva Moskowitz certainly has no need to quote a 3 year old news report that may or may not be accurate when she is one of the few people with access to the real data. Just release the actual data on each Success Academy school’s attrition rate each year and we can judge for ourselves. I certainly hope that is information that Scott Stringer’s audit will gather.
Attrition needs to be examined in individual schools, not as an average where many schools still have only K – 1. If one school has 50% attrition and another has 0% attrition, averaging them together to claim a 25% “average” attrition rate tells you very little. What tells you a lot is what students are at the school that lost half its student and why did so many more of them leave than at another school in the same network.
I posted this over at Peter Greene’s CURMUDGUCATION site, on an article about special ed, and Arne Duncan’s denial that such a category of students even exist. Just treat them exactly like regular ed students — the same curriculum, testing, etc. with no specialized assistance whatsoever — and they’ll be just fine, or so Duncan and education officials in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania argue.
http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2015/10/pa-shutting-down-special-ed.html
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Eva Moskowitz is on the same page with Duncan. To both of them, there’s no such thing as “special ed.” In her opinion, that which the traditional school approach categorizes as “special ed,” is nothing more than a lack of “maturity” as a result of “mama” failing to her her job. Those whose fail to “mature” — or have the effects of poor parenting reversed — under Eva’s system are kicked out… err… “counseled out.”
This is from PAGE 5 of the 2010 NEW YORK MAGAZINE story on Eva and her schools:
http://nymag.com/news/features/65614/index4.html
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NEW YORK MAGAZINE:
“At Harlem Success, disability is a dirty word.
” ‘I’m not a big believer in special ed,’ (SUCCESS ACADEMY’s instructional leader) Fucaloro says. For many children who arrive with individualized education programs, or IEPs, he goes on, the real issues are ‘maturity and undoing what the parents allow the kids to do in the house—usually mama—and I reverse that right away.’
“When remediation falls short, according to sources in and around the network, families are counseled out. ‘Eva told us that “the school is not a social-service agency,” ‘ says the Harlem Success teacher. ‘That was an actual quote.’
“In one case, says a teacher at P.S. 241, a set of twins started kindergarten at the co-located HSA 4 last fall. One of them proved difficult and was placed on a part-time schedule, ‘so the mom took both of them out and put them in our school. She has since put the calm sister twin back in Harlem Success, but they wouldn’t take the boy back. We have the harder, troubled one; they have the easier one.’
“Such triage is business as usual, says the former network staffer, when the schools are vexed by behavioral problems: ‘They don’t provide the counseling these kids need.’ If students are deemed bad ‘fits’ and their parents refuse to move them, the staffer says, the administration ‘makes it a nightmare’ with repeated suspensions and midday summonses. After a 5-year-old was suspended for two days for allegedly running out of the building, the child’s mother says the school began calling her every day ‘saying he’s doing this, he’s doing that. Maybe they’re just trying to get rid of me and my child, but I’m not going to give them that satisfaction.’ ”
“At her school alone, the Harlem Success teacher says, at least half a dozen lower-grade children who were eligible for IEPs have been withdrawn this school year. If this account were to reflect a pattern, Moskowitz’s network would be effectively winnowing students before third grade, the year state testing begins.
” ‘The easiest and fastest way to improve your test scores,’ observes a DoE principal in Brooklyn, ‘is to get higher-performing students into your school.’ And to get the lower-performing students out.”
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FOLLOWING THIS WERE THESE COMMENTS:
They better talk to some sped parents. They are a very vocal, and at times very litigious lot. These idiots will never get away with gutting special ed. BTW, the term “special” in special ed has nothing to do with the kids being “special.” It is about kids needing “specialized” instruction. “Special” is just a shorthand term for “specialized.”
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cmooretechOctober 18, 2015 at 10:37 PM
I can only hope for a case of what goes around comes around and that Arne gets a special needs grandchild…let’s see how fast he runs to find a good school for special needs children..good luck.
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Sue AlexanderOctober 18, 2015 at 11:49 PM
PA is trying to use LRE arguments to stop the (very expensive) practice of self contained classrooms. For parents this means either take it to due process now, or wait a few years until the lawsuits make PA change. (I recommend a lawyer)
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NY TeacherOctober 19, 2015 at 7:26 AM
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NY TeacherOctober 19, 2015 at 7:31 AM
“Stop being dyslexic Pat . . . .”
Glad to see you use dyslexia as an example. It is the one learning disability that needs a much brighter spotlight. Virtually ignored by public schools yet the root of nearly 80% of all reading troubles.
Peter, Consider doing a piece on dyslexia. Countless parents will be thankful. Administrators and even teachers are either in denial or simply ignorant of this issue. Thanks.
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See PBS documentary, “Demystifying Dyslexia”. The bottom line is this is specialized training that all reading teachers should have, especially of younger grades. It could eliminate the need for special ed for many students later on, and save a lot of money in the process.
The “paper by two economists” cited by Ms. Moskowitz was thoroughly debunked on this very blog over a year ago. See https://dianeravitch.net/2014/09/12/researcher-charter-chain-built-on-hyperbole/
I read that but I think it did not go far enough.
Where did this “researcher” get his data about Success Academy? There is no explanation for this and no one else seems to have access to it.
It is obvious from data.nysed.gov that the attrition rate is not normal attrition on an annual basis. If one quarter of a 2nd grade suddenly disappears between 2nd and 3rd grade, that can’t be annualized to pretend it is all parents moving away as happens in other schools. And it also appears that the attrition is even higher than it seems as the children in lower grades are replaced by children who must be tested before Success Academy will allow them to join the grade they won the lottery for.
Let’s call Eva Moskowitz’ bluff. All she needs to do is show us how many of the K students in her first 6 schools made it to the 5th grade. Or 8th grade. Easy Peasy. It’s a sign of the terrible reporting and oversight that no one has just asked her for this straight out.
This summer the IBO reported that 53 charter schools had an “average” attrition rate of 49.5% by 5th grade. Half the starting K kids gone. Five of those schools were SA schools and I suspect the reason the IBO has refused over and over again to disaggregate the data so we can see how many children disappear from each of those Success Academy schools in the report is politics. Maybe Diane can request it from the IBO. If SA schools are ABOVE that average of 49.5% of the K students disappearing by start of 5th grade, then we all know something is very, very wrong.
Ms. Moskowitz responds poorly to anything other than laudatory puff pieces.
Good. Send this to the press person.
John Merrow was the first reporter to really do a close look at the numbers of disappearing kids. Ms. Moskowitz constantly quotes Beth Fertig of Schoolbook as having done her own study that proves Success Academy attrition rates weren’t especially high (it’s impossible to know what numbers Fertig used) but it is hard to believe that anyone could look closely at what happens to children at individual Success Academy schools instead of simply looking at “averages” (which is what Fertig did) and say that it is not extremely suspicious. “Averages” hide what happens to at-risk kids at certain Success Academy schools.
Look at Success Academy Bed Stuy 1, which had 103 2nd graders at the start of 2nd grade, and only 76 kids remaining to take the 3rd grade test. It’s not 10% a year “average” attrition — it is 26% in a single year and it is also 40% of the low-income students in that 2nd grade class who didn’t make it for 3rd grade testing. I repeat, at Success Academy Bed Stuy 1 a total of 68 out of 103 2nd graders were economically disadvantaged. 19 students had disabilities. But only 41 of those 68 economically disadvantaged 2nd graders took the 3rd grade state tests the following year. The 3rd grade class had shrunk by 27 students in one year and it seemed all of them were poor. And only 6 students with disabilities remained — perhaps SUNY will “theorize” that the other 13 students with disabilities who were there at the start of 2nd grade were magically cured after being in Success Academy and that’s why the number dropped so much.
This summer’s IBO study showed that there was a 49.5 % attrition rate of entering Kindergarten children in a group of 53 charter schools that included 5 Success Academy schools. 24.5% left by 2nd grade, the remaining 25% by the start of 5th grade. Anyone who thinks we should take Eva’s word that they all moved away should get a job doing oversight at the SUNY Charter Institute because they’d hire you in a minute! No need to look further because all well-funded, top-performing public schools lose half their Kindergarten class by 5th grade. Of course they don’t, but because failing schools do lose students, SUNY Charter Institute can’t be bothered to see why half the students would leave. Or perhaps MORE than half the at-risk students — we don’t know because SUNY doesn’t care.
This kind of attrition of low-income students is repeated even at the more affluent SA schools where it is hidden in overall attrition rates that are lower since the vast majority of kids are middle class or upper middle class.
Success Academy’s outrageous exaggerations about how ‘successful” it really is have been accepted without question by a gullible press that never questions how many at-risk students, how many poor students, disappear. We are supposed to believe they all moved away. Success Academy is hugely successful at marketing — not so successful in doing what charter schools are supposed to be doing: keeping and educating every at-risk child who enters their door in K. Until Eva Moskowitz admits the failings of Success Academy, she is doing great harm to the schools who educate the kids she will not admit her schools have failed to educate. The fact that she would attack and criticize public schools for not doing any better with the at-risk kids she doesn’t want to teach is the very definition of chutzpah.
Suspending 24% of the 5 and 6 year olds at your school and getting away with it? Getting rewarded for it? That’s Eva Moskowitz and now she is upset that anyone dares to ask her why or follow up her outrageous claims that they were all violent and cursing up a storm.
Moskowitz was unhappy with the NY Times’s article on her academy last spring and complained.
One might hope she’d have taken comfort in her stellar results, in being a “great” school and in participating in the “civil rights issue of our time.” Isn’t that enough? No?
“I was able to remove John’s finger.”
“John became upset after not getting all the questions on his daily CRM correct. I noticed he was become frustrated and told him he needed take a mandatory cool down with me outside.”
Heartbreaking. No recognition where it started. With all those millions, no one to sit with a boy who feels like a failure “after not getting all the questions on his daily CRM correct”. Just punish him and he will learn and suspension always works when a child is obviously struggling to meet academic expectations. In private schools those kinds of kids are gone but public schools aren’t supposed to make them feel worthless. Maybe he was afraid his failing score would once again be posted on the wall for all to see. He is probably 6 or even 7 by that time, so “no excuses” – he needs to learn that failure means you just aren’t putting enough “effort” into it.
Didn’t Eva also complain about The New York Times piece that all but trashed her corporate gulag schools?
“In a rare look inside the network, including visits to several schools and interviews with dozens of current and former employees, The New York Times chronicled a system driven by the relentless pursuit of better results, one that can be exhilarating for teachers and students who keep up with its demands and agonizing for those who do not.”
“Rules are explicit and expectations precise. Students must sit with hands clasped and eyes following the speaker; reading passages must be neatly annotated with a main idea.”
“Incentives are offered, such as candy for good behavior, and Nerf guns and basketballs for high scores on practice tests. For those deemed not trying hard enough, there is “effort academy,” which is part detention, part study hall.”
