Success Academy Charter Schools is a large charter school network located in New York City that serves over 15,000 students across the Boroughs and the majority of those students are Black or Latinx.

The recent protests in response to the killing of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless other Black people has profoundly affected members of the Success Academy community. As of May 28, 2020 there was no communication sent out to the Success Academy community addressing and acknowledging the rampant incidents of racism and white supremacy at the hands of law enforcement or the disparate effect that COVID-19 was having on people of color in the United States.

In response to this, a teacher employed by Success Academy reached out to the network's CEO, Eva Moskowitz challenging her to break the silence and use her platform to speak out in service of the community that Success Academy serves.

 

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The email below is the full content of the message sent to Ms. Moskowitz:

May 29, 2020 - 9:56am

Subject: “Concerned... Two Pandemics”

Good Morning Ms. Moskowitz,

I hope this email finds you well. I am writing this email to you. I am deeply hurt and shocked by your lack of words on the topic that affects so many of your employees, children and families in communities that you serve. George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery are just the recent names in a string of documented murders of black men killed at the hands of police.

As an organization that serves children, our CEO taking a stand and beginning a conversation about race is invaluable and sets a precedence for transparency, accountability and growth. Fostering conversations with other leaders is necessary. All of your black employees are paying attention to your silence.
Sincerely,

Fabiola St Hilaire

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Ms. Moskowitz's complete response is below:

May 29, 2020 - 11:05am

Subject: Re: Concerned.. Two Pandemics 

Thank you so much for reaching out. I actually opined on this subject early this am. Please take a look. I hope you can understand that running remote learning in the middle of a world economic shutdown has kept me focused on SA's immediate needs. There are 40 million unemployed Americans. Our budgets have been cut and we are facing even more dire circumstances and so this has occupied a good part of my time and attention.

Thanks again for contacting me. I really appreciate it. Please stay safe and healthy during these very difficult times and thank you for all you do for kids.

Eva Moskowitz

Founder & CEO
Success Academy Charter Schools

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Coming from a charter school leader, who serves communities of color and has portrayed herself as an advocate and ally, this response represents an unacceptable dismissal and silencing of the voices and experience of the communities of color that Ms. Moskowitz is entrusted to serve. When given the opportunity to listen and take action, she instead opted to silence that which is inconvenient or disruptive to that status quo; a status quo that often means the marginalization of Black and brown people.

The response of this email is unacceptable and unfortunately on-brand with Success Academy's long history of determining that issues that affect the most marginalized are unworthy of time, attention, and resources. Success Academy has a long history of being under-fire for allegations of misconduct and abuse of students as well as employees. At the time of the posting of this petition, countless stories have emerged painting the real story of Success Academy as a place that prioritizes a facade of impact over the responsibility of care.

The Success Academy community does not condone the silencing and dismissal of issues and needs of the community that perpetuate systemic racism and white supremacy and demands that the leaders of Success Academy Charter Schools take the following actions immediately:

1) Issue a formal public notice accepting responsibility for the impact of this incident on the Success Academy community.

2) Conduct a formal investigation of this incident and the litany of accusations of misconduct and abuse of students, parents, and staff committed by Success Academy under the leadership of its Chief Executive Officer, Eva Moskowitz.

3) Create and implement a plan with clear and actionable next steps to repair and restore damage done to the community and mitigate further breaches including, but not limited to mandatory anti-racism professional development for all network officers and the establishment of a standing “Equity Committee” to support with the resolution of breaches and drive organizational equity reform.

We look forward to your prompt attention to this matter.