Showing posts with label Success Charter Network. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Success Charter Network. Show all posts

Thursday, February 1, 2018

Achievement Gaps Within Schools and at Success Academy --Politico Education

"The report also found that gifted and talented public schools have similar results to Success's integrated schools, considering all students must test into those programs."... Politico
In other words, only Gifted and Talented and Success kids have the same narrowing of the achievement gap between races, seen nowhere else in the city, including other charter schools.

At last week's parent conference we heard how Success gets lists from the DOE of kids who took the Gifted and Talented test and then sent out loads of ads addressed to the kids directly. So they try to poach kids from day one who take the test.

This story at Politico has hints of the games Success plays.

Thursday, January 18, 2018

Leonie Haimson Mashes ChalkBleat's Elizabeth Green Bias

Leonie and Elizabeth used to be pretty friendly - I was also friendly with her.
Chalkbeat “Roundtable” discussion on Eliz. Green controversial piece in which she called Success charters a model educational system.  See what I just tweeted  about it below. 


The incredible bias of this piece in responding to critiques that the original piece was too biased makes me think that Chalkbeat editors must be trapped in a bubble w/o any awareness of how isolated they are. 


leonie haimson (@leoniehaimson)
Egregiously biased discussion fr/ 3 charter school founders, 2 who say district schools can be as good as charters (!), 1 parent criticizing both, and not a single charter critic. Biased selection exacerbates problems in @elizwgreen superficial encomium to Success. @carolburris twitter.com/chalkbeat/stat…

Friday, January 12, 2018

School Scope: Charter School Follies, Closing Schools, Mayoral Control Shams


Jan. 12, 2018 edition of The WAVE, www.rockawave.com

-->
School Scope:  Charter School Follies, Closing Schools, Mayoral Control Shams
By Norm Scott

I’m running past deadline not because I can’t think of anything to write but because I have so many options as education related stories keep breaking. So let me point readers (all three of you) in some interesting directions.

I am tracking the upcoming saga of the two schools being closed in Rockaway. I hope you noticed the horror stories on MS 80 in the Bronx, which is being kept open with an infusion of more money as reported on WCBS and in the NY Post: ‘Struggling’ Bronx school is a hellhole, teachers say (https://nypost.com/2018/01/06/struggling-bronx-school-is-a-hellhole-teachers-say/) --- Imagine Farina and De Blasio are keeping this place open – hey, there is an abusive principal there so why not – while closing other schools. Tell me politics is not involved.

As you may have realized, I often focus on the excesses of charters, especially Eva Moskowitz’ Success Academy chain of 46 schools (and growing). Since there is a school in Rockaway it is worth keeping people updated on the chain. We have pointed out the enormous attrition rates of students (and teachers) as Success schools. Blogger, Stuyvesant high school math teacher Gary Rubinstein, did an interesting piece, The Hidden Attrition Of Success Academy - https://tinyurl.com/yaj2z9mn -  While Success claims a 10% attrition rate a year, Gary, using data from the DOE, found it to be 17%. And since Success doesn’t backfill by adding students, kids from the initial cohort keep disappearing and by the time they graduate, there are not all that many left. We’ve reported here that there were only 17 students left to graduate high school out of an initial cohort of 73 kindergarten students. Where did the 56 disappeared end up? Probably many in public schools.

Another respected teacher blogger, Mark Weber, a music teacher in New Jersey, blogged about the misleading graduation rates at Democracy Prep charter, which has four schools in NYC, on his Jersey Jazzman blog. A misleading Daily News op ed bought the misleading data which claimed “No charter network has demonstrated more success getting its students into and through college…. last year 189 of the 195 seniors in its three high schools that had graduating classes went on to college.” Remarkable, isn’t it. A miracle you might say. But there are no miracles. Mark looked at the attrition rates for kids from their freshman to their senior years and found that Democracy Prep had shed enough students to bring their numbers in line or below many public schools. Mark also castigates main stream journalists for ignoring the attrition issue. Read him in full at http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2018/01/miracle-school-journalism-and-gorilla.html.

Must Listen for Every Inner City Teacher: The Burdens Affecting Even Our Brightest Students - This American Life
Every teacher in inner city schools has had some kids over the years who seemed very special -- super smart with enormous potential. Find out what happens to three of these students. It is like a rocket trying to escape the earth but getting pulled back by the gravity of poverty and low self-esteem. Even when they beat the odds and make it to college, their battles often just begin. I had some like this and I was in touch for a number of years, even attending some of their weddings.

This American Life on NPR had a must listen to program for not only every teacher but for everyone. The gist was that students from a poor Bronx public school, all kids of color, were paired with Fieldston, an elite private school in the Bronx. The program focuses on some of the culture shock for the poor students based on the conditions they saw in their school and what they saw at Fieldston, just 3 miles away. The reporter, Chana Joffe-Walt, did an amazing job, interviewing teachers from both schools and trying to track one of the students 10 years after they left school.

See what the impact of poverty and low self-esteem have on even the sharpest kids --- but beyond that, this production, as so many of TAL programs are -- is presented like a mystery and will have you handing on the edge of your seat. [Note- one of the principals in the program has set up a college go-fund-me campaign as per this note from the show's producers

Well, I’m out of space but here is some homework for you.

How Bill de Blasio Can Redeem His Education Record by Leonie Haimson and Shino Tanikawa - http://www.gothamgazette.com/opinion/7404-how-bill-de-blasio-can-redeem-his-education-record

Here’s a model for major school reform that looks vastly different from Betsy DeVos’s vision. Valerie Strauss in WAPO reports on the work of reform educators Deborah Meier and Emily Gasoi. https://tinyurl.com/y9u6b6gp

We have opposed mayoral control of the schools since Bloomberg took over in 2002. We feel no better about de Blasio. The elected parent council in District 3 (upper west side) wrote an op ed in the Gotham Gazette, Our School Governance Isn’t Working, and It’s the Perfect Time for Change, http://www.gothamgazette.com/opinion/7409-our-school-governance-isn-t-working-and-it-s-the-perfect-time-for-change.

