Teachers union challenge to new NYC Success Academy charter schools tossed
A Manhattan judge tossed an 11th-hour bid by the city’s powerful teachers union to block charter school network Success Academy from launching classes in two buildings on Monday.
The United Federation of Teachers filed a lawsuit arguing that the city’s new class-size regulations prohibited the network from offering classes in two public buildings in Queens and Brooklyn.
But Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Lyle Frank dismissed the legal gambit Friday, officially allowing Success Academy to open its doors to hundreds of anxious schoolchildren and their parents next week.
The high-achieving network will now be allowed to greet students at PS 225 in Far Rockaway and the K495 high school complex in Sheepshead Bay.
Frank had previously eased a June 30 temporary restraining order that had barred Success Academy from preparing spaces in both schools for the new school year.
The modified order prevented the organization from installing smartboards and AC units at the locations — but did not overtly ban classroom activity.
The city Law Department waded into the controversy, arguing that kids at both DOE and charter schools would benefit from Success’ renovation plans.
DOE lawyers filed papers this week lobbying Frank to lift the injunction.
“To now, three days before classes begin, force respondents, Success Academy, and hundreds of school children and their families to change course and find a new location for both SA-Far Rockaway and SA- Elementary would be a significant disruption to the status quo and clearly would be against the equities,” they argued.
Success had vowed to start classes with or without a final resolution of the suit — a position that has now been rendered moot with Friday’s decision.
“It is unconscionable that a union representing educators would try to block schoolhouse doors and bar hundreds of children from starting school,” said Success Academy founder and CEO Eva Moskowitz in a statement. “Especially when the majority of those children are underserved.”
The network blasted the UFT for attempting to block their operations and highlighted dipping enrollment in the city’s public schools.
“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,” Success Academy said. “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.”
The union has asserted that new city laws that cap middle school classes at 23 students and high school classes at 25 students will require public schools to occupy more space in city school buildings — and that the co-located charter schools would imperil their compliance.
The UFT said it plans to appeal Friday’s ruling.
“The New York City Department of Education must include the impact on the state’s new class size law when it co-locates schools or allocates public space,” a union spokesperson said. “Judge Frank avoided addressing this central issue in today’s decision and so we plan to appeal.”
The union has previously argued that allowing their publicly funded and independently operated nemesis to open their doors prior to a final ruling in the case as “staggeringly irresponsible.”
Boasting prodigious test scores and extensive waiting lists, Success Academy runs 53 schools across all boroughs except Staten Island.
Charter critics contend that the schools siphon resources from traditional public schools, while backers counter that parents seeking educational options deserved more choices than are offered solely by the city Department of Education.
A Post series earlier this year illustrated that students of color who attend charter schools outperformed their traditional public school counterparts.
