Eva Moskowitz Cries Poverty Even As She Rakes In Tens Of Millions Of Dollars In Hedge Fund Donations

Remember when Eva Moskowitz declared it an existential crisis if charter schools were forced to pay for co-locations or God forbid, had to find their own space?

I do.

Today Eliza Shapiro at Capital NY reports the following:

The Success Academy charter school network has received an $8.5 million donation from the philanthropic foundation of John Paulson, a billionaire hedge fund manager.

The donation, which was announced on Thursday, will be used to build new Success elementary, middle and high schools.

The network is expanding significantly, with 14 new schools opening in the next few years. By 2020, the network will have about 50 schools educating about 36,000 students.

...

The network's critics, some of whom are allied with teachers' unions, have assailed its close ties to hedge fund managers. The new donation is sure to give those groups more ammunition, although Moskowitz has said that charity goes to an array of worthy goals, including education. Success raised $9.3 million at its most recent benefit, almost exclusively from financiers.

That's $9.3 million at the spring benefit and $8.5 million from Paulson for a cool $17.8 million dollars from just two events - the benefit and Paulson's largesse.

Add in the $9.7 million pro-charter Families for Excellent Schools spent lobbying and carrying Moskowitz's water in Albany and in the media and you have Moskowitz doing pretty good for herself despite that existential crisis she declared if mean ol' Bill de Blasio forced her to pay rent for co-locations or pay for private space on her own dime.

If Moskowitz can raise this kind of money in so brief a period, isn't it time she pull her own weight and stop taking money away from New York City's public school children?

Cuomo: We Will Enshrine Charter Co-Locations Into Law

Eva Moskowitz is getting her $800,000 worth out of Governor Cuomo:

Gov. Cuomo says the fight to protect charter schools will be one of he biggest issues in the upcoming state budget negotiations.

In a slight jab at Mayor de Blasio, Cuomo said the charter school issue will trump the fight over prekindergarten expansion--declaring that latter battle over.

"We've been dealing about pre-k for a long time, but I think that's pretty well established," Cuomo told host Susan Arbetter Thursday during an appearance on public radio's "The Capitol Pressroom." "What we're going to do is what we said we were gong to do. We'll have a statewide pre-K program that will be funded by the state."

... 

Cuomo said he wants to protect the charter school movement and, like the the Senate, wants to address the issue in the budget.

"The discussion on the charter schools is going to be powerful and is probably going to be one of the more controversial and complex matters that we wind up dealing with the budget," Cuomo said.  

"The charter discussion is going to be new and it's going to be important."

Cuomo didn't give specifics on what changes he will seek for the charters other than saying it will include a mix of money and laws that say how the money is spent.

"This is more about the law, first of all," he said. "What protections do we have to make sure that charter schools continue if, in fact, the Legislature believes charter schools (should continue)" he said. "My position is going to be, yes they should continue and there continuation should be protected."

Cuomo said charter schools feel they are in jeopardy. Opponents don't have to get rid of the charter school law to stop the movement, he said. If charter schools are not given a location and are not given funding to find a location, Cuomo said, "then in essence the charter schools are out of business." 

"You don't have to say I'm not building any more charter schools or authorizing any more charter schools, you just say, 'I can't find a location and I am not prepared to fund the school to find the location."

He noted that "theoretically," the state has the ability to charter a school. He wouldn't say specifically if that's the direction he wants to head.

"We're not going to be in a situation where charter schools stop--not if I have anything to do with it," he said.

Will charters have to abide by the same rules and regulations as public schools if they are guaranteed co-locations in public school buildings?

Right now Moskowitz says the state has no right to audit her finances because she is not a public school.

Her teachers are not evaluated using APPR.

She does not have to replace students who drop out of her schools.

Charter teachers get to grade their own Regents.

There is a whole host of issues on which the charter operators get a leg up on public schools.

Will they still maintain these benefits after they get co-locations and extra funding guaranteed by law?

 Will Eva still get to say the state has no right to audit her because she is not a public school when she is being funded and located just like a public school?

Cuomo Says "Legislative" Fix For Charter School Co-Locations In The Works

For a guy who doesn't do education policy, Governor Andrew Cuomo sure does involve himself in an awful lot of education policy:

ALBANY -- Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said Thursday that a legislative solution which could provide “co-location” of charter schools within traditional public schools is being discussed with legislative leaders.

Cuomo’s comments came a day after Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver questioned Cuomo’s ability to commit additional state money to charter schools to pay for classroom space.

Cuomo said charter schools are public schools and shouldn’t have to pay rent to operate outside traditional schools. Cuomo said requiring traditional public schools to provide available space to charter schools could be done by law, without additional spending.

“Co-location is not money … it’s policy,” Cuomo told public radio’s “Capital Pressoom” on Thursday.

Uh, no - finding space for new schools takes money, not just policy that Sheriff Andy shoves onto districts.

And since Sheriff Andy is very loathe to fully fund public schools already, this "legislative policy fix" Cuomo wants to have, enshrining charter school co-locations into law, will ultimately mean traditional public schools will get the shaft on funding.