“One consequence of the competitive environment is a high rate of teacher turnover. Some teachers who left said that the job was too stressful. Others said they left because they disagreed with the network’s approach, particularly when they believed it was taken to extremes.”
“Former staff members described students in third grade and above wetting themselves during practice tests, either because teachers did not allow them to go to the restroom, which Ms. Moskowitz disputed, or because the students themselves felt so much pressure that they did not want to lose time on the test.”
“Several former teachers and staff members said that they had also been uncomfortable with Success’s suspension rates.”
“At Success Academy Harlem 1, as the original school is now called, 23 percent of the 896 students were suspended for at least one day in 2012-13, the last year for which the state has data. At Public School 149, a school in the same building, 3 percent of students were suspended during that same period. Statewide, the average suspension rate is 4 percent. (A spokeswoman for Success said that the suspension rate at Success Academy Harlem 1 has since declined to 14 percent, and that several of the newer schools had rates below 10 percent.)”
THERE’S a Lot More for Eva to complain about.
Back to the candy and toys given out as rewards—when I was still teaching in California’s public schools (1975-2005), teachers were told repeatedly that we were not allowed to reward students with candy or other types of bribes like video games or toys for doing the work and cooperating. In fact, it seemed that every time we came up with something to motivate kids to learn in the form of any reward, the state legislature or the courts would make it illegal ASAP as if someone was watching and waiting to make sure the public schools couldn’t do anything that might work. Teachers still did it but if caught and reprimanded, they’d quit.
Way to go Mr. Merrow! Eva must be feeling the heat after this story aired and is trying to make herself look good.
Her response with further details about student “John” is heart-wrenching. It should be obvious that this is a young child who needs support and guidance, not repeated suspensions. This does not help her case in my opinion.
“Way to go Mr. Merrow! Eva must be feeling the heat after this story aired and is trying to make herself look good.”
Well, the camera doesn’t lie about her pleasant looks, does it? Maybe this is the first time she had to experience what it does to her when she lies.
I read the letter in full. Wow, that’s a lot of data points used to ‘prove’ her teachers love children and her schools are a ‘success’.
here is how i can tell my public school is a success…our kids laugh with friends, they complain about homework, they eat lunch with their teachers (because they want to), they go back to campus for performances and sports, they read because they have to and then end up liking the books, they roll their eyes when asked to pull up their pants or push down their skirts and they hate getting out of bed but generally happy to get to school, before the late bell rings.
Nation’s Children, Parents and Teachers Demand Apology by Eva Moskowitz and Success Network, Campbell Brown, Michelle Rhee, Teach for America, StudentsFirst, the New Teacher Project, Democrats for Education reform, Arne Duncan, John King, Bill Gates, The Walton Family Foundation, The Heritage Foundation, KIPP, Wendy Kopp, David Coleman, the Relay Graduate School, Education Post and Peter Cunningham, Chris Stewart and Every Hedge Fund Manager and Investment Banker Who Has Profited from Corporate Education Reform
Touche, bravo and here here.
Excellent!
Exactly.
At last night’s SAANYS keynote David Berliner called Eva “a monster” who is aided in her quest to destroy public schools by our Governor. I wonder if she’ll go after him as well.
Interesting that when Moskowitz is viewed under a microscope she ends up looking so small.
The fact is, she is quite a small person! The first time I saw her in person – handing out leaflets years before she became a big charter school honcho – I thought she was literally a middle-school aged child – then realized she was an actual adult, trying to engage me about “bad” public schools in NYC. I let her talk then informed her I was myself a NYC public school teacher. Ha.
RageAgainstTheTestocracy:
And in further news…
When they used an electron microscope on Saint Eva they found what, pending further analysis and investigation, might possibly be trace elements of compassion and decency.
Stay tuned for further developments.
😎
DNA analysis has revealed, that what first appeared to be molecular amounts of compassion and decency, is actually evidence of a genetic relationship to Genghis Khan. Scientist speculate that Eva’s ambition to establish a charter empire is hard-wired into her fundamental make up; conquering, apparently, is in her genes.
And where is the letter she released? Why didn’t they link it or include it in the press release? The claim of higher retention than neighborhood public schools is ridiculous. They are not permitted to counsel out any students.
It was in the above post … but here it is: http://www.successacademies.org/site/uploads/2015/10/Response-to-PBS-NewsHour-John-Merrow-Oct.-201562.pdf
I laughed so hard, excuse me, I’ve peed my pants – quick, now hand me a test taking Success Academy diaper so I can read further.
Eva, you jokester you. She really does get whatever she wants, doesn’t she, by bulldozing, posturing, smoke and mirrors, and outright lies. One day, the false reputation she enjoys will come crashing down upon her blessed, saintly head. Its all about the children folks; she is selfless. Move along; nothing new to see here.
Oh Eva, cry us a river!
In the last paragraph of her lengthy letter, she says:
“Educators at Success Academies love children and try to meet the needs of every student. Mr. Merrow might have taken his report as an opportunity to investigate how challenging it can be for teachers to balance the needs of children who have severe behavioral issues and those of other students who deserve a safe and productive learning environment.”
I’ve always believed that ALL students deserve a safe and productive learning environment.
It’s interesting how she tries to make this about the teachers and the students, and not about her and the “Success” Academy’s policies.
What’s funny is that Ms. Moskowitz protests that the parent in this case is using “privacy rights” to prevent her from speaking, yet she and others in the charter industry use the privacy rights of a nonprofit organization when preventing the public from seeing how it’s tax dollars are spent.
BINGO. Eva seems to be all about Eva.
I am in DISBELIEF that she released the personal teacher accounts of this student’s PERSONAL behavior record in an email. In the public school, student’s personal behavior records are only shared with parents and the school personnel that need to be involved. There are confidentiality laws protecting student’s records. I don’t know about the state of NY or charter law in NY but this parent may need to seek legal advise.
Yes, even though the student was not named, the letter contains so much detail, it would not be difficult to identfy him and his family.
Shame, shame on her and her minions at SA for making the letter public!
Agree, even though the student is not named it could create a very sticky legal situation for Eva and her staff. Public schools are well aware of confidentially laws protecting student’s records. Apparently Eva’s charter did not get the memo. Could prove very costly indeed.
The outrageous violation of this child’s and his mother’s privacy was what stuck out for me. I think they have easy grounds for a civil rights violation suit for failing to follow FERPA.
Right, in other words, Eva would have had Mr. Merrow focus on the gritless and shiftless kids who keep her from her mission. THEY’RE the problem, after all; not her.
“The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”
Is Eva going to go after the Glass Door site as well?
http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2014/08/citizen-jacks-compendium-of-teacher.html
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“They don’t tolerate what we tolerate,” she said several times. What is it HSA doesn’t tolerate? According to my co-worker: disruptive children and parents who don’t play an active role in their child’s education.”
— Brian Jones, NYC public school teacher and activist
“Jack,” a frequent commenter on Professor Diane Ravitch’s site, sent me the following compendium of reviews from a website that allows employees to rate their workplace. The workplace in question is reactionary Eva Moskowitz’s corporate Harlem Success Academies (HSA). Ravitch did mention the site, and also referenced an article discussing the staggering turnover rates of teachers, with HSA being the most egregious offender.
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Hey, why don’t we hear from the current and former instructors at Eva Moskowitz’ SUCCESS ACADEMY Network? Thankfully, we can actually do that, and hear the unvarnished truth that they have anonymously shared, thanks to the “Glass Door” website that provides employees an opportunity to share the good, the bad, and the ugly about the people for whom they work, and the workplace culture that they’ve experienced.
(Get it? The “glass door” gives transparency.)
Finally… FINALLY (!!!) in post-Michael-Winerip era, there is a free and independent entity that is beyond the control and clutches of Eva and her ruthless multi-million dollar PR leviathan. Indeed, Glass Door’s posted motto or promise is:
“Your trust is our top concern, so companies can’t alter or remove reviews.”
http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Success-Academy-Charter-Schools-Reviews-E381408_P2.htm?sort.sortType=OR&sort.ascending=true
I just cut’-n-pasted the first 24 teacher reviews from the site above (settle in, it’s a long read … if you care to read it all.)
While reading this, I often found myself asking the question, “Did I just read what I THOUGHT I read?”
For example, “FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 11” said that Eva banned any administrators or even teachers from writing letters of reference for SUCCESS teachers—current or former—who wished to teach elsewhere. As this teacher put it put it:
“They will not give you a reference letter; its against company policy.”
What is this? The Hotel California? “You can check out any time you like but you’ll never be able to work again as a teacher…. that is, if I, Eva Moskowitz, have anything to say about it.” It’s like… “If I can’t control you—i..e. you leave or I push you out—I won’t help you with continuing your teaching career elsewhere.”
In my two decades of teaching in the traditional public schools, I’ve never heard of a administrator acting like this.
Some of the complaining teachers are even current “LEAD TEACHERS” still working at SUCCESS ACADEMY—NO. 17 is both a “CURRENT TEACHER” and a “LEAD TEACHER.”
A common refrain is that the 60-80 hour weeks make it utterly impossible to have any kind of personal life or “work-life balance”, and how they “work you until you are sick” and don’t care about your well-being.
Oh, and the workload and lifestyle make it impossible to have a family or children. But hey, wait a sec. Eva was allowed enough time that have and raise her three kids. As Orwell put it in ANIMAL FARM… “All of us are equal, but some are more equal than others.” And she makes over $ 480,000 / year.
Perhaps my favorite comment came from a teacher comparing Eva’s personality and behavior to that of a Meryl Streep movie villain (from a few years back). “FORMER TEACHER NO. 14 compared working at SUCCESS ACADEMY to…
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” ‘THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA’ — except not funny and you actually can damage hundreds of kids lives in the process.
“Any advice will fall on deaf ears because hers is a method that works well. Google ‘sick system’ and you will find SUCCESS, in its shiny, primary colored glory.”
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To jar your memory, here’s the DEVIL WEARS PRADA trailer:
And the sad thing is… Eva would be flattered by this comparison, taking it as a compliment… “You’re damn right I’m like that, and if any o’ you teachers, parents, or kids got a problem with that, you can all go SUCK IT!” (not an actual quote… just a little humor)
The reviews have three criteria: PRO’s, CON’s, and ADVICE TO MANAGEMENT. I omitted the PRO’s as they were so trivial (i.e. healthy snacks and the printers work”)
I can just picture Eva in her posh Upper East Side digs reading this, and thinking:
“What a bunch o’ lazy wimps and whiners! I don’t want them teaching at my schools, anyway. I wish there was a way to find out who those ‘CURRENT’ teachers posting are, so I could fire all of ’em!”
