After a week in which charter school operator Eva Moskowitz sought to pit charter schools against public schools, a coalition of district and charter school parents, elected officials and community leaders gathered on March 3 for a “unity rally” behind Mayor Bill de Blasio’s proposals for universal prekindergarten and afterschool programs.  

“We are energized by Mayor de Blasio’s agenda for New York City,” said Zakiyah Ansari, the advocacy director for the Alliance for Quality Education. “Reforms will happen with us. We’ve always been willing to work with the administration – we just didn’t have an administration willing to work with us.”

The rally on the steps of Department of Education headquarters took place the day before the mayor and parent supporters were traveling to Albany to lobby Albany to support his proposal to tax wealthy residents to pay for his education initiatives. Moskowitz announced last week that she is closing her Success Academy charter schools and busing thousands of students to Albany that same day for a rally to urge state lawmakers to increase funding for charter schools.

Speakers at the unity rally on March 3 decried Moskowitz’s divisive approach.

“As a mother of three, I believe we must end the divisiveness and unite to make pre-K and after-school programs a reality for the future of my own children and thousands across the city,” said Veronica Ramos, a member of the community group Make the Road New York. 

Councilman Daniel Dromm, the new chair of the Council’s Education Committee, characterized Moskowitz as an outlier. “Unfortunately, Eva Moskowitz does not seem willing to go beyond her own personal ambition to join us in this effort,” he said.

Dromm said he would hold an oversight hearing to investigate whether Moskowitz was breaking the law or violating DOE regulations by closing her Success Academy charter schools so students could attend the Albany rally.

Mayor de Blasio on Feb. 27 canceled plans set in motion by his predecessor last fall to co-locate three Success Academy schools in public school buildings next September. On the same day, de Blasio gave the green light to 24 charter schools – including five Success Academy charters.