What is working is that Norm keeps slogging and blogging away at ednotesonline.com.

Friday, December 22, 2017

Success Academy Invasion: DOE Closes Rockaway School (IS 53) To Open Way for Eva Takeover

Rockaway Parent Mariya Ultsh said she believes that DOE plays politics when it comes to school closures. "My money is that charter schools will sweep in and once again [special] interest groups will get a payday at the expense of our children... The WAVE, Dec. 22, 20017
Since Success Academy already has space in MS 53, we can pin the decision to close it as tied to the general pattern we have seen about Success occupation and the ultimate closing of one or more schools in a building. Ultimately Eva and Success will control a massive amount of real estate -- and don't you foresee the day when they will generously offer to take those buildings off the hands of the city to save us money?

Are there any other closings tied to Eva's schools either current or planned?


Note the comment by Councilman Donovan Richards whose office donated nearly a million dollars to the school, the benefits of which will accrue to the already rolling in dough Success charter chain.
PS 42 is also being closed and Richards will be holding a rally on Jan. 10 before and maybe at the closing hearing at PS 42 - at 6:30. The MS 53 hearing will be held Jan. 11 at the school, also at 6:30. PS 42's PTA president, Kevin Morgan, is organizing a bus trip to Albany on Jan. 9 -- call him for more info at 347-410-3061.

Last year many of us fought (unsuccessfully) against the closing of JHS 145 in the Bronx, claiming it was closed to make way for  Eva Moskowitz, already in the building, to ultimately take over the building even though there are still schools housed in the building.

See videos here:

Ed Notes Online: Videos JHS 145 Hearing: Farina Closing 145

Note this point made by teacher Jim Donohue:
Is Attempt to Close JHS 145, a Political Giveaway to Eva Moskowitz? ...a full 3 weeks before the DOE’s closure proposal even becomes official, and 2 months before the PEP vote takes place, and despite the DOE’s claim that the closing has NOTHING to do with the charter school, Success Academy’s website has begun advertising for applicants to its new middle school, opening in 2017, at JHS 145. In recent weeks, Success Academy staff members have been measuring our classrooms, apparently 100% confident that the PEP will rubber stamp our demise in March.... JHS 145 teacher Jim Donohue
The recent list of closing schools includes IS 53 in Rockaway, where Eva planted her flag in Rockaway a year ago despite there being 3 other schools in the building.

See Alan Singer on the failure of de Blasio/Farina renewal program.

Here is a DNA piece on the original Eva invasion:

Success Academy Moving Into Far Rockaway School After City Approves It
https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20151125/far-rockaway/success-academy-moving-into-far-rockaway-school-after-city-approves-it
By Katie Honan | November 25, 2015 5:23pm



FAR ROCKAWAY —The city approved the co-location of a Success Academy school inside a local middle school building that currently houses three schools, despite concerns from the community over space issues.
The Success Academy Charter School, run by former City Councilwoman Eva Moskowitz, plans to open inside the building at 10-45 Nameoke St. for the 2016-2017 school year, the DOE said.
The charter will start with kindergarten and first grades, then add a grade each year until it hits the fourth grade.
They estimate they'll reach approximately 500-600 students by the 2019-2020 school year, and also expressed an interest in universal pre-k, according to the DOE. 
They'll share space in the building with M.S. 53 and Village Academy Middle School, as well as a special school for students serving long-term suspensions that exceed five days, officials said. 
The move — which will be the charter school group's third in Queens — has been criticized by parents and elected officials, who say the building is already overcrowded and isn't a good fit for younger students. 
Councilman Donovan Richards said in a statement that the Panel for Educational Policy ignored the community's concerns, which were shared throughout the process, most recently at a hearing on Nov. 17.
"While I am not opposed to welcoming charter schools, such as Success Academy, into the Rockaways, it is unfair to the students and educators who already deal with inadequate resources to have another school come into the building causing division within the hallways," he said in a statement after the deal was approved.
He added that charter schools should be in their own buildings, a thought shared by many who spoke at the Nov. 17 hearing, according to the DOE.
One person worried the new charter school wouldn't be able to serve the district's special education students. 
Another commenter asked where there was room in the building for Success Academy "if students were being taught in closets," according to a summary of the hearing.
According to the DOE, though, the building is under-utilized, with only 45 percent of the building currently in use.
The school's move into the building won't impact any classes or extracurricular activities, the DOE said, or M.S. 53's participation in the "School Renewal Program," which provides extra help to students and teachers.
The Success Academy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Stress Academy - A Poem by Fred Smith: My Halloween Hangover with Eva

"Welcome to childhood." she cackled and said,
"We'll teach you to pass tests and pee in your bed.
We'll teach you good manners and staying in line;
You do those things and all will be fine."

oz2.jpg (500×250)

"If you can't follow rules," she let out a shriek,
"Then you must go. We don't steal the weak.
Learning's not fun and life is a mess,
You must find out early how to Stress for Success."

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Eva's Got to Go, Not Children: NY Times Throws Another Grenade at Eva Moskowitz as She Holds Presser to Scam for More Money

Let's see Eva try to fight her way out of this one... Leonie Haimson

At a Success Academy Charter School, Singling Out Pupils Who Have ‘Got to Go’


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/30/nyregion/at-a-success-academy-charter-school-singling-out-pupils-who-have-got-to-go.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share

Today Eva has a press conf demanding the city give her pre-k money even if she won't sign a contract like every other school does. These new revelations won't help her case.

This is open child abuse. 
Why did Eva release the records of that child and risk violating federal FERPA laws - a child who happens to now be a successful student at the Earth School with experienced teachers like MORE's presidential candidate Jia Lee, who teaches that child? To intimidate parents who were pushed out of Success from testifying.
See: Cease and Desist letter sent today to Eva Moskowitz of Success Charters

It hasn't worked.

