Smartening up - Teachers union softens opposition to charter schools

Yesterday Klein and Bloomberg visited Eva Moskowitz's Harlem Success charter school, which is off to a fabulous start in its first year: the kindergarteners and first graders have made huge strides and have read over 20,000 books! (Contrast this with the awful fact that 58% and 54% of black and Latino 4th graders nationwide are illiterate! -- see: http://www.tilsonfunds.com/Personal/4thgradereading.pdf) (The school was co-founded by John Petry, one of the founders of Dems for Ed Reform, and his partner, Joel Greenblatt; they hope to grow it to more than 40 schools over time.)

An auditorium full of parents applauded Mayor Bloomberg yesterday for his support of charter schools.

The Harlem Success Academy's executive director, Eva Moskowitz, invited the mayor for a celebration of her charter school's first year.

Ms. Moskowitz sometimes sparred with the mayor when she served on the City Council, but she had only kind words yesterday. "You have demanded that parents like ours have a choice," she said.

the attention of those with the ability to do something about it. As the year began, both Gov. Spitzer and Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno proposed budgets that included a tuition-tax deduction that would have meant relief for countless grandparents and parents.

Unfortunately, combating their plans became a way for some to prove fealty to entrenched interests - keeping any such aid out of the budget adopted in April.

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Parents Hail Mayor's Support of Charters

By Staff Reporter of the Sun
June 14, 2007

http://www.nysun.com/article/56539

An auditorium full of parents applauded Mayor Bloomberg yesterday for his support of charter schools.  The Harlem Success Academy's executive director, Eva Moskowitz, invited the mayor for a celebration of her charter school's first year.

A third-grade assignment from a Ridgewood school that uses reform math, in which