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– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 1:
1 * STAR (out of 5)
“The most miserable experience I’ve ever had. ”
CON’s:
“One personal day, horrible work-life balance,
— micromanagement of employees,
— no chance for professional or personal growth,
— dictator-like school.”
ADVICE to Management:
“I think it’s too far gone.”
Does NOT Recommend — Negative Outlook – Disapproves of CEO
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER (& LEAD TEACHER) NO. 2:
“Do your research before accepting a job here.”
1 * STAR (out of 5)
CON’s:
“Unethical treatment of students and teachers,
— competition at all costs,
— little support for students with disability,
— retains an average of less than 50% of students,
— retains an average of 30% of staff,
— leadership and staff are replaced with no communication or explanation,
— humiliation used as main motivational tool for both students and staff,
— students struggle with anxiety,
— very little emotional or social support
— students stay silent 80% of the day, silent hallways in upper grades,
— young students told to stop crying when dealing with personal trauma,
— no work-life balance,
— CEO is in constant conflict with city government which causes ongoing location uncertainty,
— network is rapidly opening new schools while neglecting to fix all of the other dysfunctional sites first.”
Does NOT Recommend — Disapproves of CEO
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
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FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 3:
1 * STAR (out of 5)
“Toxic Enviorment, Developmentally Inappropriate Abusive Culture of Fear ”
CON’s: “Worked for one of the highest performing schools in the network in the Bronx.
“— Entire school focused on remaining at top of network schools assessment wise while pushing students in completely developmentally inappropriate and emotionally ABUSIVE ways.
” — When I brought up that Eva and the network and research disagrees with practices at my location, I was told the network didn’t know what they were talking about, haven’t I seen our top assessment scores, and that my primary responsibility was to make sure my classroom assessment data was up.
” — Teachers openly MOCKED 6 year olds with learning disabilities telling them they would see them in the same grade again next year because they were neither smart nor hard working and hopefully would not be in their student again- in front of the entire classroom.
” — Left work every day feeling angry at the school until I left permanently.”
ADVICE to Management:
“Teacher culture needs to be totally reformed-
— experienced total lack of professionalism by newer teachers in front of children we were meant to be models for.”
Does NOT Recommend — Negative Outlook – No Opinion of CEO
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FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 4:
1 * STAR (out of 5)
“The mission provides so much potential, but falls short in practice ”
CON’s:
“Employees are seen as dispensable and the environment is toxic.
— Leaders rule through fear and intimidation.
— At the network office, pay is low for the hours worked.
— Turnover is extremely high.
— The organization has grown too fast.
— There are other rewarding education organizations that treat their employees better.”
Does NOT Recommend — Disapproves of CEO
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FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 5:
“Will not shape you into the the teacher that you want to be. ”
1 * STAR (out of 5)
CON’s:
“Lack of support.
— Militaristic style of teaching to the test.
— Students did not learn content.
— Teachers had no work-life balance.”
Does NOT Recommend — No Opinion of CEO
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FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 6:
1 * STAR (out of 5)
“Great mission, terrible culture ”
CON’s:
“The leadership team is more interested in making political statements than about choosing the right growth strategy for the organization.”
Does NOT Recommend — Disapproves of CEO
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FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 7:
1 * STAR (out of 5)
“I was an Associate Teacher ”
CON’s:
“Everything.
— Extremely high turnover due to many reasons, just a few of which are listed here.
— Hours are insane,
— management doesn’t care about the employees,
— the style of teaching and discipline is horrifying,
— I didn’t like who I became after working here,
— there are unrealistic expectations of teachers (like I need to log every phone call I make to a parent!?),
— and the feedback is ALWAYS negative without any sense of “you can do it” or “we can do this together”,
— it’s “Get your f*cking sh*t together!”
ADVICE to Management:
“You’ll have a much happier staff if you recognize that employees are PEOPLE who want to have lives outside of work, don’t want to be micromanaged, and will see better results if you approach criticism in a more constructive way rather than beating up your teachers.”
Does NOT Recommend — Neutral Outlook – Disapproves of CEO
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FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER (& LEAD TEACHER) NO. 8:
1 * STAR (out of 5)
“Overworked and unreasonable expectations on staff, micromanaging”
CON’s:
” — 1. Micromanaging by leadership
“— 2. No autonomy in your classroom, it’s like they’re making all their teachers into replicas of the one model they’re looking for
“— 3. Overworked school day – I would arrive by 6:45 am and I felt like I was running behind already.
— I would work till 5:00 pm at school, then bolt out the door to get home to my family.
— I would tirelessly grade papers while on the subway, try to respond to the absurd amount of emails and constantly changing meetings, expectations, etc.
— I would work on school work for extra hours at night and it was never enough.
— If this had been my first teaching job out of college, I would have hated teaching.
— Luckily I had 6 years experience in a great school district in a different state.
“The stories I had to tell about this job made everyone in my life tell me to quit. There was so much stress and anxiety going into each week of the job.”
Does NOT Recommend — No Opinion of CEO
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CURRENT SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 9:
1 * STAR (out of 5)
“Very low morale”
CON’s:
“All teachers are extremely overworked.
— 12-hour work days are the norm.
— Very, very little prep time during the day, as meetings are held during “prep” periods. — Management encourages bizarre competition between teachers, and as a result, morale is low.
” — Students are pushed out of the school if they exhibit any negative behaviors or if their data is low.
— In either case, management will meet with the family to tell them that this school is ‘just not the right fit for them’.
— If that doesn’t work, they will suspend the child ad nauseum or even push them down into a lower grade, so that their exhausted parents give in.
— It’s absurd that this school is publicly funded when it does not serve the population it purports to serve.
— It is honestly more a school for gifted students than a school working to close the achievement gap.
— I include this in my review because it contributes to the low morale of the school – your students who you love are constantly being kicked out.”
Does NOT Recommend — Negative Outlook – Disapproves of CEO
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FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 10:
1 * STAR (out of 5)
CON’s:
”
ADVICE to Management:
“Value your teachers more by making their workday more manageable.
— This will lead to teacher retention.
— 6:30am – 6:30pm is not sustainable, as the teacher turnover rate clearly attests.
” — Also, value the children who are told they don’t belong at our school.
“If we can’t help them, what are we doing in the education business?”
Does NOT Recommend — Negative Outlook – Disapproves of CEO
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FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 11:
1 * STAR (out of 5)
“Not fulfilling, will not help you with career. ”
CON’s:
“I worked exceptionally hard and efficient, and they rewarded me by not hiring me after the internship ended saying “There was not enough work to be done”. There was not enough work to be done because I completed all the tasks. 1 month later surprisingly they found enough work again to open up the position.
” — They will not give you reference letter, its against company policy.
” — You spend days working on projects that they themselves do not want to work on. Some of which include creating thousands of addition and subtraction problems.
” — You’re supposed to work with the Math team however they are never in the office, and you are left alone to do meaningless tasks.
” — You get paid terribly, and not treated as part of the company or team.
” — They exclude interns from meetings, both company and team.
” — Terrible pay despite working you to the bone.”
ADVICE to Management:
“Recognize talent and hard work.
— Be honest about work performance instead of hiding behind HR.”
Does NOT Recommend — Positive Outlook – Disapproves of CEO
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FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 12:
1 * STAR (out of 5)
“High Turnover, Poor Work Life Balance, Unprofessional Managers ”
CON’s:
“Unprofessional Directors and poor work-life balance. Focus on test scores and nothing else.
” — Staff usually stay less than one year.
” — There are so many HR/Recruiting positions available because the staff turnover is so high,
” — they are constantly searching for other candidates.”
ADVICE to Management:
“Look at the Enrollment and Talent/HR Team and Teacher Dept turnover. Why do certain directors have extremely high turnover and are not being held accountable?”
Does NOT Recommend — Negative Outlook – Disapproves of CEO
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FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 13:
1 * STAR (out of 5)
“High Turnover, Poor Management ”
CON’s:
” — 1. Poor Management: Management tends to fire those who voice opposition. Look at the turnover data for the Network office…team Ops, team Enrollment…etc.
” — 2. Mostly young, inexperienced staff. The poor management is directly reflective of inexperienced staff.
” — 3. Unrealistic work expectations with no additional compensation or concern for staff well being. In a “no excuses” environment, even being ill with cancer is no excuse for taking a day off.
” — 4. I cannot stress enough how poor the management of department directors and other senior staff is. My manager was the most unprofessional, unqualified person I had worked with in my career.
ADVICE to Management:
“Examine the high turnover rate and be honest about it. There are several directors whose turnover rates for their departments should be analyzed.”
Does NOT Recommend — Neutral Outlook – Disapproves of CEO
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FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 14:
1 * STAR (out of 5)
“Abusive, panic-driven environment justified with high reward potential ”
CON’s:
“— Erosion of any work/life balance – actually highly, HIGHLY discouraged in culture
— Constant environment of panic maintained to encourage high effort and self-doubt
— Eva is abusive and no one is willing to admit it
— Recommended to young individuals who believe in giving 115% for “the cause,” and have not yet developed concept of “self-boundaries” or “self-care”
— Upon school visitations, their very strict classroom rules for students also border on abusive
— While building critical reading and writing skills in kids, also severely stamps down on self-expression or autonomy (punishments are plentiful, harsh, and unexplained)
— Absolute silence in hallways, even teachers are discouraged from speaking
— Teachers are kept in constant fear of surprise visits and sample collections for evaluation.”
ADVICE to Management:
“To management? Why bother? The network team waited weeks to “introduce me” to the Director, waiting for the right moment. WEEKS. I began to wonder if I should chew on a leaf in an office corner until she became accustomed to my scent. This is how afraid her staff members are, or at the least, this was the culture they tried to project.
“Her direct inferiors are constantly insulted, sent to run on impossible tasks, validated for their submission to her, or ridiculed/fired if not. I had extreme difficulty maintaining any hard boundaries — much less soft ones — during my time there. The literacy team is stressed out beyond belief; they put so much work into what they do but it is never good enough. It was incredible to watch.
‘THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA’ — except not funny and you actually can damage hundreds of kids lives in the process.
Any advice will fall on deaf ears because hers is a method that works well. Google “sick system” and you will find Success, in its shiny, primary colored glory.”
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“My advice goes out to the staff.
” — The high turnover occurs because those able to identify the system for what it is and recognize that when faced with self-respect/self-care vs. ‘the cause,’ they should choose to protect what’s left and move on.
” — In addition, once you step quietly back from the whole thing, you will learn that ‘the cause’ has gotten lost in politics, panic and upkeep. ‘The cause’ is potentially damaging to the students that attend the school.
” — If ‘the cause’ is yourself — meaning, you are a young, vibrant, 20-something year old who wants to feel that you’ve single-handedly changed the world — this is probably a better place for you than the ACTUAL NYC education system, which can be disheartening, without guidance or such ripe upward mobility. Here you’ve got micromanaging overhead, and if you ‘survive’ long enough, you can really take your experience everywhere.
