De Blasio keeps trying to derail these kids’ path to college
Seniors at the Success Academy HS of the Liberal Arts just got their SAT scores — and all 114 did great, with an average score of 1268, 200 points above the national average. A full 10 percent topped 1400, making it likely they’ll be offered admission to the very best US universities.
Every member of the last two Success HS graduating classes won college acceptance, and 70 percent of this year’s seniors will be the first member of their family to attend university.
And some of these scholars have extra reason to celebrate — because Mayor Bill de Blasio almost forced them out of the Success network five years ago, when he tried to evict their Harlem middle school from a city building.
That’s particularly relevant because the de Blasio administration seems bent on robbing hundreds of kids in Southeast Queens of their chance to stick with Success, and to stay on a clear path toward acing the SATs and heading to a first-rate college: The Department of Education still refuses to name a site where Success can open a new Queens middle school, though public records show that at least a half-dozen DOE buildings have more than enough room.
Like the Success HS seniors, these younger kids are overwhelmingly black and Hispanic, and often from low-income families — the very kinds of children that the mayor claims he most wants to help.
Which is what makes his sustained hostility to Success so disgusting. Again, several of the high-school seniors who just ruled on the SAT almost got derailed back in 2014, when the new mayor tried to evict their school.
Back then, Gov. Andrew Cuomo got the Legislature to pass a law limiting the mayor’s ability to discriminate against public charter schools — but, sadly, only limiting it. Ever since, de Blasio’s DOE has manufactured endless excuses to deny charters’ requests for space — offering sites at less than half the rate of the Bloomberg DOE.
If the DOE doesn’t come through with a Queens site for Success this month, it’ll mark a new low for de Blasio: literally kicking dozens of children of color off a proven path to academic success. For shame.
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