Another goody on Success Charter Scam from NY Times' Kate Taylor. I met Kate in Sept. 2014 at a Success charter school hearing in Brooklyn when she was new to the ed beat and hadn't yet gotten a hold of the Success Charter scam. How nice to see the Times investing in investigative reporting on Eva.

Kate's article goes into the tactics used on 5-year olds. Beat them up over minor infractions until they get so frustrated they lash out and commit more and more infractions. Then tell the world these kids don't belong in their schools - but where else do they go but in public schools where there are great and experienced teachers like Jia who know how to deal with these kids in a humane way?

More parents are following the lead and revealing the excess at Success.

From left, Folake Wimbish, Nicey Givens and Folake Ogundiran all withdrew their children from Success Academy Fort Greene. Credit Sam Hodgson for The New York Times
Will Eva continue to violate FERPA lawa by releasing these kids' records?

Former Success staff are also beginning to talk - anonymously because they know they will be hounded and attacked for talking.
Principals at Success, many in their 20s and 30s, frequently consult with a team of lawyers before suspending a student or requiring a parent to pick up a child early every day. It was a member of that team who described a student’s withdrawal from the Success Academy in Union Square to colleagues as a “big win,” the current employee said. 
I love that Kate mentioned the ages of the principals. I wonder if staff don't have to sign some non-disclosure agreements when they sign a contract? Does anyone have examples of these contracts to publish?

For James Merriman, who heads the charter network and full well knows the evils of Eva, to try to defend them is indefensible.
James D. Merriman, the chief executive officer of the New York City Charter School Center, a group that advocates and supports charter schools, said it was unrealistic to expect any given school to be a good fit for every child. And Mr. Merriman noted that the city had many traditional public schools that required a test or other screening for admission, schools that by definition did not serve all students.
That's an infinitesimal number of public schools and they are open and above board on their policies. Merriman used to sell charters as taking every kid through the lottery. Now they are explaining away their trying to beat the lottery.

And this was just sent out to the Twitter Brigade:
Hi Twitter Brigade,

The news keeps piling on, today the New York Times published an article confirming and detailing some disgusting suspension habits carried out by Success Academy Charter School Network.

The article proves that Success Academy uses frequent suspensions as a tactic to push students out, using a "Got to Go" list. Read the article here: http://nyti.ms/1MkDyX3

This sort of unfair treatment shows that Success Academy is not the "public school" they claim to be and that Eva Moskowitz will use ultimate autonomy to hand pick students.

TWEET WITH US NOW!!

Let Eva and her schools know this is unacceptable. Attached are some meme's and below are sample tweets.

9 of 16 students on @SuccessCharters #Got2Go list withdrew. Frequent suspensions force kids out http://nyti.ms/1MkDyX3

.@SuccessCharters uses frequent suspensions to push kids out, claims they #GotToGo http://nyti.ms/1MkDyX3

Moskowitz wages ultimate autonomy claims kids #GotToGo then suspends until they withdraw http://nyti.ms/1MkDyX3

.@SuccessCharters uses trolling parents with suspensions for minor infractions as form of pushing kids out #GotToGo http://nyti.ms/1MkDyX3

Parents choose @SuccessCharters then learn their child has #GotToGo with frequent suspensions http://nyti.ms/1MkDyX3

Parents say 'lives upended by repeated suspensions' @SuccessCharters says their child has #GotToGo http://nyti.ms/1MkDyX3

.@SuccessCharters staff ADMIT network uses suspension to let parents know their child has #GotToGo http://nyti.ms/1MkDyX3

Students that @SuccessCharters believe have #GotToGo are suspended frequently, left off re-enrollment list http://nyti.ms/1MkDyX3

.@SuccessCharters staff say certain kids leaving is 'BIG WIN' #GotToGo http://nyti.ms/1MkDyX3

.@SuccessCharters decide some students have #GotToGo, start suspending as young as kindergarten http://nyti.ms/1MkDyX3

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Leo Challenges Eva at AFT/Shanker Institute

It is a good thing when Leo and the AFT take on the Evil Madness so openly in the Shanker Institute report: Student Discipline, Race And Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy Charter Schools. I'm on the move, heading back to New York, so don't have time to read it all - I'm including it below. I noted this criticism from Leonie:

The continued insistence on the issue of backfilling I think is wrong-headed. Instead we should have data on attrition, which the state refuses to provide. Even if they backfill, does that negate the injustice of kicking out low-achievers? Moreover, if they do start backfilling, that will further disguise how many kids they kick out only to replace them with others. ... Leonie Haimson on Leo Casey's Shanker Institute report on Success Charter Discipline
Leo is Leonie's favorite person in the world as he so often attacks her when she dares to criticize the union's darling partners in crime in the de Blasio admin. When Leonie talks I listen but will take a closer look when I get home later.

Here's an excerpt:
At a recent press conference, Success Academy Charter Schools CEO Eva Moskowitz addressed the issue of student discipline. “It is horrifying,” she told reporters, that critics of her charter schools’ high suspension rates don’t realize “that five-year-olds do some pretty violent things.” Moskowitz then pivoted to her displeasure with student discipline in New York City (NYC) public schools, asserting that disorder and disrespect have become rampant."
Sure - suspending a 5 year old who does terrible things ought to work - work getting the parents to pull their kid and out them in a public school.


http://www.shankerinstitute.org/blog/student-discipline-race-and-eva-moskowitz%E2%80%99s-success-academy-charter-schools


Student Discipline, Race And Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy Charter Schools



At a recent press conference, Success Academy Charter Schools CEO Eva Moskowitz addressed the issue of student discipline. “It is horrifying,” she told reporters, that critics of her charter schools’ high suspension rates don’t realize “that five-year-olds do some pretty violent things.” Moskowitz then pivoted to her displeasure with student discipline in New York City (NYC) public schools, asserting that disorder and disrespect have become rampant.
This is not the first time Moskowitz has taken aim at the city’s student discipline policies. Last spring, she used the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal to criticize the efforts of Mayor Bill De Blasio and the NYC Department of Education to reform the student code of conduct and schools’ disciplinary procedures. Indeed, caustic commentary on student behavior and public school policy has become something of a trademark for Moskowitz.