“Dear prospective employee: In many aspects, teaching is like social work. Social Work institutions highly, highly encourage you to maintain self-boundaries and self-care. Otherwise you will burn out in a ruthless, demanding, draining career of unrequited love.
“The same way many social-work industries can take advantage of the big hearts and self-validating determination, so can ‘well-intended’ charter schools. Once you find yourself in a position where you have to negotiate your ‘non-negotiable’ (I highly recommend you walk in with one) on a consistent basis, consider stepping back for a long, long moment. Breathe. You will probably ride a cycle similar to breaking up from an unhealthy relationship, but I promise you your quality of life is not worth it.
“In any case, they can replace you so quickly. I think that is what scares everyone the most.”
Does NOT Recommend — Positive Outlook – Disapproves of CEO
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FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 15:
1 * STAR (out of 5)
CON’s:
“—Culture – the tone of the organization is driven top-down. Eva and her direct reports are unafraid to bully others and do not show appreciation for those working for them. That trickles down through the organization in a very significant way.
” — Highly-political / not-business minded – Though the organization is a non-profit there is ZERO business sense in making decisions which is sorely needed. Decisions are almost always motivated by political motives.
” — Physical work environment – the actual office is pretty terrible. They signed a 10 year lease on a space that they outgrew in about a year and a half. Some of us were in the former storage spaces with no actual desk phones or any natural light. Some people are in satellite offices with significantly longer commutes.
” — Extremely high turnover with no institutional memory – because people leave so often and the organization does not do a good job of standardizing procedures or capturing information there is a lot of reinventing the wheel that happens when someone comes into a job.”
ADVICE to Management:
“Listen to what your employees are telling you – both current and former – and actually try to take some steps to make a change!”
Does NOT Recommend — Neutral Outlook – Disapproves of CEO
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CURRENT SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 16:
1 * STAR (out of 5)
“The worst—I repeat—The WORST teaching job I have ever had in my life! ”
CON’s:
” — Long hours (minimum 60 hours a week…if your lucky). They have no regard for work-life balance.
— Awful management-Management (Principals, Vice Principals, etc) are trained to run schools like factories and they do.
— Employees are treated like they are just another number not like human beings.
— They have no intrest in teacher retention.
— If you don’t believe me, Google the turnover rate for thier schools.
— Some are at 60%! Lastly, at time the expectations are unrealistic.”
ADVICE to Management:
“Learn how to manage people in a way that makes them want to work for your company for the rest of their lives. I have seen some of the most passionate teachers quit this job.
Does NOT Recommend — Neutral Outlook – Disapproves of CEO
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CURRENT SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER (& LEAD TEACHER) NO. 17:
1 * STAR (out of 5)
“Too miserable to stay, no matter how much you are there “for the kids” ”
CON’s:
“— Arrogant young management
— ZERO personal AND ZERO sick days
— little prep time when accounting for extra meetings
— leadership talks to teachers like they are students
ADVICE to Management:
“I LOVE the mission of Success Charter Network. I love the kids there.
— But I simply cannot stay on board with the unprofessional tone of leadership and the unrealistic demands on us as teachers.
— Working 80 hour weeks and still not completing my ‘assignments’ at a high level tells me there is something wrong with the model. \
— I actually wish the work environment was better so I could stick around for the kids and their families. I am a well educated professional and a highly effective teacher that should not be talked down to by a 26 year old supervisor.
“Until major changes are made, I will look for another charter network… ”
Does NOT Recommend — Neutral Outlook – Disapproves of CEO
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FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 18:
1 * STAR (out of 5)
“Bad Work Environment”
CON’s:
“Working longer school years, longer school days (7 AM – 5 PM is mandated… and that includes a flexible prep time… some days you have all of your prep, other days you have none), with less pay.
“Couple this with no tenure, no unionized safety, no days off.
— There are no substitute teachers; if a teacher is absent, you lose your prep time to cover a class.
— And there is no compensation (of time or money) for this. As a result, the average worker sticks around till 8 PM. 7 AM-8 PM = a schedule that is not conducive to most people’s lifestyles.
— Clubs are practically mandated for certain teachers. No choice in this privatized industry.
“This job is not good for anybody who wants to do anything outside of Success. This includes having a family.”
ADVICE to Management:
“Consider changing your mentality towards teachers. Yes, students come first, but so do our personal lives. Make it more family friendly, and maybe there will be less of a teacher turnover in future years.”
Does NOT Recommend — Neutral Outlook – Disapproves of CEO
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CURRENT SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 19:
2 ** STARS (out of 5)
“Great Company…if you prefer ambiguity and lack of work/life balance ”
CON’s:
“Few standard operating procedures
— Unclear organizational structure
— Poor work/life balance
— Zero opportunities for mentorship and coaching due to youthful management, which leads to
— Young managerial staff with limited experience
ADVICE to Management:
“Stop reinventing the wheel.
— Develop basic policies and procedures.
— Hire competent, experienced staff.”
Does NOT Recommend — Negative Outlook – Disapproves of CEO
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FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 20:
2 ** STARS (out of 5)
“Good schools, terrible work environment (unless you are a teacher). ”
CON’s:
“Toxic work environment
— culture of fear
— you could lost your job at anytime, work harder.
Does NOT Recommend — Disapproves of CEO
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FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 21:
2 ** STARS (out of 5)
“Mission driven, but a cult of personality ”
CON’s:
“High turnover,
— low employee satisfaction,
— incredibly top-down,
— poor upper and middle management,
— over-promotion,
— young workforce that exudes professional immaturity,
— heavy test prep that no one speaks of outside of the organization,
— layers of mismanagement and heavily politicized environment,
— doesn’t care about teacher turnover.
“Teachers are not trusted to do their jobs,
— staff on all levels are micromanaged,
— scaling and expanding too quickly without an adequate strategy or plan in place.
“The CEO, while an incredibly dynamic and intelligent woman, is too heavily involved with the day-to-day instead of focusing on higher level strategy and management of the organization. The organization runs on a cult of personality that revolves around pleasing her, which makes me skeptical that they can truly scale this model of education.”
ADVICE to Management:
“Change your policies towards teachers:
— Try to retain them,
— give more flexible time-off/sick day policies,
— place more trust in their abilities and truly develop them.
— Improve internal communication skills,
— treat employees like they are human,
— stop micromanaging and empower employees to do their jobs well.
“When you are leader and you constantly complain about the incompetencies beneath you – well, the apple never falls far from the tree. The culture starts at the top.”
Does NOT Recommend — Disapproves of CEO
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FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 22:
2 ** STARS (out of 5)
“Great benefits and salary, good mission, poor execution ”
CON’s:
“Not a lot of autonomy;
— conflicting feedback and management styles;
— too many managers;
— poor work/life balance;
— poor employee culture (encouraged to backbite and compete rather than collaborate)
ADVICE to Management:
“Streamline management of lower level employees:
— teachers do not need and suffer under 4 different managers, particularly when they have varying styles of management and conflicting advice;
— too frequent observations actually contributes more to stress than to accountability.”
Does NOT Recommend — Neutral Outlook – Approves of CEO
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CURRENT SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 1:
2 ** STARS (out of 5)
“Very Low Morale.”
CON’s:
“Depressing environment.
— Unreasonable workload.
— Teachers have low morale and are stressed.
— No work/life balance.
— Uncertain how much school cares about kids (it’s more about the numbers).
ADVICE to Management:
“The turnover rate is high.
“There are people who want to quit, but can’t because they
— 1) care about the kids,
— 2) need the money,
— 3) signed a 2 year commitment contract,
or
— 4) can’t get a day off to go on another interview.
“Management should be worried about the long-term viability of this organization.
— No one can work at this pace for 10 years.
“Management should invest in retaining their employees instead of hiring new ones constantly.
— Intellectual capital cannot be replicated.
— The hours are terrible. 6:30 am- 7pm stresses everyone out, including the kids.
— One has to wake up four or five am depending on commute and try to get to sleep early for the next day.
“However, the work never ends so there is never enough time to get everything done. You never feel as if you’re doing your job well enough. Ever.”
Does NOT Recommend — Negative Outlook – No Opinion of CEO
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FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER (& LEAD TEACHER) NO. 23:
2 ** STARS (out of 5)
“Well-funded, high expectations, don’t value their employees ”
CON’s:
“I felt completely taken advantage of as a teacher.
— Way overworked (even relative to a prior career that was extremely demanding),
— felt very little respect from network.
— Didn’t care about my work-life balance, personal health, emotional well-being.
— Was assigned way more tasks than what I believe a teacher should be asked to do (which resulted in lower quality work in the classroom).
— Extremely micromanaged, which was forced upon me in my work, and forced upon students as well.
— Little creativity encouraged in learning.”
ADVICE to Management:
“It’s been noted that the network doesn’t care about employee turn over–but this school turned me off from teaching.
— Literally worked me until I was sick.
— Actually care about your employees well-being and sanity–work smarter, not harder. — Allow kids to be kids, and let the teachers teach.
Does NOT Recommend — Neutral Outlook – Disapproves of CEO
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CURRENT SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 24:
2 ** STARS (out of 5)
“The Reality is Nothing Like the Image ”
CON’s:
“Employee happiness is on the bottom of the priority list.
— The model seems to be based on bringing in young, idealistic men and women ready to put up with anything and asking them to work around the clock and devote their lives to the job.
— Few last longer than a year, which weakens the culture…some people don’t bother learning colleagues’ names since turnover is so high.
“Vast majority of senior staff are not good managers.
— Just so many terrible management practices that make no sense.
— Management seems to have no respect for employees.
— We are kept in the dark about major issues affecting us,
— management does not solicit employee opinions,
— huge discrepancies in salary between the top tier and the rest.
“Huge focus on testing and test scores.
— The image of multi-disciplinary ‘whole-child’ curriculum just isn’t true in Grades 3 and up, when the students spend months on end preparing for the state tests.”
ADVICE to Management:
“Employee happiness might not seem like a pressing problem, but a model based on constant turnover undermines the organization.
— Some respect toward the employees goes a long way (and I don’t mean casual Friday or free snacks).
Does NOT Recommend — Approves of CEO
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
“I began to wonder if I should chew on a leaf in an office corner until she became accustomed to my scent.”. 😀
Thanks for the post.
My concern, after reading Eva’s response, is what about the student’s right to privacy and why are these things being made public? Is this type of information allowed to be made public without the agreement of the parent?
OMG!!!
Here’s a must-post, must-read Salon.com article that just hit the internet:
http://www.salon.com/2015/10/19/campbell_browns_insidious_new_lie_charter_schools_dark_money_and_the_war_on_teachers_unions_and_your_kids/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialflow
Here’s the text:
—————
” ‘Campbell Brown’s insidious new lie:
Charter schools, dark money
and the war on teachers’
unions — and your kids’
“by JEFF BRYANT
– – – – – – – – – – – –
“Before Democratic Party presidential candidates readied for their first debate on CNN, they turned down an opportunity to meet at another forum.
