And how about Randi's decade-long personal vendetta against Eva Moskowitz, which hasn't diminished despite (or perhaps it's because of) the exceptional quality of the charter school network Eva has built? Despite the UFT/Blob's every effort, Upper West Side Success just opened:

Other than the fact that classes were beginning more than two weeks before they will at most city schools, the new Upper West Success Academy seemed to be having a pretty typical first day.

But the months leading up to the opening of this charter school, part of the Success Charter Network run by Eva S. Moskowitz, a former City Council member, were anything but typical. Upper West Success's existence was put in limbo this April when parent groups angry about the decision to place the elementary school in the Brandeis complex, a building that already houses four high schools, filed a lawsuit to stop it from opening.

The next month, the school faced a second lawsuit brought by the N.A.A.C.P. and the United Federation of Teachers, also opposing its placement in Brandeis.

In July and August, judges ruled in favor of the Success Charter Network and granted the school permission to open to the 184 students already admitted to its kindergarten and first-grade classes.

On Thursday morning, with the school year beginning for the kindergarten students, parents were happy to put the legal turmoil behind them.

…"Everyone contributes the same taxwise, so why should my child have to go to a bad school?" said Mr. Renner's wife, Susan.

…But Ms. Moskowitz said she expected the furor to subside.

"The temperature only tends to be hot until you get in the building," Ms. Moskowitz said. "Educators care about kids. It's kind of outside forces that drum up the drama."

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August 24, 2011, 4:59 pm