The National Move to Reform Student Discipline Practices
To understand why, it is important to provide some context. The New York City public school policies that Moskowitz derides are part of a national reform effort, inspired by a body of research showing that overly punitive disciplinary policies are ineffective and discriminatory. Based on this research evidence, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychological Association and School Discipline Consensus Project of the Council of State Governments have all gone on record on the harmful effects of employing such policies. The U.S. Education Department, the U.S. Justice Department, civil rights and civil liberties organizations, consortia of researchers, national foundations, and the Dignity in Schools advocacy coalition have all examined the state of student discipline in America’s schools in light of this research.1

Their findings? Suspensions and expulsions, the most severe forms of school discipline, are being used excessively in American schools, often for such minor infractions such as “talking back” or being out of uniform. Further, these severe punishments are being applied disproportionality to students of color, especially African-American and Latino boys, students with disabilities and LGBT youth.

As a result of these data, the U.S. Education Department and U.S. Justice Department issued guidance to schools, based on their finding that discriminatory uses of suspensions and expulsions were in violation of Title IV and Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Since this guidance came from the federal agencies that are charged with the enforcement of the Civil Rights Act, it added the force of the law to the powerful moral arguments for addressing the problem of discriminatory discipline. School districts and schools, public and charter, took notice. The more progressive minded, such as the new de Blasio administration of the New York City Department of Education, began to reform their disciplinary practices in accord with these regulations. As a consequence, the suspensions and expulsions from New York City’s public schools have been dramatically reduced.
Moskowitz makes no explicit mention of these developments in her attacks on the de Blasio administration, although a careful reading shows that they are a calculated response to them. Instead, with unverifiable anecdotes, cherry-picked statistics, and out-of-context quotations, Moskowitz dismisses New York City’s student discipline reforms as “edu-babble” and “nonsense.”2
In a revealing video interview that accompanied the Wall Street Journal op-ed, editorial board member Mary Kissel launches the conversation by declaring that the “Obama administration wants laxer discipline standards for minorities in public schools.” Moskowitz does not disagree. Under the cover of attacks on the policies and practices of New York City public schools, Moskowitz has delivered a shot across the bow of President Obama, retiring Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and incoming Acting Secretary John King. The message is, if you choose to enforce civil rights law when it comes to discipline in Success Academy charter schools, expect an all-out political war.

The Data on Success Academy Schools
Why would Moskowitz feel the need to lay down a gauntlet in opposition to a president and two secretaries of education who have all been vigorous charter school supporters? For that matter, why take on the entire civil rights community? To answer these questions, I decided to take a look at the data on suspensions from New York City schools, both public and charter. There are three repositories of these data: the Civil Rights Data Collection of the U.S. Education Department; the School Report Cards of the New York State Education Department; and the school discipline data reports of the NYC Department of Education to the City Council, as required by New York City’s Student Safety Act. (The UCLA Civil Rights Project provides a user friendly portal for viewing the federal data and, while the Student Safety Act data is not available on the internet, the New York Civil Liberties Union publishes useful annual Suspension Data Fact Sheets.) With three different repositories of data, one would think that it should be a simple matter to locate accurate information. But the reality is rather different.

