The charter-school network that had been under siege by the de Blasio administration organized what it called “the largest academic pep rally” in the US Tuesday to prepare its students for state math and English exams next week.
“It really helps get them excited,” said Harlem Success Academy II assistant principal Laura Shulman after 2,300 students and teachers gathered at the Fort Washington Armory in Washington Heights.
“This is about their mindset — you are going to all do great on this test and you know what do.”
Officials said this is the fifth year of the “Slam the Exam” rallies — which have grown each year.
After blocking three Success Academy schools from “co-locating” inside public-school buildings, Mayor de Blasio backed off his attacks on the network and promised to find new space for the shuttered classes.
Success CEO Eva Moskowitz said she was “delighted to see a change in tone and rhetoric” from the mayor.
“We are very, very happy that it’s not district schools pitted against charter schools, but the mayor seems to believe and the chancellor believes in all children — that’s what we’ve been about since day one,” Moskowitz added.
But she also said she would not drop her lawsuit against the city’s action.