Once again, the teachers union — and a dilly-dallying judge — are putting kids in jeopardy, as they ramp up their bid to scuttle the planned opening of two Success Academy charter schools on Monday.
Good for Success’ founder, former City Councilwoman Eva Moskowitz, for vowing to get open the schools as planned, to protect students.
Late Wednesday night, the union asked a judge for an emergency order to stop Success from opening its doors in buildings in the Rockaways, Queens, and Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn, as part of a lawsuit it filed March.
The union claims the city’s Department of Education OK’d plans for the schools to co-locate with existing schools without considering the impact of a new state law limiting class sizes.
That claim has always been pure nonsense: There’s plenty of space for all students at the buildings without exceeding the new caps, and enrollments have been falling.
Plus, the caps only kick in gradually, so there’d be plenty of time to adjust if need be.
The United Federation of Teachers suit is just part of the union’s war on charters — which it launched even before any even of them existed in New York.
It fears the competition, since charter kids (especially at Success) consistently outperform those at the regular schools.
Meanwhile, the judge in this case, Lyle Frank, has been aware of the scheduled openings of the schools for months but has yet to make a decision.
Now the union is claiming that prep work by the charters have inflicted “harms” and “safety concerns” that warrant an immediate temporary injunction.
More bull: Absent a decision, the union knows the schools will open — and that’s something it just can’t abide.
Success has completed all the work needed to open and has even already held some orientation sessions.
Parents, kids and teachers are all expecting to attend the new schools Monday.
The teacher’s union want these kids to suffer and accept failure. After all, if they were forced to go to public middle school in the Rockaways, they would attend classes where only a third of the students were deemed proficient in math and reading last year.
Compare that with the Success kids, 80% of whom aced reading and 75% math.
The UFT’s move is beyond outrageous, but the judge is also to blame for failing to toss this case sooner.
He could do parents, kids and staff a world of good by letting Success start school — before Monday.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
