JUDGE RULES IN FAVOR OF SUCCESS ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOL, ALLOWING TWO CO-LOCATIONS TO GO FORWARD WITH THEIR FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AUGUST 11, 2023
Contact:
Ann Powell, 646-894-6407
Ann.Powell@successacademies.
Contact:
Jessica Siegel, 516-458-1331
Jessica.Siegel@
JUDGE RULES IN FAVOR OF SUCCESS ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOL, ALLOWING TWO CO-LOCATIONS TO GO FORWARD WITH THEIR FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
UFT Suit Attempting to Block Charter School Students from Attending Their First Day of School in a Co-Located Building, Struck Down by Judge, in UFT’s Latest Attempt to Block Charter Schools.
New York, NY, August 11, 2023 — Today, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Lyle Frank ruled against a United Federation of Teachers’ lawsuit that would have forced the Department of Education to “vacate and annul” two Success Academy co-locations. In the suit, the UFT sought to prevent Success Academy from opening schools in co-locations that had been approved months earlier by the DOE’s Panel for Educational Policy.
“It is unconscionable that a union representing educators would try to block schoolhouse doors and bar hundreds of children from starting school. Especially when the majority of those children are underserved,” said Eva Moskowitz, founder and CEO of Success Academy, the highest performing public charter network in the country.
In December 2022, Success Academy Sheepshead Bay was approved to co-locate in the Frank J. Macchiarola Educational Complex (K495), a massive building on Avenue X in Brooklyn. The building, with an excess of 1,500 unused seats, currently is utilizing only 41% of the space with students, allowing enough room for roughly an additional 500 students. Similarly, in the Rockaway Park, Queens, building (Q225), which was approved in November 2022, there are more than 400 unused seats.
The lawsuit targeted about 450 children at the two schools and is the latest in the United Federation of Teachers union war on charter schools. There have been nearly 20 legal attempts by the union over the years to block or delay co-locations for Success Academy students, none of which were ultimately successful.
With NYC’s district enrollment projected to be under 800,000 for the first time in decades, and the number of excess seats climbing past 140,000, there is plenty of room left in public school buildings to house more charter schools. The DOE has calculated that there are 213 buildings that have more than 300 seats available. Co-location has been an effective way to open new high-quality schools quickly without the cost and time involved with construction.
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About Success Academy
Since its founding in 2006, Success Academy has created the highest-performing public school district in New York state, and a national model of access to excellence for children across all demographics. We currently enroll over 20,000 children in our 53 elementary, middle, and high schools. The majority of Success Academy scholars are children of color from low-income households in disadvantaged neighborhoods, admitted through a random public lottery. Our distinctive K-12 approach, designed as a holistic thirteen-year educational trajectory, leads to student outcomes that outpace even those in affluent suburban schools. To date, 100% of SA’s graduates have been accepted to college, many to highly selective institutions. Most are the first in their families to have the opportunity for higher education. We regularly share our groundbreaking curriculum and methods with educators and school leaders across the country. By scaling excellence and reigniting the civic mission of education, Success Academy is leading a movement to reinvent public education. All children can thrive and achieve in school, in college, and in life — Success Academy students and teachers prove it every day.
For more information about Success Academy, go to successacademies.org.
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