RACE RIPS HIT Success charters punish minority kids, say
An uproar alleging entrenched racism at Success Academy Charter Schools is threatening to upend the city’s largest charter network.
More than 400 current and former Success students, staff and parents took to social media in the wake of George Floyd’s death under the banner “survivors of Success Academy” to share stories of both overt and subtle racism, according to the organizers of the Instagram page.
“Before [Success CEO] Eva [Moskowitz] speaks out about what’s happening in the streets, she probably should look inside of her own school,” said Kimberly, a Success parent who asked to be identified only by her first name.
Kimberly’s son, who has a disability and is in first grade, was given 15 suspension notices in just six months this school year, according to records reviewed by the Daily News. She says she’s long felt the school’s harsh disciplinary policies unfairly penalize the mostly black and Hispanic children the network is trying to serve, but couldn’t get school leaders to listen.
“You want to serve a community, but in serving them you’re also harming them,” she fumed.
The outpouring on social media and growing dissension within the organization has forced a reckoning at Success, prompting Moskowitz to host a series of town halls this week to quell concerns.
Some of the most pointed criticisms are directed at Moskowitz herself, who founded the high-achieving charter network 15 years ago and remains its CEO.
“What I’m hearing is a leader is not willing to learn, not willing to hear resistance, and very sheltered with the people they trust, who are not active in the communities they claim to serve,” said one employee who spoke anonymously for fear of retaliation.
But at the town halls, Moskowitz vigorously defended the network and her stewardship, arguing the charters’ impressive test scores are the best antidote to racism.
“I imagined that if you could educate tens of thousands of students, mostly of color, exceptionally well, they would get into the halls of power, and they would most effectively combat institutional racism,” she said. The school still sees waitlists of more than ten thousand each year, and in an internal survey, 96% of parents said they were pleased with the quality of learning.
A Success spokesperson said “nearly all of these complaints are being made by a handful of former employees and families. Our current employees and families overwhelmingly support our schools.”
But the creators of the Success survivors Instagram page estimate 60% of the approximately 400 submissions have come from current Success staff and families.
The recent tumult at Success began when a black teacher asked Moskowitz in a May 29 email why she hadn’t responded sooner to the killings of Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery.
Moskowitz replied she’d been focused on schools’