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Charter School CEO Says De Blasio Trying To "Disenfranchise Poor Minority Kids"
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Mar 5, 2014
Modified Mar 5, 2014
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Jake Dobkin/Gothamist
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Mar 5, 2014
Modified Mar 5, 2014
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Last week, Mayor Bill de Blasio made a move to stop three Success Academy charter schools from expanding into public school space, noting that such an expansion would have forced those public schools to cut back on certain programs and needed space of their own. But, naturally, Success Academy CEO Eva Moskowitz is mad, accusing the mayor of trying to "disenfranchise poor minority kids who want a shot at the American dream."
Moskowitz, a former City Council Member who was specifically called out for her charter school program during de Blasio's campaign run, went on MSNBC's Morning Joe program this morning ready to spew some fighting words, calling the mayor a "so-called progressive" for moving to stop the expansion of her three schools.
"We have a mayor in the City of New York who says he’s a progressive on the one hand, but wants to deny poor kids in Harlem an opportunity, a shot at life," she told host Joe Scarborough. "I was never expecting in my wildest dreams that the mayor of the city of New York—a so-called progressive—would throw children in Harlem out in the street."
De Blasio's office has previously noted that it reviewed numerous proposals regarding charter school co-locations, and three schools they've motioned to halt—a new charter school in Jamaica, Queens, a middle school on West 118th Street and an elementary school in Lower Manhattan—are being killed to keep important special education programs from being slashed, as well as to make sure elementary school students aren't being housed in a high school building.
A source tells us the administration made sure the students who would have attended those charter schools have space in other schools. "We set out consistent, objective criteria to protect school communities from unworkable outcomes," de Blasio spokeswoman Marti Adams told us in a statement. "And last week we took the best possible path forward, rejecting those proposals that do not meet our values, and working with school communities on those proposals that can be implemented responsibly."
But Moskowitz has her own supporter: Governor Cuomo, who attended an Albany rally organized by Moskowitz yesterday. "We are here today to tell you that we stand with you,” Cuomo said. “You are not alone. We will save charter schools.” Man, will Cuomo and de Blasio ever get along?
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bill de blasio
charter schools
Cuomo
Eva Moskowitz
mayor de blasio
Rebecca Fishbein
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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