Bloomberg Announces Charter School Co-Locations To Continue "In Perpetuity"

In response to a lawsuit filed by the United Federation of Teachers to stop the New York City Department of Education from continuing co-locations of charter schools in public school buildings through 2015, Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Walcott held a press conference outside Tweed Courthouse to announce that co-locations will now go on "in perpetuity."

The mayor, joined by charter school industry advocates/hedge fund managers and Eva Moskowitz at the press conference, told reporters that he has the right to continue charter school locations and other education reform policies long after he leaves office because "I'm the richest man in this city and money talks while bullshit walks."

Bloomberg, sipping a 32 ounce Pepsi and eating trans-fat-laden Cheezits while Howard Wolfson held a lit Newport cigarette for him as he spoke, said "Listen, I can do whatever the fuck I want whenever the fuck I want and if the UFT doesn't fucking like it they can go fuck themselves, okay.  I'm outta here in less than six months, but I've got more money than God and I plan to use that cash to make sure what I want to happen in this city and in this country will continue to happen long after I'm gone."

Bloomberg went on to say that he will ensure charter school co-locations and other signature education reform policies like school closures, data tracking through poorly designed tech systems like ARIS, and teacher evaluations based upon test scores from badly-designed testing materials like ACUITY through his PAC as well as his philanthropy.

"Have you seen how much cash we've thrown at gun-toting Dems who refuse to cave to my wishes on gun issues?" Bloomberg said. "Well, that's how we're going to handle education policies in this city forever and ever and ever.  Even after I'm gone, Bloomberg Philanthropy will have all the money any foundation would ever need for propaganda and charity purposes to ensure these policies continue ad infinitum.  We're going to make sure that this NYCDOE remains the BLOOMBERG NYCDOE until the end of time."

When asked how it is a mayor gets to ensure his policies continue into eternity merely because he has more money than anybody else, Bloomberg said "This is America, buddy.  The only thing that matters in this country is how much money you've got. You only think it's a democracy.  Those precious 'rights' you think you have are contingent upon how much money you've got.  The more money you've got, the more rights you have.  And since I've got the most money in this city, I've got the most rights - period!"

Bloomberg then jumped into one of two gas-guzzling SUV's that are idling on the street outside City Hall at all times for quick getaways  and was driven to the 34th Street Heliport where his lady friend, Diana Taylor, and their two dogs, Bonnie and Clyde, were waiting for the mayor to make an illegal takeoff from the helipad and fly his private helicopter, Greenhouse Gas One, to Bermuda.

NY Post: Celebrate Mother's Day With School Choice And Eva Moskowitz!

You can't make this stuff up.

Here's a Post editorial today:

Today is Mother’s Day, when across the nation we honor the women who gave birth to us, fed us and took us to school.

And if a new survey by the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice is right, two-thirds of American mothers with school-age children want more options about where they can send their kids to school — including vouchers.

No doubt, New York moms want the same for their kids. Although the state’s teachers unions make vouchers politically impossible at the moment, the rise of charter schools has introduced a hopeful element of excellence, choice and accountability into our public-school system.

Just ask Carmen Melendez, whose two daughters — Camilla, 9, and Catalina, 7 — attend Success Academy 2 in Harlem. Melendez says that even though her daughter Camilla qualified for a gifted-and-talented program in the traditional public schools, she decided to stay with the charter because “Success has a clear vision of what they want to do with the children.”

Khadijah Pickel is the mother of twins Idris and Ruqayah, 10, who are also Success Academy students. “I went to District 5 public schools, but you want better for your kids,” says Pickel. “I wasn’t willing to gamble with my children’s future.”

Pickel notes that friends with kids in district schools are amazed that her children have science five days a week, with projects beginning in kindergarten. She’s especially gratified that Success mainstreams kids with special needs, like Ruqayah, who has autism.

To give a hint of the demand, last month Success held its annual lottery for admission, attracting 12,500 applicants for a mere 1,400 slots. That means disappointment for thousands of moms who were not as lucky as Melendez and Pickel and their kids.

Sadly, as Success CEO Eva Moskowitz points out, if some mayoral candidates get their way, mothers will have less choice and more disappointment in the future. These are the politicians working to make life more difficult for charters. Their current tactic is to oppose co-locating charters in existing public-school buildings. Charters need co-location because, unlike public schools, they get no money to finance buildings.

The way Pickel sees it, “Nothing’s worse than telling a parent that they can’t send their kids where they want to.”

The way we see it? Mother knows best.

The charter school/privatization community must be feeling a lot of anxiety these days to feel the need to trot out the "School Choice Is What Mothers Want!' meme for Mother's Day.

Notice that the survey firm that the Post uses for this meme is the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice.

That firm would be named for Milton Friedman, the neo-liberal economist who promoted the privatization of every part of the public sphere, not Thomas Friedman, the NY Times columnist who promotes the privatization of every part of the public sphere.

But either way, it's no wonder that the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice found two-thirds of mom's wanted "choice" for their kids.

You see, that's what the foundation was founded for - to promote and propagate choice all over this land.

The Posties quickly pivot from the self-serving survey from the Friedman Foundation to glowing statements from a couple of moms with kids in Success Academy charter schools.