Take the data published by the U.S. Education Department: The most recent available dataset is for the school year 2011-12, when the New York City Department of Education was under the administration of Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg’s NYC DoE reported suspension rates of 1.7 percent for secondary school students and 0.3 percent for elementary school students, figures which were far below the seven percent suspension rate it had provided under the Student Safety Act.3
But this inconsistency pales next to the data for Moskowitz’s Success Academy Charter Schools: Across all Success Academy schools, just two suspensions were reported to the U.S. Department of Education for 2011-12. During the same year, hundreds of suspensions were reported to the New York State Education Department, for an overall suspension rate of 17 percent.4
The numbers that Success Academy chose to report to the federal government were not only so radically at variance with those reported to the New York State Department of Education, but also so obviously wrong, as to appear contemptuous of the charter networks’ obligations under federal civil rights law.5
To provide the most complete picture possible of what is happening in both the Success Academy schools and regular New York City public schools, it was necessary to gather data from a number of different sources. Let us start with most recent dataset, for the year 2013-14, which was published late last spring as part of the New York State School Report Cards. According to the state data, in 2013-14, Success Academy Charter Schools had a total of 728 suspensions for a suspension rate of 11 percent, while the New York City public schools had a total of 9617 suspensions for a suspension rate of one percent.
We know that the NYC public school data is understated, however, because (just as in the case of its report to the U.S. Education Department cited above) only the most serious suspensions are ever reported to the New York State Education Department. Upon request, the New York City Department of Education supplied the Shanker Institute with the total number of all suspensions for the 2013-14 school year. These data showed 53,504 suspensions; yielding an annual suspension rate of five percent.6
From the standpoint of Success Academy, therefore, the most charitable reading of these numbers is that the charter school network suspended its students at more than double the rate of the New York City public schools, eleven percent to five percent.7
But these numbers are only the beginning of the story. New York charter school management has defended student suspension rates in their schools that are much higher than those of New York City district schools on the grounds that they educate more students with challenges – students living in poverty, students with special needs, and English Language Learners. The New York State Education Department data includes a fairly robust set of student demographics that make it possible to test this claim by comparing the student demographics of Success Academy charter schools and New York City public schools for the 2013-14 school year.8
In fact, on the most important measures, the student demographics of Success Academy schools indicate a lower need student population than are served by New York City public schools as a whole: while 81 percent of New York City public school students are “economically disadvantaged,” 74 percent of Success Academy students fall into that category; while 18 percent of New York City public school students have “learning disabilities,” 14 percent of Success Academy students fall into that category; and while 15 percent of New York City public school students are English language learners, only 5 percent of Success Academy students fall into that category.9
Thus, insofar as one credits the argument that a student population with greater needs will necessarily have more problems with behavior and more student suspensions, Success Academy schools should be suspending fewer – not more – students than the New York City public schools.
Why Age Matters
There is one more key issue of comparability that is often lost in these discussions: the age of students. As students enter into adolescence, misbehaviors generally increase and disciplinary consequences for those misbehaviors (such as suspensions) tend to climb in number. For a true “apples-to-apples” comparison, we should look at data for students in the same age groups. As it happens, during the years discussed here, Success Academy Charter Schools served no high school students and had very few students in middle school – in fact, over 90 percent of their students were in the elementary school grades of K through 5.
To adequately compare suspension rates in Success Academy Charter Schools with rates in the New York City public schools, we requested that the New York City Department of Education provide the Shanker Institute with a breakdown of student suspensions by grade level: In 2013-14, the elementary school grades had 6,634 suspensions, the middle school grades had 18,873 suspensions and the high school grades had 27,997 suspensions. That is, the elementary school grades accounted for nearly half of all New York City public school students (47 percent), but only 12 percent of all suspensions; the middle school grades accounted for 22 percent of all students, but 35 percent of all suspensions; and the high school grades accounted for 31 percent of all students, but 52 percent of all suspensions. In other words, in 2013-14, there was 1 suspension for every 67 students in the elementary school grades of New York City public schools and one suspension for every 11 students in the middle and high school grades. By contrast, in Success Academy Charter Schools, there was one suspension for every nine students in 2013-14, and these students were overwhelmingly concentrated in the elementary school grades – a higher suspension rate than for New York City public middle and high school students. Shockingly, when students of the same ages were compared, Success Academy Charter Schools was suspending students at a rate roughly seven times greater than in the New York City public schools.10
The Matter of Race
What were the race and ethnicity characteristics of Success Academy’s suspended students? Only the Civil Rights Data Collection of the U.S. Department of Education requires that districts and schools report the race and ethnicity of suspended students; but, as previously noted, since Success Academy reported only two of its hundreds of suspensions to the federal government, we have no direct source of information on this matter. We do know, however, that in the 2013-14 school year, seven of the eighteen Success Academy charter schools (Harlem Success I through V, Bed-Stuy Success I and Bronx Success I) accounted for nearly 90 percent of all suspensions, with suspension rates above the average for all Success Academy schools. In each of those schools, the combined share of African-American and Latino students was in the high 90 percent range.
While Success Academy is on the extreme end of the spectrum, the problem of excessive suspensions for African-American and Latino students runs deep across the charter school sector in New York City, as the Advocates for Children’s report, “Civil Rights Suspended,” has documented.
The challenge posed to Success Academy and similar charter schools by the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Education’s guidance on student discipline is serious. To be in conformance with civil rights law, these schools will need to make radical reforms to their “no excuses” school culture and practices. Now that Moskowitz has laid down the gauntlet on this issue, many eyes will be on the Obama administration for its response. Changing policies, practices and cultures to make schools into safe and welcoming places that do not resort to the excessive and discriminatory use of suspensions and expulsions is hard, challenging work.
Educators across the country will be watching closely to see if all schools are required to take it on. If the greatest transgressors of federal civil rights law are given a bye for political reasons, it is hard to see how the law can be successfully enforced anywhere. Public scrutiny of the issue is bound to grow in the wake of John Merrow’s powerful PBS News Hour piece on Success Academy’s suspension policy. The Obama administration’s initiative to end excessive and discriminatory suspensions and expulsions will ultimately stand or fall on its willingness to take on those, such as Moskowitz’s Success Academy Charter Schools, who openly refuse to abide by federal civil rights law.
Perhaps the specter of having to make these student discipline reforms was, by itself, sufficient cause for Moskowitz to take on the Obama administration, Duncan, King and the entire civil rights community. But it is not the only issue; Success Academy’s student discipline policies are also intimately tied to its practice of refusing to “backfill” empty student seats. I will take up the issue of “backfilling” in a follow-up post on Success Academy Public Schools.
*****
ENDNOTES
1 See the work of the U.S. Department of Education, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the Advancement Project, the American Civil Liberties Union, the UCLA Civil Rights Project, Discipline Disparities: A Research to Practice Collaborative, the Atlantic Philanthropies, and the advocacy coalition Dignity in Schools.
2 By way of illustrations, consider the following two examples: First, there is the claim in Moskowitz’s op-ed, repeated in the video interview, that “4 percent of New York City high-school students carry a weapon to school; 2 percent carry a gun.” These statistics do not reflect the actual numbers of students who were found in possession of a weapon in their school – despite the fact that in New York City, the penalty for possession of a weapon in school is a suspension, and thus appears in the suspension data. But it appears that the real numbers were too low to suit Moskowitz’s purposes, since she claims to have obtained her alternative numbers from the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene epidemiological report, “Firearm Deaths and Injuries in New York City,” a report that incorporates data from the NYC Youth Risk Behavior Survey. A fuller examination of this survey provides a different picture of school safety than Moskowitz portrays. Since 1997, the numbers of New York City high school youth who reported carrying a weapon of any sort have fallen by more than half, and the numbers who reported carrying a gun have been halved. Indeed, the rate of weapon and gun carrying among high school age youth in New York City is well below the national average. Moreover, the numbers of youth carrying weapons are not uniformly spread across the city, but concentrated in neighborhoods of high poverty – the South Bronx, Harlem and Central and Northern Brooklyn: the rates of firearm violence (death and injury) among high school and college age youth in these areas were at least twice the City’s average. Now that Success Academy has begun to open its own high schools, one could employ Moskowitz’s logic in this op-ed to Success Academy charter high schools located in its areas of concentration in the South Bronx, Harlem and Central and Northern Brooklyn, and conclude that 8-10 percent of their students would be carrying a weapon in school. It is a safe bet that when it comes to assessing the safety in her own schools, the CEO of Success Academy will be returning to the statistics of students actually found in possession of a weapon in school that she was so quick to disregard in discussing public high schools.
Second, Moskowitz mocks the use of “restorative practices” in New York City public schools by ridiculing a quote from a website, which has no connection either to New York City schools or to any of the significant forces in the movement to reform student discipline. The NYC Department of Education discipline code includes a description of the restorative practices that should be employed in city schools, explaining how practices such as peer mediation can be used to resolve student conflicts and disputes before they escalate into violence. But Moskowitz ignores this authoritative information.
3 New York City public schools distinguish between “Principal” suspensions, used for less serious misconduct and limited to no more than five days of suspension, and “Superintendent” suspensions, used for more serious misconduct and extending for as long as a year. As the name suggests, it is in the authority of the Principal to issue a Principal suspension, but a Superintendent suspension requires the approval of the Superintendent and a more formal and quasi-legal due process hearing conducted by the NYC Department of Education. Under Bloomberg, the NYC Department of Education appears to have been reporting only Superintendent suspensions, which accounted for only 19 percent of all suspensions. Since the U.S. Education Department category is “out of school suspensions,” which would cover any loss of school days, there would not appear to be a plausible reason for reporting only Superintendent suspensions.
4 There were seven Success Academy charter schools which had been in existence long enough to report data to the U.S Education Department for its 2011-12 report: five Harlem Success Academies and two Bronx Success Academies. There is an anomaly in the corresponding New York State Report Card for Bronx Success Academy 2, which is missing data for attendance and suspensions. I therefore calculated the overall figures for Success Academy using the six schools with data. In the next year of the New York State Report Card, which includes data for all seven of the original Success Academy schools and an additional two new schools, the overall suspension rate rose to 19 percent.
5 In the years of the Bloomberg administration, Moskowitz had a close ally on student discipline and other issues leading the NYC Department of Education. Over the course of the decade ending in 2011-12, suspensions in the Bloomberg-run NYC public schools more than doubled. So long as the disciplinary policies of the New York City public schools were increasingly punitive, Success Academy had cover for its own policies. But, with changes in student discipline policies arising under the de Blasio administration and the new leadership at the NYC Department of Education, the Success Academy’s record has become increasingly vulnerable.
6 For the 2013-14 student registers in New York City public schools, I have used the numbers from the Department of Education’s public portal.
7 In her Wall Street Journal op-ed, Eva Moskowitz states that there is an 11 percent suspension rate in Success Academy charter schools, as opposed to a four percent suspension rate in New York City public schools, but does not provide a source for these numbers.
8 There are two missing data points that, if they had been provided, would make the comparison more complete. While the NYSED demographics do include students with disabilities, it does not distinguish between those students with minimal disabilities and those students who have more serious disabilities. And while the NYSED demographics do include a measure of economic disadvantage which is more sophisticated than the crude free and reduced lunch status measure that is often used as a proxy for poverty, it does not break out homelessness, which is the most severe form of economic disadvantage. 
9 What is particularly striking about the lower levels of need in the Success Academy student population is that their charter schools have been sited in the historically highest need communities of New York City – Harlem, the South Bronx, and Northern and Central Brooklyn – which should have led to higher, not lower, levels of need. These results would give credence to the claims that Success Academy charter schools have been “creaming” these communities, enrolling a disproportionate number of students that have low levels of need.
10 A more precise estimate would be possible if city, state and federal education authorities required all schools and districts to report their suspensions by grade level. This is a needed policy adjustment.

