DeVos: "No child, regardless of their ZIP code or family income, should be denied access to quality education”
How can any politician who supports the needs and desires of our kids and their parents over the needs and desires of the teacher unions - possibly be against public school choice in our under served urban school districts. Read this and weep:
NEW YORK, NY – More than 17,000
children were entered into yesterday’s admissions lottery for 3,017 available
seats at Success Academy in 2017-18. Parents from every corner of New York City
applied, driven by a severe shortage of high-quality schools and the network’s
decade-long track record of achievement. This is the fourth consecutive year
the Success wait list exceeds 10,000 kids.
The extraordinary wait list underscores
the urgency with which parents across NYC are attempting to flee hundreds of
failing schools. Across the Bronx, for example, not even 1 in 4 students is on
grade level in reading or math. More than 5,600 children from the borough
applied to Success Academy — 15 for every available seat. Overall, applications
from kids zoned to the city’s very lowest-performing elementary schools
increased by 30%.
Demand for a seat at one of Success
Academy’s socioeconomically diverse schools was exceptionally high this year.
More than 5,600 unique families applied for a seat at one of the network’s six
schools that truly reflect the demographics of the city: SA Upper West, SA
Bensonhurst, SA Williamsburg, SA Cobble Hill, SA Hell’s Kitchen and SA Union
Square.
“Every year, we’re heartbroken that we
can’t serve more families — parents who want to send their child to a great
school, but have so few options,” said Success Academy founder and CEO Eva
Moskowitz. “And we’re stunned that City Hall continues to let the pleas of
waitlisted parents fall on deaf ears.”
Applications from District 2 — one of the
top performing school districts in the city, but often overcrowded and lacking
in diversity — also increased, by about 10% over last year, with more than 600
families applying to Success. The network is opening SA Hudson Yards in
District 2 this year.
The network will open two new elementary
schools in 2017-18, down from five last year, largely due to bureaucratic
hurdles. The mayor has attempted to obstruct charter school growth by denying
charter school students access to public space, even though there are currently
144,000 empty seats available in NYC public school buildings.
Parent demand was similarly strong last
year, with an additional 3,000 applications submitted for its pre-k program,
which was suspended for this year as the network and parents fight illegal red
tape imposed by City Hall in court.
Additional highlights from the
lottery:
- The Network’s top five districts by application total
include Districts 9, 10, and 11 in the Bronx and District 29 in southeast
Queens with more than 1,000 children from each district submitting
applications. This is up from two such districts last year.
- After SA Bushwick’s successful first year, applications
from the neighborhood (District 32) increased by 27%
- 615 students zoned to attend a Renewal school applied
to Success
ABOUT SUCCESS
ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOLS
Founded in 2006, Success Academy Charter
Schools are free public K through 12 schools open to all children in the state
through a random lottery. With 41 schools across Brooklyn, the Bronx,
Manhattan, and Queens, Success Academy enrolls 14,000 students, primarily
low-income children of color in disadvantaged neighborhoods: 77% of students
receive free or reduced-price lunch, 95% are children of color, 15% are
children with disabilities, and 8.5% are English language learners. Ranked in
the top 0.3% in math and the top 1.5% in English among all New York State
schools on 2016 state proficiency tests, Success Academy schools received more
than 20,000 applications for fewer than 3,400 open seats this year.
For more information about Success Academy,
go to
successacademies.org and virtualtour.successacademies.org.
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