“That meeting was to be hosted by ex-CNN anchorwoman Campbell Brown, who now operates a media outlet, ‘THE 74,’ that promotes charter schools and other public education policies favored by wealthy foundations and individuals. Brown’s financial backers include the philanthropic organization of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the foundation of the family that owns Wal-Mart.
“As Politico reports, Brown’s group and another charter advocacy organization had already brought six Republican candidates together in New Hampshire in August to talk about education policy. Next, in conjunction with the Des Moines Register, the two organizations wanted Democratic candidates to gather in Iowa. None of the candidates would commit to attend even in principle.
“Politico reporter Michael Grunwald was quick to frame the candidates’ snub, with obvious help from Brown herself, as proof of the political might of teachers’ unions.
“For sure, Brown’s history of fighting with teachers’ unions. As an article in The Washington Post last year reported, she led an effort to cast the New York City teachers’ union as a protector of sexual predators.
“After that venture, Brown launched a group that filed a lawsuit in New York State to dilute teachers’ job protections, commonly called ‘tenure.’
“So she is clearly at it again. Grunwald quotes her, “The teachers’ unions have gotten to these candidates.”
“ ‘It’s shameful how my party is being held hostage by the unions,’ Grunwald quotes Kevin Chavous the head of American Federation for Children, the other organization sponsoring the event.
” ‘I see no difference between their strong-arm tactics on the Democrats and the gun lobby’s tactics on Republicans.’
“This is not the first time a proponent for charter schools has compared an organization representing classroom teachers to an extremist group that responded to the gun deaths of school kids and educators in a Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school by blaming the teachers for not packing heat.
“Comments like these show how hyperbolic people who back charter schools, high-stakes testing and a crackdown on teachers’ collective bargaining rights have become.
“Trolling For Education ‘Reform’
“But aside that offensive remark, Brown and Chavous also took to The Daily Beast to accuse the teachers’ unions of “bullying” them and being “anti-democratic.” They warn the Democratic Party presidential slate:
“ ‘Voters have demonstrated time and again that candidates who buck the teachers’ union are rewarded.’ (Uh-huh, tell that to ex-Pennsylvania governor Tom Corbett or failed California state education superintendent Marshall Tuck, who both lost elections, in large part, for bucking unions.)
“Charter school proponents in other corridors of the education reform echo chamber offered similar counsel to the candidates.
“On the blog site EducationPost — a media outlet funded with $12 million by some of the same wealthy foundations and individuals who back Campbell Brown — Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and the rest of the candidates were called ‘pathetic … They’re afraid of the unions who warned them not to attend the event.’
“In an op-ed appearing in USA Today, Richard Whitmire — a routine commentator at The Seventy Flour and author of a ‘worshipful portrait,’ according to education historian Diane Ravitch, of former Washington, D.C., school chancellor Michelle Rhee — wrote, ‘The party of Hillary Clinton must decide:
” ‘Support teachers’ unions OR fight for low-income, minority children.’
“This overheated rhetoric sounds a lot like concern trolling coming from conservative Republicans. One of those, Fox News contributor Juan Williams, noticed the candidate no-shows for Brown’s event and wrote for The Hill, ‘Clinton and her Democratic rivals have shunned an invitation to an education reform forum because it was sponsored by former CNN anchor Campbell Brown … out of apparent fear of antagonizing the unions. The price of a union endorsement is too high for school children.’
“All this bloviating over a botched attempt by charter school proponents to stage an event allowing them to frame issues for their own end is not only rhetorical overload, it’s really bad political advice.
“It’s the Parents, Stupid
“First, opposition to rich people’s agenda to convert more public schools to charters and attack teachers’ job protections is not confined to teachers unions.
“In communities such as Nashville, Tennessee, and Jefferson County, Colorado, parents, not teachers’ unions, are leading the opposition to the takeover of public schools by self-proclaimed reformers.
“The successful mayoral campaigns of Bill de Blasio in New York City and Ras Baraka in Newark, New Jersey, drew their strength from coalitions of voters who, yes, supported public school teachers, but also wanted solutions to the growing inequities in their cities, such as raising the minimum wage and big changes in the criminal justice system.
“There is a reason, after all, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan made his now infamous remark about ‘suburban moms’ being the main opposition to the roll out of his high-stakes testing agenda for schools. Those really were suburban moms, and not the teachers’ unions, speaking out in defiance.
“Unions Are Good for Low-Income Kids
“Also, if Brown and her fellow education activists were really so concerned about the future of kids who live in low-income communities, they would be advocating for labor unions rather than opposing them.
“My colleague Dave Johnson at the Campaign for America’s Future recently came across a new study conducted for the Center for American Progress, which found in places where union membership is higher, low-income children, in particular, benefit from ‘economic mobility’ and ‘intergenerational mobility.’ In plain English, this means union strength correlated with low-income children being more apt to rise higher in the income rankings — and for their children in turn to be better off.
“Reporters at the New York Times looked at the study as well and noted, “There aren’t many other factors that are as strongly correlated with mobility” as the presence of unions.
” ‘A 10-percentage-point increase in the rate of unionization in an area coincided with a rise of an additional 1.3 points on the income distribution as the average child becomes an adult,’ they wrote.
“Combating unions is not only a strategy unlikely to result in good outcomes for low-income kids, it also seems completely out of step with the political zeitgeist of the times.
“Missing the Populist Bandwagon
“Robert Borosage, another CAF colleague with over three decades of experience as a political strategist, observes that among presidential candidates in the Democratic Party:
“‘The growing populist movement in this country is driving this debate.’
“ ‘Populist’ as Borosage uses the term, is stridently pro-union and opposed to the agenda of the big moneyed interests — the same folks who are typically behind charter schools and crackdowns on teachers’ rights and parent and student voice in school governance.
“Likely sensing the populist uprising, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, after turning down the invitation to Brown’s klatch, made a surprise appearance at a union rally in Las Vegas where boisterous protestors were demanding higher wages and better treatment from their employer, a hotel bearing the name of Republican presidential primary frontrunner Donald Trump.
“The wave of populism washing across the country is not lost on Republican candidates. Tellingly, two Republican candidates currently leading in polls who did not show for Brown’s event in New Hampshire, Trump and neurosurgeon Ben Carson, are arguably the most populist candidates in that field.
“Also, the two Republican Party presidential hopefuls who are most aligned with the anti-union, pro education reform advocacy stances of Campbell Brown and her fellow advocates have not fared well.
“Bad Political Advice
“The fate of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is the most obvious example of how union bashing is not a sure-fire strategy for political gain. As another CAF colleague and veteran political observer Bill Scher observed upon witnessing Walker’s withdrawal from the presidential race, “Scott Walker proves you can’t union-bash your way to the White House.”
“Walker, who had made a political career out of ‘his glorious union battles,’ in Scher’s words, ‘became pathetic. … In the waning days of his campaign, he offered his one big idea: eliminate federal worker unions and abolish the National Labor Relations Board. Nobody cared.’
“The other Republican candidate most aligned to the pro-charter, anti-union agenda of education reform proponents, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, is still in the race but has faltered severely in polling results.
“More than any other candidate, Bush has made his battle for charter schools and punitive education policies in the Sunshine State a centerpiece of his campaign. This strategy hasn’t done him any good, most notably because those policy ideas are now widely held in contempt in his own state.
“ ‘The Bush-era reforms have failed,’ writes a columnist for the Tampa Bay Times, noting the state’s school accountability system established during Bush’s regime has collapsed in ruins, and the system of testing put into place ‘turned schools into sweatshops.’
“Investigative reports conducted by this author for the Alternet news outlet have found Bush’s expansions of charter schools have done little to advance the academic and life achievements of low-income kids and have instead opened of the state’s education system to widespread corruption and fomented chaos in communities.
“Given what has happened to Walker and Bush, no candidate in his or her right mind should embrace the strategy promoted by Brown and her cohorts.
“An Authentic Movement, if Democrats Want One
“Many people leading the effort to stifle classroom teachers and do damage to public schools so charter schools can be presented as an attractive alternative like to believe they are leading a movement. But it’s far from certain their movement is catching on.
“As the dust settles after the first debate among the Democratic Party presidential candidates, it became clear none of the issues charter school advocates care about came up in the discussion. While that’s not a good thing, necessarily, it shows despite all the money the Wal-Mart foundation and other rich folks can bring to bear, the return on their investment so far is pretty poor.
“In the meantime, a grassroots constituency that sees big money pouring into campaigns for closing neighborhood schools and opening up more charters is increasingly unconvinced wealthy white people have the best interests of low-income black and brown children in mind.
“This from-the-ground-up movement has also yet to influence the presidential debates, in either party. But should Democratic candidates decide to pay attention, it will be obvious to them which of these two education ‘movements’ really represents an authentic voice for positive change.”
– – – – – – – – – – –
JEFF BRYANT is Director of the Education Opportunity Network, a partnership effort of the Institute for America’s Future and the Opportunity to Learn Campaign. Jeff owns a marketing and communications consultancy in Chapel Hill, N.C., and has written extensively about public education policy.
One interesting point about the Salon article is the reference to CAP. Bryant had to reach, to connect CAP’s research on unions/social mobility, to the adverse impact of education reforms. Fordham tax documents, at their website, showed money to CAP in 2013. When CAP released its list of 2013 funders to the media, Fordham wasn’t identified. Has CAP (supposedly), the voice of progressives, been forthcoming about its position on Silicon Valley and hedge fund influence on public school policy?
I wonder when our heroine is going to demand an apology from PBS for *this* one sided reporting.
One of the clear violations is at 8m 30s, when EM is talking about their uniquely rigorful science curriculum for kinderscholars. How come the reporter, McCarthy of CUNY, didn’t try to stop her right there and explore the deep love and expert knowledge of kidscholars that must have inspired this generation changing idea?
Is it just me, who can see toddlerscholars and babyscholars rigoring away in Success Academy’s PhD-ready program before the next decade is up? It’s clear to me that we would have heard all about this back 5 years ago if young Eva hadn’t been muzzled by McCarthy’s one sided questioning that refused to dig into the deep circles of Eva’s mind .
If Eva’s good heart stops her from doing it, I’ll myself do the suing of PBS and CUNY. Who’s with me?
Charlie Rose sucks.
I’ve seen him give the cushy star treatment to Wendy Kopp, Michelle Rhee, Davis Guggenheim… the list goes on. He never challenges any of them.
Daily Howler did a multi-part dissection of his interview with Wendy Kopp that shows this in detail. I’m too busy to find it now.
When it comes to education, he’s worse than worthless. He’s a one-man North Korean news agency for privatizers and teachers union busters.
