Success Academy Flatbush Families and Elected Officials Celebrate Students Who Made History, With 100% Passing Both 2019 State Tests

**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, FEBRUARY 3, 2020**

Contact: Liz Baker, 646-902-4200

Elected Officials Turn Out to Congratulate SA Flatbush Scholars at Brooklyn Children’s Museum

SA Flatbush parent Adia Bathily, Principal Wintanna Abai, Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke and Ayesha Van Rossum, parent and president of the Parent Council Executive Committee

NEW YORK, NY — Last spring, Success Academy Flatbush, a public charter school in Central Brooklyn, made history with 100% of its testing scholars passing both math and ELA state tests. Only two other NYC schools have achieved this feat since 2013 — the highly selective Special Music School in Manhattan and P.S. 303, a lottery-admission school in Forest Hills, Queens — both with markedly different student demographics.

Friday evening, scholars, parents, teachers, elected officials, and Principal Wintanna Abai gathered at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum to celebrate their accomplishment. U.S. Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke, City Council Member Dr. Mathieu Eugene, and State Senator Kevin Parker attended the celebration.

“I am so very moved by the work being done at Success Academy. I know it takes a village and it is so heartening to see this village tonight. It’s not very often that you’ll see a gathering like this celebrating education on a Friday night,” said Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke. “This is the best investment of your time, energy, and resources that you can make. These kids are already on the track for leadership — The next congressperson is in this room.”

“I am honored to give this toast for this occasion. Let’s raise our glasses and wish for more hard work, more good results, and success, success, success always,” said Senator Kevin S. Parker.

“Education is the most valuable gift we can give to our children,” said City Council Member Dr. Mathieu Eugene. “The foundation of success is education. It makes sense that we celebrate it.”

"We live in a country that continues to offer poor quality education to kids who have the capability to change the world,” said Wintanna Abai, founding principal of Success Academy Flatbush and a 10-year veteran of Success. “Every morning, I shake my kids' hands, knowing that I am sending them into a building with teachers and a staff who believe they can do anything and deserve everything."

“No one expected this from children in Flatbush. But they made history.” said Adia Bathily, parent of a fourth-grade scholar at SA Flatbush and one of the organizers of Friday’s event.

Enrolling 337 students — 98% of them children of color, 82% qualifying for free- or reduced-price lunch — SA Flatbush opened in 2016 in a former warehouse space provided by the Department of Education. About 13% of students have IEPs and 8% are experiencing homelessness.

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ABOUT SUCCESS ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOLS

Founded in 2006, Success Academy Charter Schools are free public K-12 schools open to all children in the state through a random lottery. With 45 schools across Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan, and Queens, Success Academy enrolls 18,000 students, primarily children of color from low-income households in disadvantaged neighborhoods: 74% receive free or reduced-price lunch, 94% are students of color, 16% have disabilities, and 8% are English language learners. Success Academy schools received more than 17,000 applications for about 4,000 open seats for the 2019-20 academic year.

For more information about Success Academy, go to successacademies.org.

“Every morning, I shake my kids' hands, knowing that I am sending them into a building with teachers and a staff who believe they can do anything and deserve everything,” said Principal Wintanna Abai, accepting a special proclamation from State Senator Kevin S. Parker.

Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke at the Success Academy Flatbush Celebration at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum

SA Flatbush parent Adia Bathily, City Council Member Dr. Mathieu Eugene, and Principal Wintanna Abai