Forced to choose between politics and its purported principles, the rebranded organization formerly known as ACORN has come down on the side of politics, critics charged Sunday.
The group, which now calls itself New York Communities for Change, was a key ally of Bill de Blasio when he was fighting charter schools.
But now that he’s been forced, as mayor, to make a nearly 180-degree change in his position, the group showed it’s still in his corner by withdrawing from an anti-charter lawsuit.
“It’s hypocritical. It shows they’re not about the kids,” fumed Mona Davids, head of the NYC Parents Union and a plaintiff in the suit along with Public Advocate Letitia James, Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and some 70 parents and advocates.
“NYCC is more interested in playing inside politics than fighting for the best interests of children. They’re for the unions and special interests. They’ve become de Blasio surrogates. That’s why they pulled out of the lawsuit,” Davids claimed.
Staten Island parent and co-plaintiff Sam Pirozzolo also accused NYCC of selling out.
“This is a double standard. Absolutely,” said Pirozzolo, president of Community Education Council 31. “If NYCC pulled out of the lawsuit, then public school students were not their priority to begin with. They must have their own agenda.”
The suit sought to force previous Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration to rescind its ban on 45 new schools — including 17 charters — sharing space with public schools.
At the time, de Blasio made no secret of his distaste for charters.
When de Blasio suddenly decided he didn’t hate charters after all, the new suit was filed against him.
De Blasio’s apparent change of heart comes as he tries to make peace with the charter-school movement and its most powerful defender, Gov. Cuomo.
NYCC has been fighting co-locations — particularly those involving Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy charters — since at least 2010.
It opposed the co-location of an expanded Girls Prep charter on the Lower East Side and a Success Academy in Brownsville as well as 45 approved by the Bloomberg administration last year.
De Blasio also came under a firestorm of criticism last month for blocking the co-locations of three Success Academy charter schools operated by Moskowitz.
One of the targeted schools — Harlem Success Academy IV— is one of the best performers in the city.
NYCC declined comment.
But sources familiar with its thinking said it is now working with charters friendly toward the mayor.
Additional reporting by Aaron Short