Are Success and other charters violating the law in closing schools for political reasons?

...we are planning a pro-charter parent march on October 8th. Our schools are being closed for the morning. Teachers, parents, students, and central office staff are being required to join the march .....  Success Academy teacher to Diane Ravitch

This is clearly an attempt to put pressure on De Blasio and also in prep for the Oct. PEP meetings.

Of course the press will not raise the issue of the blatant use of children in this manner and Bloomberg will crow. And they will claim this is evidence of support for charters.

Let's see which charters join Eva in this scam, especially since most of them had such low scores compared to Eva (hee-hee-hee) and can't afford to close schools for those precious few hours and fall further behind in closing the achievement gap between their schools and Success.


Tell you what. Let's close all the public schools on Oct. 8 for a few hours and hold a counter march. Let's see exactly how the "support" issue shakes out.

Teacher: The Forced March of Success Academy Parents, Staff, Students by dianerav

This is a comment signed Concerned Charter Teacher:

"Ms. Ravitch,

I work at Success Academy and thought you might be interested in the following. Just heard that we are planning a pro-charter parent march on October 8th. Our schools are being closed for the morning. Teachers, parents, students, and central office staff are being required to join the march. Other charter schools are joining as well. Several emails from senior leadership make it clear that the event is not optional. It seems very unethical that adults and children are being forced into this political statement, but I don't know what, if anything, can be done."

This is evidence that Success Academy charter schools are not public schools. Any principal or superintendent of a public school who used students and parents to engage in political activities, with or without their consent, would be fired.