Friday, October 16, 2015

Do We Want Success Charters To Abuse 4 Year-olds Too? Eva Outrage Continues - Wants Public Pre-K Money But No Oversight

Eva doesn't want oversight because of what people will see.

Leonie Haimson Comments:
Success charters won't sign contracts to allow city to oversee its preK program yet presumably wants to continue to receive city funds for that purpose.

The city doesn't have to grant them these funds but according to this article wants as many charters as possible to have preK.

Question I have is given Success charters Abusive treatment of Kindergarten students as well documented in the recent PBS segment why should the city want them to have preK?

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2015/10/8579889/pre-k-contract-sparks-new-fight-between-success-academy-and-city-h
Leonie questions why the city even wants to have Success run a pre-k program where they can suspend kids they don't want so the parents pull them out of the school and allow them to cream even further.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Rally at Cipriani's as Eva fundraises: Monday, April 20th 6pm

MORE and Change the Stakes were talking about doing this and now AQE is calling for a demo which we will join. So let's parteeeeeee.
MORE and CTS at April 7 Cuomo fundraiser
(Sad to say, Gloria and her mink won't be there.)

Here is the announcement from AQE -- and of course, due to the closeness to the UFT, expect to hear the scummy press screaming bloody murder at the outrage. The UFT is so nervous about bad press they are keeping their fingerprints off this - at least on the surface. Imagine if they called on pissed off teachers to join in?
As some of you already know Eva Moskowitz is hosting one of her many fundraiser's at Cipriani's this coming Monday, April 20th. Hedgeclippers, AQE, VOCAL are having a rally outside of the restaurant at 6 pm. Will you join us?

Let's greet the billionaires who fund privatization and don't have to pay their fair share.

Please respond if you are able to make it.
Zakiyah
Zakiyah Ansari
Advocacy Director
Alliance for Quality Education
233 Broadway, suite 720
@zansari8

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Hedge Hogs and Evil Moskowitz

Almost five years ago, a fateful agreement was reached. An ambitious then–attorney general, Andrew Cuomo, walked into New York's "power breakfast" hub, the Regency Hotel, and shook hands with Education Reform Now's Joe Williams, the man who could help him secure the hedge-fund community's blessing. Williams told Cuomo that they "were looking for a leader on our particular issue," and according to Williams the attorney general's response was a good one. Since that breakfast, millions of hedge-fund dollars have poured into the governor's coffers, and education-reform stalwart Andrew Cuomo has never looked back.
Thus, over a breakfast .... one man's ambition and a few other men's power overrode the decades-long demands of millions of New Yorkers for fully funded public schools. But what does such a profoundly anti-democratic approach mean for the state's public school system? In less than two weeks, when the state legislature votes on Cuomo's proposals, New York's public-school students will find out.... The Nation, March 2015
And so it shall come to pass.

despite New York's progressive reputation, its school-district funding-distribution system is actually one of the most regressive nationwide, similar to that of states like Texas, North Carolina and Missouri...