This is a very general impression statement, but it feels like I am losing track of Eva’s entitlements and denials. She has the right to confront parents displeased with her OCD control of what kids come and what kids stay, but doesn’t have to allow Pre K oversight because her school is a publicly funded but corporate controlled/privately organized something-or-other and no one gets to know what she does and how she does it…
And HOW did she gain such prominence? I still don’t know. At least one of those Kardashians made a video. Did Eva marry someone?
dmaxmj,
Eva’s husband has his own charter chain: Citizens of the World (COW). No joke.
Among Eva’s unsubstantiated claims is that a 6 or 7 year old picked up a desk over his head and threatened to throw it… Steroids, Eva? I saw that child on TV. Arnold Shwarzenegger he is not.
In Merrow’s report it mentioned a different Success Academy school where 32 of 132 students were given suspensions. Apparently one quarter of the 5 year olds in that particular school are violent, too. It’s amazing how many violent children have dedicated parents who were lucky enough to win a spot in the SA lottery, isn’t it? I wonder why they have such a high percentage of violent 5 year olds at her school. Because if you take Eva Moskowitz at her word, THAT is exactly what she is claiming. We have a lot of violent children and we need to suspend them. Because that turns the violent 5 year olds into scholars.
“Apparently one quarter of the 5 year olds in that particular school are violent, too.”
Why is this unbelievable? The numbers are surely much higher, just Eva has a reputation to protect.
I dunno, what kind of kids you guys were, but if my teachers had forced me to walk around in silence with puffed up cheeks for more than 5 minutes, I certainly would have started throwing around objects. Now these kids do this all day long.
The puffed-out-cheeks thing — the infamous directive to “make a bubble” — is to render the child unable to talk under his breath to himself, or to another child. It’s equivalent to gagging the child—or taping the kids’ mouths shut like Michelle Rhee did—without getting in trouble for gagging of taping the kids mouth.
Creepy.
One more thing:
Do you think Campbell Brown’s kids at Heschel are “making a bubble” for minutes at a time during school hours? The same goes for Bill Gates’ kids at Lakeside, or Michelle Rhee’s/Kevin Huffman’s kids at Harpeth Hall, or over at Chicago Lab School—the Obama kids, Rahm Emanuel’s kids, Arne Duncan’s kids (who recently enrolled)… or my niece and nephew, who once attended the Chicago Lab School.
No wealthy parent would tolerate that.
From what I know of my brother, it would take a significant amount of restraint for him not to beat the ever-lovin’ crap out of any teacher who subjected my nephew or niece to minutes-long “bubble making.”
If she saw a 7 year old pick up a desk and hold it over his head, someone may be on something, but it’s probably not the kid.
She would simply claim that the Success Academy’s rigorous physical education program was equally successful as her academic test prep program. Lord knows how we limit our children’s physical abilities with low expectations. Kickball just doesn’t cut in SA schools – sweating during bench presses is a suspendable offense in second grade.
And if they aren’t bench pressing their own weight by age 6, they “just aren’t trying hard enough”. I think if you punish them enough, they will miraculously turn into world class bench pressers.
Not to pick nits, but wouldn’t lifting a desk over your head actually be “desk pressing”?
That’s actually considerably harder than mere “bench pressing”, which any two-year-old can do.
I’m picturing Lois Lane’s Pre-K-ish son in SUPERMAN RETURNS throwing the piano at the bad guy to save Lois’ life:
(go to 0:30 or thereabouts)
That’s the moment when she and the viewers realize that the boy was conceived during Lois’ one-night stand with the Man of Steele in SUPERMAN 2.
Does that kid in the Merrow piece look like he can similarly lift a desk over his head and then have the ability to hurl it — or convincingly threaten to hurl it — at a teacher?
(go to 6:08 on)
(go to 6:08 on)
Do you believe that this little guy above perform such a feat of strength?
(CUE the opening musical chords of the Superman theme)
( 0:01 on)
What is truly shocking about that frame grab is the statistic that 32 out of 132 students were suspended. More than 1/4 of the 5 year olds. And yet Mr. Merrow’s report seems to be the FIRST time any journalist has asked why? And Eva’s answer is that they were all violent? And apparently journalists accept that answer as being even within the realm of possibility. Without once questioning what kind of school makes 1/4 of the 5 year olds turn into violent kids?
I just thought about something. You never see Lois’ son pick up the piano.
Thus a better visual comparison to Eva’s ludicrous claim would be a scene from “SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE” (or “SUPERMAN 1”, as it’s sometimes referred to).
The boy-who-will-be-Superman saves his adoptive father by catching a car that is about to fall on him, then lifts it up:
(go to 2:40 or thereabouts)
(he lifts it at 2:51)
Once again, does this boy that Eva kicked out look like he can pull off such a feat of strength that Eva ascribes to him?
(go to 6:08 on)
Again, CUE the “SUPERMAN THEME”
(0:01)
When the book comes out, it should be called “Crazy Talk”.
There is a very easy way to see whose reporting is more accurate — John Merrow’s or Eva Moskowitz.
The SUNY Charter Institute could look at Eva Moskowitz 8 or 10 earliest schools, which now have expanded into middle school, and see what the attrition rate is, where the kids are going when they leave, and whether they are the kids with disabilities or other at-risk kids. If indeed, there is absolutely no difference between the students who STAY and the student who LEAVE, then Eva Moskowitz’ claim that it is just families randomly moving away is believable. If there is a difference, then her claims are bogus.
If this child did all of what Eva alleges, this was why the charter movement started in the first place—to help children that fit this alleged description, and what does Eva do? She throws these at-risk children out of her schools and back to the public schools or the streets, while she keeps only those children who are docile, good test tackers, and do what they are told without question. The exact opposite of the original charter school movement before corporations jumped in to make a profit.
Also, Eva Moskowitz is unusually focused on that one child — from her first e-mail to John Merrow she is upset that he is being interviewed. But 32 out of 132 students were suspended at one school. If so many 5 year olds are “violent”, it’s worth looking at the program more closely to see why that is happening at her school.
I suspect if we looked closely at these alleged violent students we’d discover that the parents are not Authoritarian Parents but are probably more Authoritative and/or Permissive and/or encourage their children to be individuals instead of automatons who must walk in single file down the hall between classes following a black line without saying a word, and pee and poop their pants without protest if they are told they can’t go the RR.
There are four parenting styles and according to one study I read, about 25% of the parents in the U.S. fit the profile that Eva is probably looking for—the child who grows up in a home where the parents are no excuse authoritarians.
“In this style of parenting, children are expected to follow the strict rules established by the parents. Failure to follow such rules usually results in punishment. Authoritarian parents fail to explain the reasoning behind these rules. If asked to explain, the parent might simply reply, “Because I said so.” These parents have high demands, but are not responsive to their children. According to Baumrind, these parents “are obedience- and status-oriented, and expect their orders to be obeyed without explanation” (1991).”
http://psychology.about.com/od/developmentalpsychology/a/parenting-style.htm
Eva Moskowitz included “incident reports” in order to vindicate SA by rationalizing the student’s suspensions. To me, the reports illustrate a very different point: how the developmentally inappropriate environment does harm to children. Furthermore, I am left to wonder what steps the teachers and school took to support the child and cultivate a partnership with his family. I work as a teacher, and I know that particular children experience great difficulty 1) overcoming frustration, as in the first incident described, and 2) transitioning between activities, as in the second incident. The philosophy of SA to drill&kill and publicly shame would, I imagine, engender immense frustration.The rigid, controlled schedule and structure or SA would necessarily involve an immense numbers of transitions. Finally, Eva’s blithe dismissal of the mother shocked me. She wrote, “As you can see, the situation here was challenging not only because of the child but because of his mother as well.” As I did not plainly “see” and can only assume, I believe she refers to the part of the incident report in which the mother (allegedly) informed her son, “I’m gonna beat your ass’ and was telling him that she was going to have the police lock him out.” To me, this sounds like a parent who feels ashamed that the school continuously calls with negative news, who wants her son to do well, and who, out of desperation, says something to convey all of this to her child. SA scolds the parent for not supporting them; I ask: what did the school do to connect with her? There is a better way!!! I work at a (public) Montessori school, where we can truly individualize so each child feels challenged AND successful, minimizing frustrations. Since the Montessori pedagogy honors that every child learns at a different pace, our children learn in more fluid “work cycles,” minimizing transitions. Behaviors still manifest, so I work A LOT to help children develop the skills to cope with frustration, sadness, and anger. Note that I do not prioritize compliance but value the child’s–always valid–emotions. And, finally, I welcome rather than alienate parents. Obviously, I encounter hard situations. However, how I react defines my work as an educator.
I didn’t know that people should apologize when they lie about public schools serving minority population for their own personal gain?
Where do Success Academy studebts end up after they succeed? Has it been around long enough to see what schools they attend after? Does the school have athletics and clubs?
Well, not ONE of her students qualified for acceptance to any of the competitive acceptance high schools in NYC……
Involved Mom,
Success Academy was started in 2006. None of those who started have reached high school graduation. What we do know is that none of those who finished eighth grade has been able to pass the exam required for entry into NYC’s elite public high schools, like Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, Brooklyn Tech, etc.
There should be a trigger warning on this post. Very thoughtless of you Diane.
Those of us who have suffered at the hands of Ed to farmers for years upon years will be freshly reminded of the abuse they’ve suffered by The self righteous abusers.
I experienced anger anxiety and nausea by reading Ava’s request. Warning next time please!
Eva and her ilk don’t even believe in the concept of “disability” or that there is a category known as “special ed,” or in IEP’s.
Or perhaps Eva does, but doesn’t deign to take those unfortunates on. According to one staffer, she responds to kids in hardship, including those based on disability with the following comment:
“SUCCESS ACADEMY is are not a Social Services agency.”
Eva Moskowitz is on the same page with Duncan. To both of them, there’s no such thing as “special ed.” In her opinion, that which the traditional school approach categorizes as “special ed,” is nothing more than a lack of “maturity” as a result of “mama” failing to her her job. Those whose fail to “mature” — or have the effects of poor parenting reversed — under Eva’s system are kicked out… err… “counseled out.”
This is from PAGE 5 of the 2010 NEW YORK MAGAZINE story on Eva and her schools:
http://nymag.com/news/features/65614/index4.html
————————————————-
“At Harlem Success, disability is a dirty word.
” ‘I’m not a big believer in special ed,’ (SUCCESS ACADEMY’s instructional leader) Fucaloro says. For many children who arrive with individualized education programs, or IEPs, he goes on, the real issues are ‘maturity and undoing what the parents allow the kids to do in the house—usually mama—and I reverse that right away.’
“When remediation falls short, according to sources in and around the network, families are counseled out. ‘Eva told us that “the school is not a social-service agency,” ‘ says the Harlem Success teacher. ‘That was an actual quote.’
