Dear Mayor Bill de Blasio,
When we received our acceptance letters to Success Academy’s pre-k in April, we were thrilled to know our children had won a seat in the lottery. We felt fortunate because we believed our children would attend the best pre-k the city has to offer.
But thanks to the red tape you have rolled out to prevent Success from doing its work, we learned today that the organization has been forced to cancel its pre-k classes, costing our kids the opportunity to have a strong education foundation.
As parents of current Success Academy scholars, we know firsthand the positive impact Success has had on thousands of kids. Our older children love their school, love their teachers, and love learning. They have had the opportunity to learn in a safe, joyful environment. That is exactly what we want for our younger children, entering pre-k this coming school year.
Unfortunately, rather than looking forward to this special experience, we are left with few, if any, quality options. We cannot afford expensive private pre-k schools and too many district programs lack the structure and focus on discovery-based learning that makes Success so special.
When you made the decision to withhold funding for Success Academy’s pre-k you sent a clear signal to charter school families like ours that politics is more important than our children’s education. To say we are disappointed would be a massive understatement.
If you truly wanted all kids in this city to have access to a life-changing early education, then you wouldn’t steal that opportunity from our kids.
Mr. Mayor we are profoundly disappointed in you. You say pre-k is a priority, yet you deny us pre-k. You say you care about all kids but then discriminate against public charter kids and families. You say you care about inequality, and yet you keep working-class families who cannot afford private school or to move out of the city from getting access to world-class education, our ticket to equity. We will not forget your hypocrisy.
Sincerely,
The undersigned Success Academy pre-k parents:
Stephanie Clarke
Maurice Clarke
Thomas Davis
Luis Vega
Hugo F. Cardona
Nydia Puente
Steve Chao
Vanecia Wayans Williams
Kandance Ferguson
Danielle Holmstrom
Kavita Bali
Pinaki Mukherji
Rob Morea
Joseph Rabinovich
Beatriz Escobar
Yukiko Espinosa
Paul Espinosa
Cecile Kounga
Yuliya Flyangolts
Lily Burkhart
Sue Fong Cardona
Inna Olsen
Rachid Chawad
Christopher Gibbons
Deanna Morea
Marilyn Martinez
Jessica Cassidy
Jacqueline Trejo
Olly Dennison
Liz Tate
Utopia Mann-Geddes
Brittany Bowen
Mandi Spencer
Latima Watson
Diana Rodriguez
Kenneth James
Nicole McNair
Bernie McNair
Raphaela Waefler
Illona Bobritsky
Alexander Kraizman
Laura Pazmino
Madeline Vega
Michelle Jonas
Ana J. Spencer
Katrina Gibbons
Noni Holmes
Sandra R. Beron
Brennan Burkhart
Lashonda Littlefield
