What adult put it in his hands? A child bearing a vulgar sign at a recent anti-charter-school event. (
)
I’ve been teaching in New York City public schools for six years — three in a traditional district school, and three at a Success Academy charter school. During this time, I’vewitnessed the annual protest brigade against Success public schools, and I thought I’d seen it all. But charter opponentstook their extreme tactics to a new low last week.
At a protest led by Brooklyn City Councilwoman Letitia James and the union-backed New York Communities for Change,one signlikenedthe co-location of a new Success Academy to rape.
Even more disturbing, someone had put the sign in the hands of a young child.
The sign read, “Forcing something where it’s not wanted sounds pretty much like rape” — a vile characterization of Success Academy’s proposed plans to open a school next fall in a Fort Greene school building that is now more than halfempty.
Set aside the exploitation of the young, unknowing messenger: The message itself is wrong on so many levels.
Start with the gist of the argument that Success Academy is “forcing” itself on the building. Last year 400 families from Fort Greene and surrounding Brooklyn neighborhoods applied to another Success Academy school, Success Academy Cobble Hill — which is not in their local district.
In other words, these parents felt there were no goodoptions close to home, so they were willing to travel to find a better one.
Which Success Academy is: Its results are on par with the city and state’s best public schools despite serving a high-needs population. Meanwhile, in Fort Greene’s District 13, fewer than half of children of color are meeting math and reading standards.
A few of those families got into Success Academy Cobble Hill, but most didn’t—the school had eight times as many applications as seats available.
To address this demand, Success Academy applied for, and was granted, a charter to open in District 13, which includes Fort Greene, Clinton Hill and Brooklyn Heights, among other neighborhoods. Months before the April 2013 application deadline, before the application form was even available, the school received nearly 100 inquiries from families.
In other words, neither the United Federation of Teachers nor the councilwoman is speaking for local families when they try to stop Success Academy Fort Greene from opening.
It’s clear that parents are tired of sending their children to failing schools year after year.
I was tiredofteaching at one. The first three years of my teaching career werespent in a neighborhood school that made excuses aboutitscontinual lack of achievement: It was the parents, the low-income neighborhood, the lack of funds, the high-stakes testing—thelist went onand on.
Instead of continuing to allow failing schools to make excuses, we need to give parents better choices now. Their children can’t wait another year — let alone wait forever, which is where the excuse-making really leads.
Which brings us back to the sign. It’s not just that Success Academy is addressing a very real need in the local school district; this is a personal assault.
As a teacher, my job is to provide students with the great education they deserve. I have high expectations for my students no matter what their backgrounds are, andIwant to show that all children have limitless capacity for learning and success. When you compare what I do on a daily basis to a heinous and violent act, you are denigrating my life’s work and the very profession you claim to serve and protect.
It doesn’t surprise me that that union leaders see schools like Success Academy as a threat to their stronghold on public education in New York City,and that they use the politicians in their pocket to try to stop more great schools from opening. But their desperation has clearly reached a newlevel when they’ll use children to push their agenda and spread their hate.
As the adults, we need to ensure that we are modeling the character we want the children of this city to embrace. Shame on them.
Sasha Growickis a lead teacher at Success Academy Bronx 2.