“In one case, says a teacher at P.S. 241, a set of twins started kindergarten at the co-located HSA 4 last fall. One of them proved difficult and was placed on a part-time schedule, ‘so the mom took both of them out and put them in our school. She has since put the calm sister twin back in Harlem Success, but they wouldn’t take the boy back. We have the harder, troubled one; they have the easier one.’
“Such triage is business as usual, says the former network staffer, when the schools are vexed by behavioral problems: ‘They don’t provide the counseling these kids need.’ If students are deemed bad ‘fits’ and their parents refuse to move them, the staffer says, the administration ‘makes it a nightmare’ with repeated suspensions and midday summonses. After a 5-year-old was suspended for two days for allegedly running out of the building, the child’s mother says the school began calling her every day ‘saying he’s doing this, he’s doing that. Maybe they’re just trying to get rid of me and my child, but I’m not going to give them that satisfaction.’ ”
“At her school alone, the Harlem Success teacher says, at least half a dozen lower-grade children who were eligible for IEPs have been withdrawn this school year. If this account were to reflect a pattern, Moskowitz’s network would be effectively winnowing students before third grade, the year state testing begins.
” ‘The easiest and fastest way to improve your test scores,’ observes a DoE principal in Brooklyn, ‘is to get higher-performing students into your school.’ And to get the lower-performing students out.”
May Eva get the same apology that Donald Trump gave to Jeb Bush’s wife.
Mercedes did a nice analysis of the whole Eva’s letter demanding an apology, and the overall situation here:
I taught Kindergarten for a dozen years in a private center serving low income families of color who received subsidized child care and I never even once saw a need to suspend one of my students.
With Success Academy clamoring to add PreK without accountability and with total freedom from the regulations that protect Preschoolers from being treated like older school-age children, there is absolutely no apology necessary from whistle-blower, educator, hero John Merrow, who knows more about how to treat young children than non-educator, in-it-for-the-big-bucks, pretend progressive, Behaviorist animal trainer Eva Moskowitz.
What? You don’t think 24% of the 5 year olds at Success Academy are violent? The trustees at SUNY Charter Institute, in their wisdom, completely believe that 24% of the 5 year olds are violent.
In fact, the trustees at SUNY Charter Institute seem to believe that the better the charter school is, the more likely it is to have very violent 5 year olds who need suspending. How can anyone doubt that is true? We all know that the best schools get the most violent kids who need suspending in Kindergarten. Isn’t that just common sense?
After all, how could the SUNY Charter Institute be so wrong in their belief that good schools get more violent kids.
I have to confess, I formerly would have laughed off the idea that six- and seven-year-old kids could really hurt one another in school. They’re so tiny, right?
That was until one of my own children, attending a traditional district NYC DOE school and seven at the time, was the victim of a completely unprovoked assault. I’ll spare the gruesome details out of respect for the assailant’s FERPA rights, but the attack was shocking in its brutality. Due to that event and some others, that child now attends a school better suited to handle the child’s needs.
But enough with the anecdotes, let’s talk about the vexed question of whether a little six- or seven-year-old could lift up a desk way over his or her head and throw it at someone. I agree that it isn’t likely they could do this with the sort of big, heavy, cumbersome early elementary classroom desk most of us are accustomed to. However, a quick Google Images search reveals that Success’s filthy hedge-fund money has allowed them to purchase very lightweight and portable desks, probably to ease the speedy reconfiguration of classrooms and the rapid takeover of rooms from co-located district schools: http://educationnext.org/files/ednext_XV_3_sahm_img01.jpg
The good news, I guess, is that a throwable desk like this probably wouldn’t hurt all that much when it hit you?
Tim,
We know that there is nothing that happens in a Success Academy school that you will not approve, whether it is suspending five-year-olds or disappearing large numbers of students. Yes, we must assume that that dreadful five-year-old lifted his desk over his head and aimed it at his teacher. Maybe the test pressure was too much for him. Maybe he needed kindness.
Boy, way to miss the complete point. The kid was under his desk shaking and crying because he felt bad about doing poorly on the practice test. What kind of a school puts such a tiny kid in that situation to begin with? And if you have a little kid under a desk shaking and crying, you don’t escalate the situation by trying to drag him out in the hall for his mandatory “cool-down” session. You sit with him and try to calm him down for god’s sake. This is just basic humanity (or, in Eva’s case, lack thereof).
No, I think I addressed a very specific point–the idea that it is implausible or even impossible for a small child to pick up and throw a desk.
Okay then, but I’m not sure why you’d bother with such a point because no one has said anything like that. I guess it’s just easier to think about whether or not a young child could do such a thing than to wonder why he would.
Dienne, you have to understand that the poster above is far more concerned about the weight of a desk than whether a child is experiencing great psychological harm. It’s important for that poster to make sure no one mistakenly believes a desk weighs anything other than exactly what it weighs. However, whether a charter school operator is untruthful in claims? Nope, not important.
Get it: Dishonest about desk weight — very important. Dishonesty about what you are doing to at-risk children — not important.
I worked at Success Academy. Those desks are the same weight as the desks in public schools. They are not “lightweight” and I have no idea what “portable” means. Perhaps you can supply documentation on the weight of the desks purchased, rather than the weak evidence you offer from a “google images search.”
Benten: assuming your information is correct, that ends the discussion for me.
Here’s a “lesson in safe logic” [Phil Ochs]: rheeality does not Trump rheeality.
Not even in the most Johnsonally sort of situations…
😎
I’m seeing it at a little more than 20 pounds. give or take.
https://store.schoolspecialty.com/OA_HTML/ibeCCtpItmDspRte.jsp?minisite=10206&item=2048631&category1=Furniture&category2=Desks
Better view of the desk in this one, but without the weight listed.
http://www.atdamerican.com/atd/browse/ATD-Items/KI/Intellect-Classroom-Stacking-Desk-24-H/D/30100/P/1:90020/I/46560
Having never had the pleasure of visiting a Success classroom and picking up a desk, I guess I will have to take you at your word, Benten. I have to say, though, that by all outward appearances those desks look amazingly streamlined and lightweight compared to the many early elementary school desks I’ve seen and sat in at traditional NYC DOE schools, which are identical to these: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-4OV-Zeouc9c/TxobFOu-oNI/AAAAAAAAXbA/Mg05wCGCFO8/s540/IMG_2746.JPG
As a side note, I trust that if you ever witnessed any violations of state education law while working at Success—IEPs not being honored, kids with low test scores being intentionally and specifically targeted for excessive suspensions, and the like—you documented it and submitted to Success’s authorizer, right?
We already ascertained how SUNY Charter Institute treats information. They ask Eva Moskowitz and she explains — as she did in this interview — that all those very violent 5 year olds needed to be suspended. The SUNY Charter Institute says “of course, thanks for explaining that”.
We saw the same thing happen when parents provided information about all the empty seats in Success Academy schools. The Executive Director of SUNY Charter Institute said (paraphrasing): we asked Eva and she told us they didn’t have time to market due to a “glitch”! lol!
Can you imagine the laughs the SUNY trustees are having now over the high suspension rates of 5 year olds? “we asked Eva and she explained they were all violent so all is good – ha ha hooray let’s give her 10 new schools.”
Tim keeps insisting that 24% of the Kindergarteners in one Success Academy school are violent.
Tim keeps insisting that Success Academy has HUGE numbers of 5 year old children doing violent things to the other children and to teachers.
Tim never once questions WHY so many parents with violent children are lucky enough — out of the “thousands” on the wait list — to win one of those precious and coveted charter seats.
Tim believes that Eva Moskowitz is just the victim of bad luck to have so many violent 5 year olds who win the lottery. She can’t help it. They come in violent and the stay violent, except that sometimes when they are sent home over and over again they become less violent.
It never once occurs to Tim that when so many kids in a schools are doing these violent things that maybe the school is doing something wrong! Nope, those kids are poor and minorities, so certainly they are just violent. It’s all their fault and Eva Moskowitz is blameless and frankly, just the victim of very bad luck to have so many violent 5 year old children in her schools (but only in the low-income schools).
^^My apologies — I meant to say “He who shall not be named” insists that 24% of the 5 year olds in Eva Moskowitz’ school just happen to be violent children. It never occurs to “He who shall not be named” that it’s pretty outrageous to claim that 24% of a class of 5 year olds are doing violent things, but since “He who shall not be named” believes Eva Moskowitz always tells the truth, he insists that is the case.
“he who must not be named” is so boring, vague, and derivative. How about “the straw man I built myself and am arguing against with frightening DSM-5-worthy monomania” instead?
Dear “Person who is very concerned about the weight of desks and not concerned at all about disappearing at-risk kids ages 5 – 8 because he is certain that nearly 1/4 of all Kindergartens in some Success Academy schools must be violent”,
I respond to anyone who posts misleading information on here with the intent to deceive, or irrelevant comments that are intended to distract from the main issue at hand. You do both. So do other people and I respond to them, too. You just happen to do it more than other people. I assure you it isn’t personal. If you start posting truthful things I will probably start agreeing with you.
“The good news, I guess, is that a throwable desk like this probably wouldn’t hurt all that much when it hit you?”
For once, Tim, you have made a great point on this blog. Why don’t we conduct an expermtiment in which one of us stand about 7 feet in front of you and hurl such a desk at your head?
Let’s try just one time to find out if your premise is correct.
Are you in?
Of course, I personally would be worried to death about damaging the desk upon contact . . . .
TIM: “However, a quick Google Images search reveals that Success’s filthy hedge-fund money has allowed them to purchase … ”
Finally, you’re starting to make sense!!! 😉
Good to see you again, Tim.
Louisiana teacher and blogger Mercedes Schneider highlights an important aspect of this situation that others, including myself, have thus far missed.
https://deutsch29.wordpress.co…
( an excerpt from Schneider’s article appears at the end of this post)
The behaviors of this Success Academy child in question indicate that the child suffers from some disabling condition or learning disability—ADD, ADHD, oppositional defiance disorder, etc. As such, the child needs specialized care and attention. A specialist has to be brought in to identify the innate problem. Based on that and other input, a program, including an I.E.P. mandating an on-going plan of intervention, must then be implemented.
None of that goes on at Success Academy.
Eva’s only brilliant response to the child’s disability is for her and her staff to suspend, suspend, suspend. She and the others in charge at SUCCESS ACADEMY apparently believe that doing so will just magically “suspend” the child’s innate disability out of existence, as in days of yore, when witches would be hired to cast spells to drive out the demons that caused a child’s troubling mental condition… many of those conditions are what we in the modern world now identify as autism, ADD, etc.
Indeed, based on prior comments to the press, the folks at SUCCESS ACADEMY don’t even believe in the concept of “disability,” or that there is such a category known as “special ed,”. Nor do the believe in bringing in specialists, or in implementing IEP’s.
