Warning to parents in the Hudson Valley, New York.
Eva Moskowitz is opening a no-excuses Charter School in your neighborhood.
https://thehudsonvalleysuccessacademy.com/
Protect your children against harsh discipline.
Defend your public schools against raids on their funding.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I think this may just be someone piggybacking off the Success Academy name.
There is a Success Academy Hudson YARDS that is part of Eva Moskowitz’ network. Success Academy Hudson YARDS is the third Success Academy elementary school to open that gives priority to the children in District 2 Manhattan, which covers some of the very richest neighborhoods in NYC. The two already established District 2 Success Academy elementary schools that give priority to District 2 students have a very low number of at-risk students and don’t seem to have much demand from residents of district.
The fact that the SUNY Charter Institute allowed Eva Moskowitz to open a third elementary school to serve the disproportionately affluent students of Manhattan’s District 2 does make a mockery of SUNY’s mission to serve at-risk kids. Especially when the longest wait lists for Success Academy charters are in the much poorer districts where there is at most a single SA elementary school.
But at least the Success Academy isn’t suspending all those middle class (and often white) students in their District 2 schools and perhaps they are looking to lower their suspension rates by making sure they have lots of schools where more kids won’t be the type who Eva Moskowitz likes to characterize as so very violent kindergarteners.
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A tiny bit of Googling reveals that this proposal has been cobbled together by the former superintendent of the Poughkeepsie public schools, who was terminated amid allegations that he stole a cool million dollars from the district, and that it has nothing to do with Success Academy, and that he likely stands no chance of actually receiving a charter, but by all means do not let any of this stop anyone from going into a full-on dither over Eva Moskowitz.
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Tim,
So glad we have someone on the blog to represent Eva.
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Why does it say “Success Academy” on the website then? Just curious.
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They play by their own rules in the Queen City of the Hudson.
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They play by their own rules in the charter school sector of NY – this Success Academy makes up its rules and Eva Moskowitz has her own rules for her Success Academy.
In fact, Eva Moskowitz has two separate sets of rules depending on whether you happen to be affluent and well-educated or very poor.
“An anonymous group of parents at the school has sent scathing letters to Moskowitz and Hudson Yards Principal Malik Russell that decry what they call draconian disciplinary tactics.
The parents charge Russell gives detention for minor infractions such as failing to clasp their hands, failing to make eye contact and inadvertently breaking wind in class.”
“Some of our children are getting physically sick, experiencing meltdowns, vomiting, having nightmares and/or having sleepless nights and are unable to concentrate etc. …”
Having MELTDOWNS?? Why, that will get you suspended if you are a non-white kid who Eva doesn’t want in her school. But if your parents are ones Eva wants to please, her answer is:
“I am sorry again that you are frustrated and concerned about the school design as well as the implementation,” her letter says. “There seems to be some misunderstandings.”
Success Academy needs and deserves more public school space
The controversial charter boss said she would ease their worries in person.
“I look forward to seeing you there and further addressing your concerns,” she wrote. “As always, appreciate your involvement and investment.”
See, when you are a charter school you make your own rules and if that means that you have to suspend 18% of the 5 year olds in one of your charters that has virtually no white kids, then the SUNY Charter Institute will say ‘suspend those non-white children because at 5 years old we believe you that they are violent but just remember to keep telling the affluent parents you’ll make sure nothing you do will give their kids “meltdowns” because then we are happy to blame our (non-white) principal who did not understand that the training we gave him in our Harlem schools does not apply to affluent kids in Manhattan.”
Shameful. But unless SUNY allows you to make your own rules and apply them differently depending on whether the child is wanted or unwanted, how can a charter survive? And make its CEO rich?
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It appears Success is going after ELLs in Poughkeepsie from the announcement of the community meetings, and the notice is both English and Spanish.
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From one of their announcements, these are the targets. I wonder how many of these labor intensive, expensive groups actually make the cut and stay in the school.
Proposed Charter School Name: The Hudson Valley Success Academy Proposed School Opening: Fall of 2019
Intended Location: City of Poughkeepsie Target Student Population:
*Special Needs Learners
*English Language Learners
*General Education Learners
*Challenged Learners
*Excelled/Advanced Learners Proposed Grades and Enrollment: Grades K-6 Total enrollment: 300 Students
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Proposed enrollment: 290 Excelled/Advanced Learners; 2 or 3 of each other category?? Jersey Jazzman will want to watch this one; his research shows that often charters enroll special needs students with the less expensive classifications; few ELL.
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Oh, puke on Eva.
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I will do the first puke.
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Probably should correct this post to make it accurate.
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Perhaps Diane Ravitch doesn’t yet have enough evidence to know whether or not this post is accurate.
Just like you don’t have enough evidence yet to know whether Eva Moskowitz was being “accurate” when she said that Betsy DeVos “has the talent, commitment, and leadership capacity to revitalize our public schools and deliver the promise of opportunity that excellent education provides”.
Just like you don’t have enough evidence to know whether Eva Moskowitz was “being accurate” when she explains that the only reason her handpicked staff has to suspend 18% or 20% of the Kindergarten and first graders in some of her charters that have virtually no white children is because all those non-white 5 year olds are acting out violently in their Success Academy kindergarten classes.
I’m surprised you aren’t more sympathetic since you believe the jury is still out as to whether an educator who claims to care about the most vulnerable children was telling the truth when she said Betsy DeVos is a wonderful choice for Secretary of Education.
And you believe the jury is still out as to whether extraordinarily high numbers of non-white 5 year olds act out so violently in their kindergarten class that the only way to keep other children safe is to suspend them and refuse to allow them to come to school (but only in Success Academy charters and no others).
I’m surprised you don’t think the jury is still out as to whether this is an Eva Moskowitz’ endorsed Success Academy or not. Since the usual evidence** never suffices for you when it comes to judging Eva Moskowitz truthfulness.
**by “usual evidence” I mean your own knowledge of 5 year old children and (I assume) your non-racist belief that non-white 5 year olds aren’t “naturally” incredibly violent unless there is an external force going on in their classroom to make them act out. If i am wrong and you do hold the same opinion that Moskowitz and her fans have about non-white children, then mea culpa.
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AGGGH!
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