Phew! At least Cuomo hasn't turned us into Mississippi --- yet.

The Times put the Success Academy horror chambers story we reported on yesterday (Video of Eva Bund Rally, NY Times Piece on Eva and Success)
on the front page. That story doesn't even scratch the surface. Apparently the reporter didn't talk to people who are forced to share space with the avaricious Eva -- people who observe evidence of brutality all the time. We'll comment more on the Eva piece -- what scares me is how many public school teachers want this system for their kids.

The Nation had a good piece on the hedge hog billionaires with this graphic:

Why Do Hedge Fund Executives Suddenly Care About Poor Kids?
Why the New York hedge fund community has rallied around the issue of education reform, specifically in support of charter schools and against teacher tenure, is more complicated. Their policy prescriptions—basing 50 percent of teacher evaluations on student test scores, for instance—are not in any way grounded in mainstream education research.
"The problem is that Cuomo's backers aren't paying much attention to the people who actually understand how Value-Added Modeling works," explains Professor Julian Vasquez Heilig, an education policy researcher at California State University. "Education statisticians have come out many times saying these models are being used inappropriately and are unstable because other things happen in students' lives outside of the teachers they encounter. When a kids' parents in a high needs district are deported, and their achievement plummets, this actually has nothing to do with the teacher."
Vasquez Heilig added that the reform proposals seem founded on a desire to destroy the development of long-term professional educators, rather than any empirical analysis: "We know 70 percent of teachers will bounce between high performing and low performing from year to year. So this is creating an impossible high stakes testing gauntlet between a young excited teacher and their path to quality, veteran expertise. If you're looking for a cheap churn-and-burn teaching force, this is your policy, but if you want experienced, qualified teachers, committed to a schools' long-term success, this is a disaster."

From a purely business standpoint, however, such cost-effective education reform proposals do make sense for the hedge-fund community, especially given the alternative education reform option: the legally required equitable funding of New York public schools, as mandated by the state's highest court in 2007. Low-income New York school districts haven't received their legally mandated funding since 2009 and the state owes its schools a whopping $5.9 billion, according to a recent study by the labor-backed group Alliance for Quality Education. Yet somehow in this prolonged period of economic necessity, billionaire hedge-fund managers continue to enjoy lower tax rates than the bottom 20 percent of taxpayers.
As a recent Hedge Clippers report pointed out, the hedge-fund community has achieved these gains over the last decade and a half by buying political influence and carving out absurd breaks and loopholes in the New York state tax code. Since 2000, 570 hedge fund managers and top executives have poured $39.6 million into the campaign coffers of New York state politicians. Thus, despite New York's progressive reputation, its school-district funding-distribution system is actually one of the most regressive nationwide, similar to that of states like Texas, North Carolina and Missouri.

Read it all:
http://m.thenation.com/article/201881-9-billionaires-are-about-remake-new-yorks-public-schools-heres-their-story

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

ISIS And Eva Moskowitz Join Heads on her 10-year, 100-school plan

Given the difficulties poor besieged Eva Moskowitz expects to face in getting space from Mayor deBlasio, she search for space for her ambitious 100 school plan has led her to an agreement with ISIS for space in Syria, Iraq and who knows where else?

"Eva is a perfect fit for us," said an ISIS (ISIL, IS) spokesman - "you didn't expect a spokeswoman, did you" he said? But while we were on the subject we reminded the ISIS (ISIL, IS) representative that - shhh - Eva is a woman. "She won't even have to wear a burka. For our compadre, Eva, whose tactics we study religiously, everything is possible. But we need to move fast as Kim Jon-un is also hot on the trail with a serious offer. His only condition is that she must stop calling herself 'Jon-un Maximus' when she stops by to visit."

======================"

Eva Moskowitz on her 10-year, 100-school plan


eva-moskowitz-her-10-year-100-school-plan
Moskowitz at American Enterprise Institute. (AEI)
Capital NY:
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2014/12/8558199/eva-moskowitz-her-10-year-100-school-plan 
 

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Help say No thanks! to another Moskowitz charter school in Disrict 1 on the Lower East Side

From ed activists on the lower east side:

I'd be grateful if you can help us- 

The Success Academy Charter School chain is targeting District 1 ( East Village/LES) to open a new charter school. These privately managed schools do not serve the highest needs students, taking resources away from our local public schools that do.

The head of the charter school chain, Eva Moskowitz, just sent a letter to the SUNY Trustees (the charter authorizer who approves these "schools-on paper" in Albany) that  claims over 2000 signatures in support of SACS NYC1, which was approved for D2 but moved to D1.

Currently we have about 1000 signatures on a counter petition and need your help to surpass Eva's paid canvassers' efforts.

Please please please sign if you have not already (and thanks if you have)!

Please also consider passing the link below on for signatures by residents of  NYC, (esp. downtown Manhattan) if you can.

Thanks to everyone who has signed and passed this petition on already! We greatly appreciate your support.



Here is a fact sheet to help you understand more about the negative impact of privately-managed education corporations (charter schools) on public education.



Thursday, October 23, 2014

SUNY Blames 'Administrative Error' for Success Academy Confusion

SUNY Charter School officials scrambled to explain this week's confusion about the apparent thumbs-up, saying it was a clerical error. At the same time, in a video recording, SUNY administrators said the school could move anywhere it wanted within Manhattan after being approved for Distr​ict 2....
Yes - SUNY and Eva are lying thieves.
Hello from DNAinfo — we have a follow-up to our story on Success Academy moving a planned school from District 2 to District 1 or 6.

