Still Choking Success

Once again, Team de Blasio is moving to toss middle-schoolers onto the street — though at least this time it’s claiming to be regretful about it.

Back when he first took over, Mayor de Blasio tried to evict nearly 200 kids from a Success Academy middle school as part of his bid to deny public-school space to public

charter schools. This time, his minions are reneging on a deal to let a new Success school open, so it’s only 70 children (set to start fifth grade in August) in the crosshairs.

The building has 1,000 classroom seats — only 90 of which are needed by PS 25, the district pre-K-5 school there now. And Success was already in the building: In a compromise with the Department of Education, it agreed to turn its K-4 space there into middle-school space after the DOE said it could find no better answer.

Yet now the DOE says it can’t put fifthgraders in a building with smaller kids (even though it has its own fifth-graders there) without jumping through bureaucratic hoops that it doesn’t have time for.

PS 25 was slated to close because of declining enrollment, but a judge last month issued a temporary order preventing it. The city’s apparently afraid that if it issues a declaration of emergency to go ahead with the middle school now, it could annoy the judge.

Why should it? Again, the move would put 160 students in a building that can take 1,000.

Instead, the city suggests Success reshuffle all 1,800 middle-school assignments to absorb the kids shut out of the planned SA Lafayette Middle School — 10 weeks before the schools open. And no matter that this would mean much longer “commutes” for some children.

Ironically, Lafayette MS would be the very kind of diverse school de Blasio says he wants, with students from Cobble Hill, Williamsburg, Bed-Stuy, Prospect Heights, Bensonhurst and Crown Heights.

Then again, this mayor seems to think that stating his ideals is all that matters: Living up to them is optional.