They even manage to find one mom with a daughter who is autistic and has been mainstreamed by Success!

Wow - wouldn't every mom want this kind of education for their kids?

You bet, say the Posties, which is why we should all celebrate Mother's Day by making sure all those bad Democratic candidates for mayor don't get their way and cease the cancering of the public school system with charter school co-locations.

That Success Academy has a strong reputation for filtering out children with special needs and counseling those children out of their schools when they do slip through the filter is never mentioned in the Post editorial.

Nor is it mentioned that when they are "stuck" with children with special needs in their schools, they treat them like second class citizens.  

It's a shame the Posties couldn't speak to these parents of children with special needs who attend Success charters.

Brooklyn parents with kids at two charter schools in Cobble Hill and the Upper West Side are furious over the shoddy services they say their special needs children are getting.

Instead of making sure a teaching assistant is shadowing the students as mandated by law, the kids have been repeatedly suspended from the Success Academy Charter Schools for rowdy behavior, the parents charge .

“I don’t want my child to be ostracized. He has needs that need to be met,” said Crown Heights mom La-Tarsha Williams of her son Amani Smith, 6, a student at the Success Academy Cobble Hill.

The schools are part of the chain founded and run by former City Councilwoman Eva Moskowitz.

Williams said her son had been suspended 20 times since the start of the school year for hitting other children, calling out in class, and throwing objects. He’s missed 50 days of class, according to Williams who attributes the behavior problems to a change in the child’s Individualized Education Program (IEP) in October when his school aide was taken away.

“When they have zero tolerance, I totally understand that. But this is definitely extreme for him to miss that many days of school,” said Williams.

Success officials deny the claims and say no child had been suspended for that length of time.

"While federal privacy law prohibits us from talking about these individual cases, parents must consent to any change to a child's IEP, and every child at Success Academy Cobble Hill whose IEP requires (an aide) has one," said SCA Spokeswoman Jenny Sedlis.

City Councilwoman Letitia James (D - Clinton Hill) blasted SCA for the suspensions and asked state officials to investigate. “A zero tolerance policy for special needs children is a bad one,” said James.

“Suspending 5,6 and 7-year old’s with IEP’s is setting them up for failure.”

Other parents also blasted the practice.

“He’s a 5-year-old who gets impatient in a classroom setting. That’s what ADHD is,” said Carroll Gardens dad George Mazzella about his son Vincent.

Mazzella’s child had been suspended multiple times totalling 31 days for throwing a piece of cinderblock near students and hitting a teacher in the arm with a plastic band.

Mazzella said his son has had five different paras who have all left the school. Now, the dad is sitting with the boy in class.

“This is outrageous, idiotic and it shouldn’t be done,” said Mazzella, who is missing work to be with his son.

Fatima Geidi, of East New York, said son Jamir, 7, who attends the Success school on the Upper West Side is afraid the boy will get more suspensions for acting out.

“No parent wants to see their child lose out on things they’re entitled to,’ said Geidi, who was promised but never got daily reports on Jamir’s behavior. She also had to hire a lawyer to get the school to give Jamir mandated occupational therapy. “The school dropped the ball.”

Maybe the Success Academy charters aren't the wonderland depicted in the Postie editorial.

Maybe if your child has special needs, you don't want to send him/her to Success or other charter schools where they have "zero tolerance" policies.

Too bad the Posties couldn't give us the more complex and accurate view of the Eva Moskowitz/Success Academy juggernaut.

Too bad they had to use Mother's Day to try and sell their public school privatization movement.

Nice thing is, they're doing buyouts and layoffs at the NY Post, which bleeds over $110 million dollars every year and is reported to be on its last legs.

Maybe once the Posties lose their jobs writing privatization propaganda for the Post they can join the Success Academy juggernaut and write it directly for Eva Moskowitz.

Here's The Strategy Going Forward

In case you haven't seen the news:

The Department of Education has reversed a decision to place a charter school in the same building as Brownsville Academy High School, the transfer school which fought the co-location with a student-led lawsuit.

D.O.E. officials said on Wednesday that they found an alternate site for the Success Academy elementary school. They would not say whether the lawsuit played a role in the change.

“While we believed co-locating the two schools was the best option at the time, another better option became available,” said Devon Puglia, a D.O.E. spokesman. “As a result, we decided to propose a new location.”

The D.O.E. is now proposing to locate the new charter school at P.S. 167 The Parkway in Crown Heights. 

Oh, sure - the lawsuit didn't play a role in the DOE backing down and putting the Success charter somewhere else.

The lawsuit - which was student-led - had everything to do with the DOE backing down and choosing another site.

The last thing Eva wanted to do was embroil the Success Charter brand in a fight against a student-led lawsuit at an A-rated transfer school with a population of special needs students.

I wouldn't be surprised if Eva herself asked for another site to replace this one.

And this shows us what the strategy against the deform movement going forward should be - student- and parent-led lawsuits against co-locations, closures, etc.

The DOE and Eva are happy to fight the UFT on this stuff.

They're not so happy to fight students on it.

Doesn't make for such nice headlines.

There's a lesson here.