After pleading for a permanent home for its 150 students last week, Success Academy officials announced on Monday, March 15 that Mayor Bill de Blasio missed a critical deadline to extend Success Academy’s Hollis Middle School co-location at I.S. 238 Susan B. Anthony Academy for another year.
According to officials, the de Blasio administration had until March 12 to post a new Building Utilization Plan 45 days before the April 28 Panel for Educational Policy meeting. Without a solution, officials say, the students do not have a home for the 2021-2022 school year, leaving them in limbo yet again.
Eva Moskowitz, founder and CEO of Success Academy, joined parents and students from Success Academy Hollis Middle School in a Zoom conference call on Wednesday, March 10 demanding that the mayor find a permanent home for the students whom they said would be evicted from the one-year temporary co-location at I.S. 238 Susan B. Anthony Academy.
Disrupted by the pandemic, the students had never set foot in a classroom, according to Moskowitz. In the intervening nine months, Moskowitz says the city has not found a permanent location for them and is now threatening to evict them.
“Mr. Mayor, now is not the time for politics,” Moskowitz said. “Our parents have been advocating for four long years to ensure that their children have a first-rate education — and now their children are about to be kicked out of their school. Mr. Mayor, you have options, and now is the time to make this right.”
Success Academy operates 47 schools in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan and Queens and enrolls about 20,000 students. In Queens, parents of 2,200 Success Academy students have been pleading with the city for years for an additional permanent middle school site. Since 2017, parents have sent thousands of emails, secured thousands of signatures on petitions, and met with many Queens elected officials — all in an attempt to get the mayor to be accountable to their children.
Three parents expressed their frustrations and concerns during the conference, questioning why they can’t get the space they need for their children to learn.
Yvesnande Bureau said her two children are looking forward to returning to school after learning remotely, however, to not have a building is simply devastating.
“My child has to struggle every year for space to learn. Why can’t they let our kids learn? Why can’t Mayor de Blasio give them the space they need?” Bureau said. “These are Queens kids. These are our kids. Why is this so difficult?”
According to Tricia Porte, if they were to relocate the students to another school, it would be difficult for her daughter to travel across town both ways.
“We just want to be in one place for the duration of her school years, so she can focus effectively on her studies,” Porte said. “The kids need space to interact with each other, to play and study comfortably, and to thrive towards a better society without having to think about school space.”
Meanwhile, Judith Nephew said she cannot stress enough the pain and frustration that her family are faced with knowing that after so many years of waiting, that they might not have a school for her son and other kids to attend this August.
“Moving forward, we can’t even make any plans because our future is so uncertain right now,” Judith said. “We are pleading to you, Mr. Mayor, to kindly step up and consider us. Our kids need a school and we need to go back to work.”
While this year has been challenging, Success Academy Principal Kayleigh Maines said their scholars have been successful and feel a true sense of pride and connection to the Hollis school.
“They smile every morning when they log onto advisory links. They love to show what they know in their classes, and they jump at the opportunity to shine as a Hollis Husky — from co-hosting the middle school morning show to participating in virtual pep rallies and joining afternoon study sessions,” Maines said.
Success Academy’s attorney Laura Asserfea said under the Charter Schools Act, the Department of Education must provide and pay for all school facilities. According to Moskowitz, the mayor has three viable options:
- Let the students remain co-located at I.S. 238 Susan B. Anthony Academy for another year: There is enough room for all students, including those from a new school slated to open in 2021-22.
- Co-locate the students in a different district school: About 43,000 students have left NYC district schools since the pandemic hit last spring. Based on the most recent building utilization analysis, which was done prior to the pandemic, there are a number of buildings with 300 or more empty seats in the three nearby school districts (CSDs 27, 28, 29).
- Co-locate the students in a privately owned space: The city currently leases privately owned buildings for numerous district and charter schools, including six other SA schools, and there’s no reason why it can’t be done for SA Hollis MS.
In March 2020, the DOE announced that I.S. 238 was a one-year temporary proposal and they encouraged Success Academy to work with the department on a viable, fiscally responsible long-term plan to ensure their students have reliable alternative permanent options.
According to the DOE, Success Academy had failed to do this and in order to ensure their students had permanent options, the department identified multiple suitable buildings they could lease. However, Success Academy did not pursue those locations despite the pressing time constraints.
“They have refused to even try where over 100 other charters have succeeded and the DOE space that Success Academy had temporary access to is slated — by law — to be used for high-needs special education students in Queens,” DOE Deputy Press Secretary Katie O’Hanlon said in a statement to QNS. “Everyone has been aware of this for the past 12 months—we prioritized in-person learning for our most vulnerable D75 students and we cannot and will not leave these families hanging.”
