CEC 13 Calls For Moratorium On Success Academy Expansion In The District

Almost everyone in New York City has an opinion about charter schools and, specifically, the proliferation of Success Academy schools. Now, the parent and community leaders of Community Education Council [School] District 13 have voiced their stance: put a halt to all Success Academy growth in Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Wallabout, Brooklyn Heights, Downtown Brooklyn, and parts of Prospect Heights.

At their December meeting, the board unanimously passed a resolution calling for the city Department of Education (DOE) to:

• Implement a moratorium on any further co-locations of Success Academy schools in District 13
• Require all charter school operators applying to co-locate in District 13 to present a detailed plan for how they handle discipline, suspensions, and expulsions, including and especially the role of parents in their escalated discipline process – which is subject to review by the CEC and other parent leaders.
• Together with SUNY, perform a full quality review of Fort Greene Success Academy and, if deemed necessary, request SUNY to revoke its charter to operate.

Their decision comes less than two months after the New York Times revealed that Success Academy Fort Greene principal Candido Brown had a “got to go” list of students, and that some students are being forced out — through things like pressure on parents and multiple suspensions — in order to keep the school’s grade statistics up.

And it comes just weeks after CEC 13 sent a letter to Success Academy founder Eva Moskowitz, expressing concern about the Fort Greene school and inviting her to come speak at the December 15 meeting.

“[We invite you] to explain the philosophy and practices behind student retention and withdrawal at Success Academy. We hope to hear which measures Success Academy has put in place to ensure that the conduct of Success Academy Fort Greene’s administration as detailed in the article has stopped, and that it will not resume.

. . . As a CEC, we must be concerned with the welfare of all children in our district. And, as our District 13 public schools have welcomed, and assumed responsibility for, some of those students considered a “poor fit” at Success Academy Ft. Greene,, we have a moral and an educational responsibility to examine these policies.

In response, spokesperson Brian Whitley said in a statement that 300 local families are already part of their community and “we work with them every day and will continue to do so until their kids graduate from college.”

Moskowitz — who did not attend the CEC 13 meeting she was invited to — also wrote that this is all just a learning experience for everyone involved. She also asserted that Success Academy offers “a safe learning environment [with] discipline policies that are a welcome alternative to public to schools where weapons, drugs, or other unsafe activity often put students at risk.”

“This incident and this mistake in no way reflect Success Academy’s policies or practices. Principal Brown is an incredible teacher and educator, and he is someone who cares deeply about the education and welfare of every one of his SA Fort Greene scholars. Just as educators help students learn from their mistakes, we offered Principal Brown the support he needed to address issues at his school in the correct way – which would never involve pushing a struggling student out.”

What do you think of this call for a moratorium and of Success Academy?