Or perhaps Eva does believe such innate deficiencies exist, but doesn’t deign to take those unfortunates on … dumping them back into the public schools for those folks to handle. This, in turn, places heavy financial and manpower demand on those public schools, as special ed. kids require highly-trained, highly paid special ed. teacher, a small class size or student-to-teacher ratio, etc.
Essentially, Eva views children in general as commodities… valued on two criteria:
1) cheapest to educate — no expensive special ed kids draining your budget
AND
2) potential for high test scores — again, the special ed kids are unable to deliver those.
According to one staffer, she responds to kids in any low-test-score-causing hardship, including those based on disability with the following comment:
“SUCCESS ACADEMY is not a Social Services agency.”
Eva Moskowitz is on the same page with recently-departed Secretary of Ed. Arne Duncan. To both of them, there’s no such thing as “special ed.” In her opinion — as expressed by one of her top administrators (JUST BELOW) — is that what the traditional school approach categorizes as “special ed,” is nothing more than a lack of “maturity” as a result of “mama” failing to her her job. Those whose fail to “mature” — or have the effects of poor parenting reversed — under Eva’s system are kicked out… err… “counseled out.”
This is from PAGE 5 of the 2010 NEW YORK MAGAZINE story on Eva and her schools:
http://nymag.com/news/features…
————————————————-
“At Harlem Success, disability is a dirty word.
” ‘I’m not a big believer in special ed,’ (SUCCESS ACADEMY’s instructional leader) Fucaloro says. For children who arrive with individualized education programs, or IEPs, he goes on, the real issues are ‘maturity and undoing what the parents allow the kids to do in the house—usually mama—and I reverse that right away.’
“When remediation falls short, according to sources in and around the network, families are counseled out. ‘Eva told us that “the school is not a social-service agency,” ‘ says the Harlem Success teacher. ‘That was an actual quote.’
“In one case, says a teacher at P.S. 241, a set of twins started kindergarten at the co-located HSA 4 last fall. One of them proved difficult and was placed on a part-time schedule, ‘so the mom took both of them out and put them in our school. She has since put the calm sister twin back in Harlem Success, but they wouldn’t take the boy back. We have the harder, troubled one; they have the easier one.’
“Such triage is business as usual, says the former network staffer, when the schools are vexed by behavioral problems:
” ‘They don’t provide the counseling these kids need.’ If students are deemed bad ‘fits’ and their parents refuse to move them, the staffer says, the administration ‘makes it a nightmare’ with repeated suspensions and midday summonses.
“After a 5-year-old was suspended for two days for allegedly running out of the building, the child’s mother says the school began calling her every day ‘saying he’s doing this, he’s doing that. Maybe they’re just trying to get rid of me and my child, but I’m not going to give them that satisfaction.’ ”
“At her school alone, the Harlem Success teacher says, at least half a dozen lower-grade children who were eligible for IEPs have been withdrawn this school year. If this account were to reflect a pattern, Moskowitz’s network would be effectively winnowing students before third grade, the year state testing begins.
” ‘The easiest and fastest way to improve your test scores,’ observes a DoE principal in Brooklyn, ‘is to get higher-performing students into your school.’ And to get the lower-performing students out.”
———————————————
Teacher and blogger Mercedes Schneider further underscores this in her analysis of the PBS piece on Eva and her Success Academies:
https://deutsch29.wordpress.co…
————————————————–
MERCEDES SCHNEIDER:
“Here is my question for Moskowitz:
“If the student had a history of (as his mother describes) ‘outbursts” and meltdowns’ and he had already displayed such behavior at school, then why would Success Academies allow this student to participate in an off-campus excursion?
“Such seems to be a poor choice given that the SA teachers/administrators appear to have no specific plan in place for (note the pun) successfully diffusing the student’s outbursts. Thus, the faculty/administrative decision take the student into an unfamiliar setting (a field trip) without a proven behavior plan was foolish.
“Third (and related to the second observation), in all of her efforts to publicize the student’s behavior file in an effort to exonerate her schools, Moskowitz includes absolutely no evidence that Success Academies attempted to discover what might trigger the student’s outbursts/meltdowns in order to formulate a plan of action to help the child learn to manage his own behavior, thereby promoting his own social health (and, by extension, the social health of his classmates and teachers).
“In short, Moskowitz’s point in her letter to Merrow was to defend her schools, not to actually help the child.
“Following her offering details from two incidents, Moskowitz places blame back on student and his mother, even as she offers nothing by way of trying to help student and mother to understand and manage the student’s behavior:
– – – – – – – – – –
EVA MOSKOWITZ: “Incidents like this occurred on a regular basis. Frankly, it was only by applying a very lenient standard that this student was only suspended eight times over nearly three years in our schools. …
“As you can see, the situation here was challenging not only because of the child, but because of his mother as well. We often find that in the end, while we can succeed with almost any student, if the parent is not willing to work with us, that makes things much harder.”
– – – – – – – – – –
“Again, Moskowitz offers no evidence of having tried to understand what might have prompted the student’s outbursts/meltdowns.
“It could well be that ‘the very structured environment’ and ‘very high academic and behavioral expectations’ of which Success Academy Prospect Heights principal Monica Komery speaks might be too much for some students.
“The farthest that Moskowitz will go is to ‘put up with’ students like Jamir Geidi, even for years. Beyond repeated suspensions, Success Academies has nothing to offer the Jamir Geidis who enter SA’s ‘very structured’ halls.
“The ‘success’ only comes if those pesky suspended-and-suspended-again students are molded into a Moskowitz-forged image.
“If not, they must go.”
“It could well be that ‘the very structured environment’ and ‘very high academic and behavioral expectations’ of which Success Academy Prospect Heights principal Monica Komery speaks might be too much for some students.”
Maybe it’s too risky to make a statement like this, but I claim that those students who tolerate well the discipline measures at SA have a problem.
Kindergartners should not be sitting at desks, nor should Preschoolers. Traditionally, children these ages are seated at tables with their peers and teacher(s), not alone at desks, for developmentally appropriate reasons.
A primary focus for Early Childhood Educators of young children who are in their first years away from home should be on meeting the children’s physical needs and promoting their social-emotional development. That includes helping children to adjust to being in group care, learning how to socialize with peers and unrelated adults, facilitating the development of a sense of community, and providing appropriately challenging cognitive activities, including and integrating the disciplines, in a low-stress play-based learning environment, since play is children’s work. This serves as the foundation for later academic success.
SA wants to push academics and just demand that young children mature, while skipping over the all-important nurturing that is needed to facilitate young children’s social and emotional development. What SA is doing instead is usually seen in schools where the adults in charge see children as little adults and know nothing about the developmental needs of young children or Early Childhood Education.
I was thinking the same thing, Homeless Educator, desks in Kindergarten?? I’m remembering my own kids early grades and there were desks in grades 1-2, but they were almost always grouped into islands or arranged in kind of U so the kids faced each other a lot of the time.
Sharon in NYS, If you look at the room arrangement in the video, you can see that they do have the desks pushed together in clusters at SA, but when you stipulate that children this age may not interact with peers who are sitting nearby, that’s even worse because you are tempting them with socializing while not permitting them to do so. This sets up many students for failure, since young children are impulsive by nature and only gradually develop self-regulatory skills.
While the public school SA is co-located in, which does not suspend Kindergartners, appears to have the same kind of room arrangement, that ‘s rather unusual, even in all day Kindergartens. My guess is that this was probably done to be competitive with SA, but I suspect the public school children are allowed to interact with peers much more so that they can learn to work collaboratively and develop social skills.
Based on reports from teachers, parents and students, we know that in the “no excuses” model implemented by charters like SA, students are required to maintain silence and not interact with peers for most of their day, because compliance, test prep and test scores are what matter most there.
I know that the crowd here has it in for Eva, but I can assure you that there are not the rampant suspensions suggested by the PBS piece at the SA school my son has attended for three years. It baffles me the amount of attention spent to trying to bash the SA system while not offering reasonable educational alternatives to the low income minority population SA largely serves.
Eric, would you care to identify the SA school, and also can you offer hard numbers about suspensions?
I will not be surprised if the SA school that your son attends has a much smaller % of “low income minority” kids than the SA schools with the high suspension rates. For example, at Upper West, less than 25% of the lowest grades are at-risk students. If it turns out that the schools with the highest number of at-risk kids have the highest suspension rates and the highest attrition rates of those “low income minority” children you mention, would that concern you at all, Mr. Kreitzer? Or would you assume, as Eva Moskowitz certainly implies in her letter, that those kids are just more likely to be violent so why question such high suspension rates at all?
What kind of “educational alternative” weeds out so many of the students who need it the most?
Eric, the DOE offers wonderful public schools as an educational alternative to low income minority students. Public school classroom teachers, with the protection of a union, and with a pension, a contract, and benefits, are stellar. Perhaps you can take a look at the public schools in your area. I’ve worked in both SA and PS, and I’ve been in public schools in four boroughs, and they are wonderful. I found SA to be unprofessional and terrifying.
Eric Kreitzer, how do you feel about the discipline and the dress code at the SA school your son attended?
BREAKING NEWS: PBS’s ombudsman criticizes Merrow, producers for subpar reporting and ethics in Success Academy report
“The segment contains some hard and serious shots at Moskowitz by Merrow and they are ALL anonymous. Is there no one, anywhere, with a substantive case to make against Moskowitz and the Success policies who will speak up? If, as the News Hour claims, there was no one among her “critics . . . other parents . . . several school principals, quite a few former Success parents, and one person inside her organization” who will speak up on the record, maybe you ought to keep trying . . . maybe this segment isn’t ready for the public.”
http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/home/
Ouch. That is going to leave a mark.
Tim,
Thanks for that. I would have missed it.
To me, the question is why teachers and parents are afraid of Eva. I have met with four staff–present and former–who were brutally honest about SA, but always said, “Don’t use my name.” What are they afraid of?
Frankly, I have no idea what repercussions former Success families and ex-teachers think they are going to suffer for speaking out. And I don’t mean that they have to go through the media; I’m talking about making credible (and yes, that means non-anonymous) complaints to NYSED and SUNY CSI.
As for DOE employees like the principals and teachers who claim to have evidence that Success intentionally targets low-performing students for excessive suspensions, they may have had a good excuse back when Bloomberg was mayor. But the guy in office now said that Eva shouldn’t be tolerated or enabled, and as an incumbent looks to be a lock for a second term: what on earth are they waiting for?
The idea that something sinister and awful is going on behind the scenes doesn’t seem very plausible to me. I’ve gone on the public record several times saying that the entire network should be dissolved within 5 years if it doesn’t amend its backfill policies. Eva knows my name, where I live, all the schools my kids go to . . . so far, so good, but if you don’t hear from me for a while, tell the world my story, I guess.