SUNY Blames 'Administrative Error' for Success Academy Confusion

http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20141016/lower-east-side/suny-blames-admininstrative-error-for-success-academy-confusion
 

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Petition SUNY to Stop Eva Expansion


Hello!
We've started the petition "charters@suny.edu: SUNY should reject the current application to approve additional Success Academy Charter Schools in CSD3, especially without a predetermined location for the school." and need your help to get it off the ground.
Will you take 30 seconds to sign it right now? Here's the link:
http://www.change.org/p/charters-suny-edu-suny-should-reject-the-current-application-to-approve-additional-success-academy-charter-schools-in-csd3-especially-without-a-predetermined-location-for-the-school
Here's why it's important:
We support CEC3 in their request for a moratorium on new charter approvals unless and until a full audit of existing co-located charters and their compliance with the law - including marketing, enrollment, student retention, and disciplinary policies - has been undertaken by the New York City Comptroller and the New York City Council.  
You can sign our petition by clicking here.
Thanks! 
Nan Eileen Mead and Elissa Ruback
Co-Presidents, 2014-15
Community School District 3 Presidents' Council
(If you do not wish to receive these emails, please reply "REMOVE")
 

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Parents and community voices oppose SUNY authorization of Success Academy charters in Manhattan's Districts 2 and 3 - Part 1

Why doesn't SUNY give them space? There's FIT, School of Optometry - even Downstate... parent testimony
Video from the September 29, 2014 hearing.

For teacher voices see:
MOREistas in the House, UFT Not @ Success Academy ...
and teachers and community/parents at the Sept. 22 hearing in Brooklyn: MORE Takes a Stand Against Eva Moskowitz at Hearin...


http://youtu.be/t81y-BEzOfI



Also see: The Demographic Shift of Eva Moskowitz - The Grim ...(and Almost All White) Faces of Success Academy Parents...

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

MOREistas in the House, UFT Not @ Success Academy Charter SUNY Authorization Hearing

We were there to battle the forces of Evil. The UFT, along with de Blasio, have abandoned the fight. MORE will join with communities, parents and teachers at co-located schools.

Here are videos of MOREistas making their points.

Alexandra Alves
Mindy Rosier
Michelle Baptiste
David Dobosz
Norm Scott - who should have pulled out his shirt out to cover that belly.

http://youtu.be/MjAbNW-sBvMhttp://youtu.be/MjAbNW-sBvM

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

The Demographic Shift of Eva Moskowitz - The Grim (and Almost All White) Faces of Success Academy Parents

A large group of MOREistas joined parents opposing Eva Moskowitz's politically and economically (not educationally) motivated Success Charter expansion into the most expensive real estate in the world, a clear shift from the stated purpose of serving poor kids of color - which from day 1 we never believed. Eva used these kids as cover for her real purposes.

Some speakers were benign towards these obviously wealthy and almost all white parents, saying they understood that they wanted what was best for their kids. I saw it differently. I'm betting that what they see as best for their kids is to not be in classrooms with poorer kids of color. Their smirking at some of the positive comments about how many good public schools there were set me off.

MORE's Mindy Rosier, a teacher at the Mickey Mantle school whose kids Eva wanted out in the street - one of the 3 schools where de Blasio actually stood his groung, posted:
What surprised me the most was the SA parents. It's like they stepped out of the Stepford Wives movie and they pretty much said the same thing. They did not care what was happening to any other parents and kids as long as they were happy. Much to our delight, public school parents later called them out on that.... Mindy Rosier
Here is a video of my speech (I'm working on the others).
https://vimeo.com/107632260



I took photos of the Success Academy parents and officials and their camera and sound guys - Why do they all look so grouchy?


Oh the horror

My kid is better than your kid

Grim and more Grim

My kids get gym, your don't - na na na na

A proud lawyer

Anyone named Courtney must be a charter school parent

One of the few I found likeable

Success officials - wishing they were in witness protection program

Do we really need to listen to this? Eva - you owe us a bonus
One of the regular Success cameramen

and the sound guy -
More from Mindy:
Last night's Success Academy's co-location hearing in District 2 & 3 had a huge showing. Found it interesting that even at a hearing you saw clear separation. Most pro charter on the right side of the room an most publi school education warriors and parents on the left. Success Academy had their own film team and we had our ever so faithful Norm Scott filming as well. The hearing took place in the conference room of District 2. Many people spoke from both sides. Members from CEC, MORE, advocates, parents, etc., all gave powerful, passionate speeches!!! Was so proud to be in the room with them. The were no officials from Success Academy there to speak however there were 7 "observers" present. There was one from the Success Academy team that spoke, she is the SA President of Parent Council and claimed that no one has been hiding anything and will answer all questions and after many demanded transparency from SA and a moratorium from SUNY. (Yeah, right!) I took many pics and posted most them to Twitter. (Check out my page for the live Tweeting and pics.)

What surprised me the most was the SA parents. It's like they stepped out of the Stepford Wives movie and they pretty much said the same thing. They did not care what was happening to any other parents and kids as long as they were happy. Much to our delight, public school parents later called them out on that. Most of those SA parents had children with special needs and two of them had ELL's. Hmmmmmmmmm. Those are the two areas that SA gets slammed for and those parents just so happened to be in attendance AND give testimony. Planned much!?!? I spoke to one of those parents after the hearing after she spoke to a few others. This woman claimed to be a labor lawyer. She told me she defends teachers all the time. Some of the things that came out of her mouth really surprised me. About Special Ed Teachers, she felt they are ALL too young and inexperienced and that's why they leave and the kids don't do well in pubic special ed programs. I called her out on that. I have 17yrs experience. Most of the teachers/paras in my school are seasoned. She stumbled. About teacher attrition, she dismissed that saying it doesn't matter. "SA teachers have very long days and work very hard." I replied, "yes they do and they burn out and leave. How is this good for children?" We calmly talked overall for about 10 minutes. She just didn't seem to get it. She only cared about her kid, (I understand parents always wants what's best for their kids,) however she clearly dismissed all of us because it does not fit into her vision of SA. So sad how much tunnel vision there is. I'm sorry, Success Academy CAN be compared to a cult with Moskowitz as their leader.