Charter-school honcho Eva Moskowitz fought back hard Friday against “biased” claims that her Success Academy schools lean on parents and excessively suspend students in order to pressure “problem” kids into dropping out.
“SA believes that our mission is to educate all children,” Moskowitz said.
“When a child is challenging or a parent is not on board, we don’t give up . . . but we also have an obligation to balance the needs of all the children in a school,” she added, explaining it is sometimes appropriate to suspend kids who are disruptive or threaten the safety of classmates and staff.
Moskowitz summoned reporters to the Success Academy Harlem 2 school’s play yard Friday afternoon to address a New York Times report that said a principal at the charter chain’s Fort Greene school had drafted a “Got to Go” list of 16 “problem” students.
The Times also reported that the principal at the Harlem 2 school had told teachers not to automatically send annual re-enrollment forms to “problem” kids, and that suspension rates at all 35 of the city’s Success Academy schools were higher than the rates at public schools.
“I take personal responsibility as the leader of this organization,” Moskowitz said of the “Got to Go” list, which she stressed had been discovered within three days of it being drafted back in December. The principal was immediately reprimanded.
She accused the Times of “bias” for charging that problem kids are being pressured to drop out, but not reporting that her charters have a lower rate of dropouts than district schools.